Career readiness in Madrid, Spain

This paper reports the results of a survey of young adults aged 19-26 who were educated in the Community of Madrid, Spain. The study asks users of career guidance systems within secondary education to share perspectives on their usefulness from the vantage point of the labour market participation. The study finds that overwhelmingly respondents who participated in career development activities as teenagers found them to be useful to their post-secondary transitions with many stating that they were very useful. They wished however that they had received more support from their schools, especially with regard to practical activities related to integration into the working world. Analysis finds many strong relationships between participation in career development and the quality of transitions. It is less likely for young adults who engaged more deeply in career development as teenagers to report that they were Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) at the time of the survey and they expressed more positive attitudes about their transitions and the value of the support received from their schools.