In his research, Van Hooft focuses on motivation and self-regulation processes in achievement settings. In particular, he studies topics related to motivation and self-regulation when searching for work or during reemployment, individual differences in self-regulation, job insecurity, boredom at work, procrastination, and the role of goal orientation in the self-regulation process.

As a professor, Van Hooft will focus on keeping people employable during their working lives. In the changing labour market, job insecurity, job loss and changing jobs are becoming more common, with negative consequences for mental health. In this context, Van Hooft will conduct research into preventing and proactively dealing with the negative consequences of job insecurity and job loss, strengthening effective job search behaviour and promoting the mental health of workers. Van Hooft will also teach in the Human Resource & Career Management Master’s track.

About Van Hooft
Van Hooft has been an associate professor at the UvA since 2009. Since 2018, he has been director of the Graduate School of Psychology. Van Hooft previously worked as an assistant professor at Erasmus University and the Vrije University Amsterdam. He was a visiting professor at the University of Minnesota and Ghent University. Van Hooft has received various grants, including a Veni grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), an ORA grant from NWO / NSF and a Horizon2020 grant from the EU.

Van Hooft has published many articles on job search behaviour and motivation and self-regulation processes in renowned scientific journals such as the Journal of Applied Psychology, Personnel Psychology, Academy of Management Journal and the Journal of Vocational Behaviour. In 2018, he published the Oxford Handbook on Job Loss and Job Search. He also wrote a guide for reemployment counsellors ‘Sturen op zelfsturing’ on behalf of the Dutch Council for Work and Income, he evaluated the Dutch Employee Insurance Agency’s training programme ‘Succesvol naar werk’, and he developed the online networking training ‘Building Relationships and Improving Opportunities’.