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Stories of employability are told in employment and educational settings, notably the selection interviews. A popular training approach guiding higher education students to construct employability stories has been the past-behaviour storytelling method. However, insufficient research exists regarding the method's effectiveness and optimisation. This study examines whether the method (1) increases the quantity and quality of interview narratives in story forms and (2) can be enhanced by image stimuli.

In a double-blind randomised control trial with repeated measures, participants submitted four weekly interview narratives. After receiving past-behaviour serious storytelling training in Week 3, they were randomly allocated to an exposure group using images and a control group using keywords as a placebo to continue producing interview narratives. The interview narratives were assessed based on the number of stories and quality ratings of narrative conformity, relevance and conciseness. Results before and after the training, and with and without the image stimuli, were analysed.

Training increased the number of stories. Training and repeated practice also increased narrative quality ratings. However, the image-based intervention was the strongest predictor of improved quality ratings (effect size 2.47 points on the observed scale of 0–10, p < 0.01, 95% CI [1.46, 3.47]).

A pre-existing ability to tell employability stories cannot be assumed. Training is necessary, and intervention is required for enhancement. Multi-sensory narrative interventions may be considered.

This study is the first known double-blind randomised control trial with repeated measures evaluating if storytelling training and image stimuli improve interview narratives.

The educational achievements of a representative national sample of Australian school‐leavers were examined after leaving school. The study was part of the longitudinal Youth in Transition study – a national probability sample of Australian youth. There was sufficient evidence to argue that the educational and occupational achievements were related to gender, socio‐economic status, ethnicity, geographical location (rurality), completion of the highest level of secondary schooling, vocational interests in high school and even levels of literacy and numeracy in primary school. A tentative model of educational‐vocational achievement is outlined.

A model of vocational interests based on actual work‐tasks is described for practitioners. It is suggested that a things versus people and data versus ideas dimension is descriptive of work as well as career interests. The influence of social learning on the development of interests is outlined and the work‐tasks model is related to the assessment of career interests.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a basis for the evaluation of educational and training programs in commerce and industry. Official statistics highlight the lack of training evaluations and point to a need for critical appraisal of training efforts. Evaluation is presented as a systematic process for investigating the merit and worth of education and training. A holistic approach that synthesises six key factors is outlined, with examples from technology‐assisted learning, management and staff training. This hexagonal evaluation model comprises: ethics, costs, coverage, objectives, effects and stakeholders.

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of organizational citizenship behaviour as a component of job performance. Participants comprised 41 human‐service workers, who completed a job satisfaction questionnaire and were rated for their organizational citizenship, as well as being measured on three discretionary organizational participant behaviours. Job satisfaction correlated significantly with organizational citizenship and participation behaviours (correlations ranged from +0.40 to +0.67). Findings were consistent with the view that satisfaction may not be reflected in productivity but is evident in discretionary involvement in the workplace. Implications for monitoring and managing a wide range of employee behaviours are outlined.

Examines the concerns profiles of 243 front‐line managers within Telecom Australia who were engaged in implementing two related innovations: (a) a new service policy called “Fix‐It‐First‐Time” and (b) a change in the functional role of front‐line managers. Results were considered to be broadly consistent with a developmental and stage model of concerns. However, the importance of concerns for this sample of workers was different from that suggested by previous research. The impact of innovations on colleagues, on clients and on their job security was paramount in this group, reflecting the fact that innovations occurred within a period of major retrenchment and redundancy. Results also confirmed a higher order structuring of concerns which occurs in the workplace and which goes beyond the original seven stages to encompass broadly defined personal concerns and impact concerns of the innovation. The implications of these findings are examined briefly in terms of an emerging critique of change management models for the 1990s.

Theories of career development urge an upward and linear progression in career adjustment and satisfaction. The results of this study of German paraprofessional employees indicated that the perceptions of their working climate were first accounted for by two separate factors comprising four negative climate components (job pressure, job dissatisfaction, poor relations with co‐workers, lack of recreation) and a separate career motivation dimension. Secondly cross‐sectional comparisons yielded significant age by gender interactions for job pressure, co‐worker relations, and lack of recreation. Women in particular appeared to be most affected by a decrease in the quality of working climate over time.

The ways in which expert workers differ from novices is principally in the amount of specific skills that they possess and the ways they have organized their knowledge. Highlights the advantages of aiming for expertise rather than competence. Also outlines the stages in the development of expertise. Provides examples from industry to show that occupational expertise is practical, informal in nature and only rarely, if ever, taught. Discusses implications for on‐the‐job training in major industries. Shows that expertise is based on case knowledge and problem solving.

This paper aims to report on the findings of a study into staff perceptions of service climate in New Zealand English language centres (ELCs) offering ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) courses.

A 71‐item questionnaire based on a Likert scale was used to survey non‐management teaching and administrative staff about their perceptions of the climate quality in their institutions.

The paper finds that staff in New Zealand ELCs demonstrated a positive perception of the service climate quality in their institutions. Service orientation was viewed as the most positive aspect of ELC service climate. Management aspects were not so positively perceived. The least positively‐perceived aspect of the service climate was resourcing. Significant differences in climate perceptions were identified among staff sub‐groups, and between staff in different ELC types.

The limitations of convenience samples are acknowledged. Further research is advocated into management and administrative aspects of ELCs operating in the private sector, as well as into the operation of other educational institutions in a commercial environment.

The paper shows that ELCs are doing well in terms of “soft” service management areas, e.g. service orientation and client focus, but need to pay more attention to the “hard” areas such as resourcing and basic management competencies.

ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) administration and management is a highly under‐researched area. This is one of the few pieces of empirical research in this sector, and thus represents a unique contribution to the literature. The findings will be of interest to anyone working and/or researching in the area of ELC/ESOL management, or in the area of private education provision.