TOWARDS A RECONCILIATION OF EMPLOYABILITY AND COMPETENCE MANAGEMENT: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND EMPIRICAL ILLUSTRATIONS

Abstract

This paper aims to clarify the link between employability and individual competencies. From the qualification conventions of employability, we identify
and understand the figures of individual competencies “behind” each way of assessing employability.
We propose a theoretical framework that articulates
the four qualification conventions of employability
(biographical, differential, supported, and projective) defined by saint-Germes (2007, 2010) and the
four figures of individual competence (owned, recognized, mobilized, and potential) defined by
retour (2005). Then, two case studies in “emblematic” contexts of the joint management of employability and individual competencies (IBm and Air
Littoral) illustrate the theoretical framework and its
perspectives. Accordingly, our research provides
HrD and actors of employment a decision grid that
helps them to better understand, assess, and manage
employability and individual competencies they
intend to develop in (or for) organizations.