The relation of career adaptability to work experience, extracurricular activities, and work transition in Portuguese graduate students

•Reports psychometric characteristics of CAAS—Portugal-HE Form.•Differential analysis examined assessing career adaptability in graduates.•Satisfactory results in terms of reliability and factor structure•Graduates with work experience and student worker status differed in CAAS-subscales.•Graduates who anticipate difficulties in work transition scored higher in control subscale

This study analyzed the psychometric properties and the factor structure of the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS)—Portugal HE Form with 406 graduate students and explored the relationship between career adaptability, work experience, extracurricular activities and work transition. The analysis allows us to conclude that CAAS can be a valid and useful measurement for assessing career adaptability in Portuguese graduates. The differential analysis evidenced that participants with student worker status and with work experiences reported displayed higher scores on the subscales of control and curiosity, respectively. No statistical differences emerged regarding experience of extracurricular activities. Also, participants who referred to anticipating difficulties in work transition scored significantly lower on the subscales of control than did their peers who do not anticipate difficulties in such transitions. The obtained results support the importance of considering practical experiences and fostering career adaptability during higher education studies as a way to help graduates manage the transition to professional contexts.