Abstract
Statistics South Africa (2015) reports that the unemployment rate in South-
Africa averaged 25.27 percent from 2000 until 2015. Nearly 1.3 million
unemployed people are between the ages of 15 and 34 years. Many
interventions are on offer to assist this group with their endeavours to find full
time employment. This study involved putting job-seekers through the Career
Workshop Programme (CWP), a job search intervention that prepares jobseekers
to confidently attempt to penetrate the job-market. The assumption of
this study was that a job search intervention like a CWP may assist
unemployed people to achieve their short-term career goals.
Behaviourally, research has shown that a higher internal locus of control (LoC)
influences functional career thinking and that confidence levels, beliefs and
perceptions around career expectations are positively orientated towards
career efficacy (Austin & Cilliers, 2011; Breeding, 2008). The key focus of this
study was to determine to what extent biographical factors and LoC contribute
to unemployed people achieving their short-term career goals, if they have
attended a CWP. Autonomy was included in the assessment because of the
role autonomy plays in problem-solving and being able to work independently
towards achieving goals. LoC assessments were done before and after the
CWP intervention and results were interpreted to ascertain the relationship
between the CWP and LoC, as well as the relationship between LoC and
achieving of short-term career goals.
The study was quantitative in nature, and a cross-sectional field survey, ex
post facto study design was employed. A sample size of N = 149 participants
was obtained. Various statistical analysis was performed to test assumptions.
The results of the study revealed that there is no significant difference in the
mean scores of internal LoC and external LoC for males and females.
Significant relationships between autonomy and LoC is reported, between age
and autonomy, and between age and LoC...
M.Phil.