Rate My Professor Cathy Caballero

Cathy Caballero is a Lecturer in Psychology (Education-focused) at Deakin University’s School of Psychology in the Faculty of Health. Her research centers on graduate employability, work readiness, and career development, with a focus on psychological factors facilitating the transition from higher education to the professional workforce. Caballero is best known for co-developing the Work Readiness Scale (WRS), a psychometrically validated instrument assessing eight core dimensions including work competence, commitment to work, interpersonal and self-management skills. This scale has been extensively adopted in universities and organizations for graduate selection, training, and curriculum enhancement.

Caballero's key publications include 'Work readiness in graduate recruitment and selection: A review of current assessment methods' (2010, with Arlene Walker), cited over 482 times, which critiques existing assessment approaches and advocates for comprehensive work readiness evaluation. In 2011, she led the development of 'The Work Readiness Scale (WRS): Developing a measure to assess graduate work readiness,' garnering more than 533 citations and establishing a benchmark tool in the field. More recent works feature 'Untangling graduate employability and work readiness to inform evidence-based practice in higher education' (2026, with Lauren Hansen) in Higher Education Research & Development, a 2023 systematic review on Australian higher education students' and graduates' work readiness (with P. Orr et al.), and 'The implications of the diving response in altering carbon dioxide sensitivity during repeated apnoeas' (2025, with Peter Kyriakoulis). Previously, she worked as an HR Project Officer and Consultant (Culture and Organisational Development) in Deakin’s Human Resources Services Division. She holds a Graduate Certificate of Higher Education, contributes to Deakin’s supervisor training for psychologists, and has influenced projects like the Deakin Work Readiness Project integrating WRS into career curricula. Her scholarship significantly impacts higher education practices and graduate outcomes.