Identifying Starters' Interpersonal-Transferable Skills Needs: A Multidisciplinary Comparative Study in Six European Countries

The paper presents the results from a study of a multidisciplinary research project (funded by the Leonardo Da Vinci Community Programme) to develop innovative methods for assessing and training career starters' interpersonal-transferable skills (ITSs). For the purpose of this project ITSs refer to skills such as: interpersonal communication, group decision making, leadership, directing groups and involve the mobilisation of psychological resources such as emotional intelligence abilities, interpersonal perception and others. The project adopted an interdisciplinary approach in bringing together scientists in the key areas of Total Quality Management, Psychology of Emotion, Interpersonal relationships, Human Resource Management, with vocational organisations, career starters and Businesses from various sectors. Aims. The aim of this first phase of the project was to identify and compare interpersonal /transferable skills of career starters from different education backgrounds (University and Vocational education) and disciplines (Business, Technical, Humanities, Sciences, Social Sciences). Specifically, it aimed to survey the opinions of graduate students, career starters, educators and employers in six European countries (Hungary, Greece, Italy, Slovak Republic, Spain, and the UK) to determine needs for ITSs training. Methodology. A 120-item structured questionnaire was completed by four large samples (N=550) of the respective populations in the six countries. The questionnaire was constructed by a multidisciplinary team of psychologists, human resource scholars and career advisors in order to allow the identification of the need and importance of a number of ITSs. The administration of the questionnaires was undertaken by 11 educational and vocational organisations in the six countries. The paper presents: Results from multivariate analyses (exploratory factor analyses, multiple regression) on the structure of ITSs skills needs in the education and vocational sectors Findings from comparison among the six countries Results from comparison of interpersonal skills needs of graduate students from different disciplines (e.g. Humanities and Sciences) Findings from the tertiary and education sectors. The discussion will focus on how these findings help the development of innovative methods in the assessment and train specific such skills in career starters. The application of these findings for the improvement of University curricula and delivery methods will also be discussed (for further information see: http://www.apu.ac.uk/appsci/psychol/leonard