Zoekresultaten

De impact van het generatiepact

“Is there a fit?”

Heel Holland matcht?

In de context van de zeer dynamische en steeds krapper wordende arbeidsmarkt anno 2022 pleiten verschillende organisaties voor het centraal stellen op de arbeidsmarkt van vaardigheden ofwel ‘skills’. In Nederland zijn er verschillende initiatieven gericht op het ontwikkelen van een skillsmarkt, maar van het grootschalig samenbrengen van werkzoekenden en werkgevers aan de hand van skills is voorlopig nog geen sprake. Dat komt mede omdat werkgevers de meerwaarde van skillsbenaderingen vaak nog te onduidelijk vinden. In dit artikel bespreken wij eerst de fundamentele bouwstenen van skillsmatches om vervolgens vanuit het perspectief van de werkgever de meerwaarde en vereisten van skillsmatching door te nemen. Fundamenteel aan skillsmatching is het in beeld brengen van skills. Daarvoor is het belangrijk om skills te objectiveren, aan te tonen en te wegen. Die skills kunnen vervolgens gebruikt worden tijdens het matchingsproces om vraag en aanbod op de arbeidsmarkt op basis van skills samen te brengen. Dat kan lonen voor werkgevers omdat zij daarmee (1) een grotere groep van geschikte kandidaten, (2) een fijnmaziger zicht op de kwaliteit van kandidaten, (3) een verbetering van de arbeidsorganisatie en (4) een stimulans voor het leren op de werkvloer kunnen bereiken. Om dat mogelijk te maken is het van belang dat werkgevers en HR-managers hun vraag naar arbeid uitdrukken in skills, gestructureerd hun skillsmatches evalueren en in kaart welke skills zij in de toekomst verwachten nodig te hebben.

Fit for play

Abstract: Sedentary behaviour in children, four years of age and older, has increased over the last decades. These children become physically less skilled, which demotivates them for regular sports activities. They become susceptible to health risks such as obesity and have a heightened chance to develop depression and a lower self-esteem. Sports professionals acknowledge that these children in time become unable to keep up with the sports education pace, leaving them prone to social exclusion as well.Exergames seem promising in their potential to increase the amount and quality of physical exercise in this group. Moreover, they offer strategies to motivate children to a more active and healthier lifestyle. However, some issues remain unclear regarding their applicability and individual fittingness. For one thing sports professionals have little to no experience using exergames in physical education, let alone understand which games could be appropriate to structurally activate said children. In addition, existing exergames regularly lack a suitable degree of adaptivity regarding what a child is physically capable of, which psychological needs should be addressed, and to what inactive children find appealing in terms of gameplay.The aim of our research project is to build a first prototype of an adaptive platform for exergames to motivate inactive children to structurally engage in physical exercise more, and better. The participative design method we used in our preliminary qualitative research led to a better understanding of the barriers to move and the psychological needs children have when it comes to physical exercise. We made a first global list of requirements for the adaptive platform and an overview of necessary design directions.Future pursuits in this project include a participative design research study amongst both children and sports professionals, and a thorough review of the literature and state of the art knowledge. We will use this knowledge to create a first prototype of an adaptive platform in collaboration with a serious game company and an organisation of sport professionals. After user testing we will use the evaluation findings as a baseline for future measurements regarding the adaptation of suggested exergames and to formalize and disseminate found design guidelines.

Am I fit for tomorrow’s labor market?

This study contributes to the employability skills debate by investigating how students’ self-perceived 21st century skills relate to the self-perceived fit between their higher education curriculum and their future labor market for a sustainable entry to this labor market. Survey data from 4670 fourth-year students over a period of four years were analyzed. Furthermore, out of this group, 83 students were monitored longitudinally over their full educational student careers. Results showed a positive relationship between students’ self-perceived 21st century skills and their self-perceived “education-future labor market fit”. Among more recent cohorts, a significant improvement in their self-perceived 21st century skills was found. Overall, this study indicated that in order to deliver “employable” graduates, students need to be thoroughly trained in 21st century skills, and their development should be retained and expanded. This is one of the few studies that uses a vast amount of both cross-sectional and longitudinal data on skills and labor market perspectives among new graduates.

Optimization of military garment fit

In the Dutch armed forces clothing sizes are determined using 3D body scans. To evaluate if the predicted size based on the scan analysis matches the best fit, 35 male soldiers fitted a combat jacket and combat pants. It was shown that the predicted jacket size was slightly too large. Therefore, an adjustment was proposed. The predicted and preferred pant size matched rather well. We further investigated discrepancies between predicted and preferred sizes using virtual fitting analysis. Colour maps showing the difference between garment and body circumference illustrated that some soldiers selected a garment size that was obviously too small or too large. In order to minimize the effect of personal preference and maximize standardize ease, we recommend to maintain the current size prediction (with minor corrections for jackets) and use virtual fitting selectively as a control measure.