The Role of Self-Compassion in Job Seeking Prospects and Challenges among University Graduates

Abstract

Job seeking is an exhausting and strenuous process. Job seekers, especially fresh university graduates, face many challenges during this process, such as low confidence levels and anxiety or stress. The current study aims to explore the role of self-compassion in job-seeking prospects and challenges among university graduates. The total sample size was 335 university graduates from one private and one public sector university. A quantitative model was chosen for the current research. Data was collected through online questionnaires from graduates. The self-compassion scale by Neff and the self-structured job-seeking prospects and challenges scale were used for data collection. The findings demonstrate that there is a significant positive correlation between self-compassion and job-seeking prospects and challenges. A significant negative correlation was found between job-seeking challenges (subscale of job-seeking prospects and challenges) and self-compassion. This implies that university graduates who have higher self-compassion can cope better with job-seeking challenges. Social networks and job-seeking prospects (subscale of job-seeking prospects and challenges) had a significant positive correlation. The research illustrated that there is a difference between public and private university graduates because private university graduates have more polished hard and soft skills, as they do not have the issue of limited funding. It is concluded that self-compassion plays a safeguarding role in job-seeking prospects and challenges. Having social networks, soft and hard skills pose a prospect for university graduates in job seeking. The level of confidence and overall job-seeking process is a challenge for university graduates. Further research can introduce an intervention of self-compassion to better understand the role of self-compassion in an individual’s life, and focus on how and what kind of social networks are most helpful in job seeking.