Counselling for New Careers

Flemish post-secondary students(N = 2,880) were profiled for favouring orrejecting three new work arrangements. Threestepwise discriminant function analyses wereperformed to separate the groups that were forand against telehomework, agency work, andfreelance work. Predictors were demographicvariables (anticipated graduation year,academic area), attributes (willingness toengage in new careers, proactive personalityand work values), and expectations aboutemployers. The classification results werecross-validated. Findings indicated thattomorrow's workforce wanted to meet therequirements of new careers (mobility, lifelongretooling, work-family balance). Four groups ofwork values differentiated thosefavouring/rejecting telehomework, agency work,and freelance work. Anticipated graduationyear, academic area and proactive personality,characterised further respondents for andagainst agency work and freelance work.Expectations about employers did not split thegroups with respect to their preference for thethree new work arrangements. Implications forcontemporary and future roles for careercounsellors were discussed.