The effects of a competency report evaluation on self-perceived employability and self-esteem in the unemployed

The goal of this study was to evaluate a competency report intervention. A longitudinal study with two waves was performed with two groups of unemployed participants in Frenchspeaking Switzerland. One group ("competency report group", n = 100) completed a competency report counselling procedure and the other (n = 68) constituted a control group. Members of both groups filled out an identical questionnaire on their perception of various employability factors (construction of a professional project, evaluation of competencies and interests, important factors for finding a job, capability of talking about one's professional situation to others, steps considered to find a new job, information received) and self-esteem. The questionnaire was adapted from Ferrieux and Carayon (1996, 1998). The participants filled out the questionnaire twice (at an interval of approximately one month), just before and after the intervention for the competency report group. Results show a systematic increase in perception of employability and self-esteem for the competency report group, but not for the control group. They support the hypothesis that a competency report intervention constitutes a useful and effective counselling procedure. Further analyses explored two potential moderator variables, i.e., self-esteem and length of unemployment.