Abstract:
In addition to acquiring occupation, specihc knowledge and skills, students need to
develop a set of career competencies or resources that helps them to successfully
maneuverer the various career-related challenges they face and that stimulate their wellbeing,
engagement, and perfofinance in studying tasks and beyond that. Enhancing
career adaptability plays a vital;role in shaping the career development of students,
especially early career employe$s. The primary objective of this research was to
investigate the relationship between career competencies and career adaptabilify among
recent graduates of Faculty of Commerce and Management, Eastern University, Sri
Lanka.
This research is quantitative research which uses a self-administered questionnaire as
the instrument to collect data. A total of 213 respondents responded to a set of electronic
questionnaires from recent graduates who had less than five years of work experience
in local context. The data collected were then evaluated using the Statistical Package
for the Social Science (SPSS) Version 23. Ameasurement model and hypotheses testing
were also conducted using SPSS software. The univariate analysis revealed that the
level of career competencies and career adaptability were high. Further the Pearson
Correlation analysis revealed that there were positive signihcant relationships between
career competencies and career adaptabilitv. Regression analysis showed that career
competencies have become the most influential factor toward career adaptability.
This study makes contributions to the growing understanding of career construction by
emphasizing the important role of career skills for early career ernployees. The study
also suggests that universities should prioritize the development and expansion of
vocational education initiatives. They should not only help undergraduates establish
clear career goals, but also develop a positive and flexible outlook on life to help them
adapt to the various changes that may arise throughout their life journeys.
