• Universitat de València

Increasing job changes and current job instability mean that job security is no longer guaranteed. Neoliberalism has opened the door to competency-based management, which implies the need for versatility, flexibility in occupation, the ability to learn and adapt to new roles and situations, the need for commitment, social relational skills, etc. In this context, the development of employability, defined by the RAE as "the set of skills and attitudes that enable a person to obtain and keep a job", is one of the most relevant issues in employment and training today. Employability underpins the social inclusion of disadvantaged groups and its promotion at both political and social level is a consequence of the high levels of long-term unemployed.

Although there are a large number of questionnaires and/or interview batteries dealing with employability, most of them analyse employability from a perceived control of job attainment or from a functionalist or organisational perspective. In all of them, individual factors are the basis of the assessment and each questionnaire uses different elements of analysis to assess employability according to the reference group, i.e. the characteristics of the target group (e.g. students). However, there is no instrument that allows for a common and unique form of assessment for all and, together with this, allows for a contextualised and common training for all groups that have difficulties in accessing employment.

Research staff at the Universitat de València have developed a methodology to improve the study of employability based on the bioecological perspective. This theoretical model understands employability as a unique meta-competence for all groups that goes from focusing on people and/or groups with certain characteristics to extending to the entire population, making it independent of ethnicity, gender, age, social class, level of education, etc.

The questionnaire allows to assess individual aspects and personal circumstances of subjects belonging to different groups (precarious workers, skilled workers, unemployed, women, young people, immigrants, etc.) but presenting a single measure of employability, for any use, at any time and for any person. This new methodology provides the appropriate interpretation of the scores for the assessment of employability, so that, based on the scores obtained, it is suitable for different applications without the need to make modifications.for the diagnosis of employability and, as a generator of proposals for intervention in the transition to employment, the development of careers and itineraries of insertion of vulnerable populations and/or at risk of social exclusion, lifelong learning in companies, the development of the presocialising process of parents and schools, vocational guidance, curriculum design.

The main applications of this invention are aimed at:

• Companies seeking ongoing training to enhance the employability of their workers.
• Insertion companies to carry out the insertion itineraries and their evolution throughout them.
• Associations, trusts, entities, etc. whose objective is labour inclusion.
• SERVEF/SEPE with the aim of diagnosing the basic training areas of the unemployed and people who wish to improve their employment.

The main advantages provided by the invention are:

• Quick completion and self-manageable.
• Measurement of both individual factors and personal circumstances from a holistic perspective.
• Applicability to any group.
• Multiple uses (training, curricular, social intervention, research...).

• Registered intellectual property