Job search is and always has been an integral part of people's working lives. Whether one is brand new to the labor market or considered a mature, experienced worker, job seekers are regularly met with new challenges in a variety of organizational settings. Edited by Ute-Christine Klehe and Edwin A.J. van Hooft, The Oxford Handbook of Job Loss and Job Search provides readers with one of the first comprehensive overviews of the latest research and empirical knowledge in the areas of job loss and job search. Multidisciplinary in nature, Klehe, van Hooft, and their contributing authors offer fascinating insight into the diverse theoretical and methodological perspectives from which job loss and job search have been studied, such as psychology, sociology, labor studies, and economics. Discussing the antecedents and consequences of job loss, as well as outside circumstances that may necessitate a more rigorous job hunt, this Handbook presents in-depth and up-to-date knowledge on the methods and processes of this important time in one's life. Further, it examines the unique circumstances faced by different populations during their job search, such as those working job-to-job, the unemployed, mature job seekers, international job seekers, and temporary employed workers. Job loss and unemployment are among the worst stressors individuals can encounter during their lifetimes. As a result, this Handbook concludes with a discussion of the various types of interventions developed to aid the unemployed. Further, it offers readers important insights and identifies best practices for both scholars and practitioners working in the areas of job loss, unemployment, career transitions, outplacement, and job search.

Researchers have suggested that self-efficacy and feedback-seeking behavior (FSB) are effective in enhancing performance. To improve performance in the workplace, research should focus on how psychologists can enhance these constructs in employees. Though locus of control (LOC) relates to self-efficacy and increased FSB, research has revealed issues in LOC (e.g., failure to predict performance, range restriction, failure to predict behaviors). The current study examined the effects of perceived "lack of control", learned helplessness, over LOC on both self-efficacy and FSB in two different samples: a student sample (N = 321) and a work sample (N = 794). Learned helplessness accounted for unique variance over LOC in self-efficacy and FSB and accounted for all variance LOC accounted for in self-efficacy. LOC did not moderate relationships between learned helplessness and self-efficacy but did moderate relationships between learned helplessness and FSB. Predicted moderation effects were more complicated than expected as I observed moderation effects that differed from the pattern of effects I predicted in both Study 1 and Study 2. Although my hypotheses were not all supported, my results highlighted several issues and future directions relevant to motivational research, including large conceptual overlap between learned helplessness and LOC and how different levels of LOC affected relationships between learned helplessness and FSB differently at low versus high levels of learned helplessness.

This two-wave field study draws from social cognitive theory to investigate the specific job search self-efficacy beliefs and behaviors of unemployed ethnic minority women in the Netherlands. We go beyond prior job search research that predominantly used white samples and conceptualized job search self-efficacy and behavior as global, unidimensional constructs. We found that networking self-efficacy and Internet self-efficacy were the main predictors of ethnic minority women's job search behaviors. Moreover, the more time they spent on contacting employment agencies and looking at job ads the more job offers they received. Finally, time spent on job ads was more positively related to job offers when job ad self-efficacy was high and time spent on networking only predicted job offers when networking self-efficacy was high.

The volume addresses important issues of human adaptation and change.

Keeping up with new developments in vocational psychology is important to both psychological practitioners and researchers. This volume is devoted to presenting and evaluating important advances in the field of career decision making, development, and maturity. More specifically, it identifies, reports, and evaluates significant contemporary developments in vocational psychology and provides both professional workers and students with an informed understanding of the progress taking place in the field. The history and theory of the assessment of career development and decison making are explored as well as advances in career planning systems. An expanded context for the study and evaluation of career development variables is also described.