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The focus on short-term graduate employment metrics has catalysed the employability agenda as a strategic directive in universities. A raft of embedded, co-curricular, and extra-curricular activities has emerged for developing employability. Their relative value lacks empirical exploration. This study explored graduates’ self-reported participation in, and their perspectives on the value of, a range of embedded, extra-curricular, and cocurricular learning activities, as well as paid work, for employability. Survey data were gathered (N = 510) from Business and Creative Industries graduates from three Australian universities about the perceived value of activities for skill development, gaining relevant experience, networking, and creating employment opportunities. The activities were considered more useful for gaining experience and skills than for broadening networks and improving career outcomes. Embedded and extra-curricular internships, as well as extra-curricular activities, were believed to be important for enhancing employability. Internships organised as an extra-curricular activity rated better than those delivered as work-integrated learning. Implications for stakeholders responsible for curricular and cocurricular design are discussed.

Graduate employability is a significant concern for most higher education institutions worldwide. During the last two decades, universities have attempted to implement their employability agendas to support their students to enhance employment outcomes. However, within today's globalized labour markets, employability has gone far beyond the notion of obtaining stable and permanent employment. This book explores graduates' experiences in developing and utilizing employability capitals for career development and success in different labour markets. In the chapters, the graduate contributors narrate and discuss how they negotiated their employability on the transitions across jobs, occupational sectors and labour markets. The chapters address key issues, including how employability is understood by graduates of different disciplines, at different career stages and in different contexts; how they develop and utilise such capitals along with strategies to negotiate their employability; and what can be done to move the higher education employability agenda forward. The book presents international insights and perspectives into transitions from education to work and career development across the labour markets, as well as calls for improving the graduate employability agenda. It is an invaluable resource for researchers and academics, university leaders, policymakers and students who are concerned about graduate employability.

Adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have low employment rates; even those who are employed have low wages and limited hours. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the Job-Based Social Skills (JOBSS) curriculum, a manualized, 15-week, group-delivered intervention for adults with ASD. The intervention aimed to increase social-pragmatic skills necessary to obtain and maintain employment. Twenty-two adults were randomly assigned to either JOBSS intervention or wait-list control groups. Results showed significant improvement in social cognition, as reported by caregivers, among JOBSS group participants compared to wait-list control participants. Forty-five percent of intervention participants gained employment in the six months following participation. This curriculum has potential to improve social skills of adults with ASD, thereby increasing successful employment.

To enhance employability and improve the career prospects of graduating students, this study explores the influence of practical experience on graduate employment outcomes in an Australian setting. To develop our understanding of the relative benefit of different forms of practical experience, the study evaluates the influence of both Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) and paid work in the final year of study on graduate employment and underemployment. Two samples are used, N?=?628 and N?=?237, to evaluate institutional data on practical experience combined with national data on graduate employment outcomes. Findings indicate that participating in WIL does not produce an increase in full-time employment rates. There is some evidence to suggest that it could lead to higher quality, relevant employment in both the short and long term. Paid employment during the final year of undergraduate study produced higher full-time employment rates, but had little effect on underemployment. Findings will help to inform stakeholders of the relative benefit of curricular and extra-curricular work experience and contribute to the dearth of empirical evidence on the value of activities designed to improve graduate employment prospects. This is particularly important given growth in the supply of graduates, concerns for credentialism, soft graduate labour markets and global economic weakening. (HRK / Abstract übernommen).

In the United States, employment outcomes for young adults with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are poor, with many unemployed, underemployed, or otherwise unable to achieve their potential regardless of cognitive ability. To explore employment expectations and experiences, qualitative interviews were conducted with 12 young adults with ASD and 28 parents. Transcripts were analyzed using the constant comparative method associated with a grounded theory approach. Three major themes emerged: Employment Aspirations and Potential , Challenges of Job Finding and Keeping , and Differing Parent and Young Adult Work-Related Roles and Views . Issues discussed include the need to foster meaningful pre-employment opportunities, acknowledge the role of families in employment issues, provide ASD-focused workplace support, and effectively coordinate intersecting systems (e.g., schools, agencies, employers).

In recent decades, a growing body of literature has emerged to illustrate the strong pressure on higher education institutions to prepare graduates for the world of work. This paper examines studies that attempt to incorporate the concept of employability skills in the empirical analysis. It thus focuses on the conceptual discussion and methodological options to show how researchers cope empirically with the assumptions associated with employability skills. This literature survey offers a taxonomy of methods that distinguishes between direct and indirect, as well as supervised and unsupervised, methods for the collection of data on skills. Although the underlying premise of the available research is that higher education institutions and policymakers should be provided with information on employability skills, the studies examined in this paper suggest that the identification of those skills is an impossible endeavour. Agreement is only found on some cognitive, technical, and relational skills. More importantly, it is argued that the supply-side approach overlooks economic and social processes that might affect employability. The problem of graduates' employability transcends higher education institutions' provision of useful and matched skills. (HRK / Abstract übernommen).

Purpose In the context of far-reaching changes in higher education and the labour market, there has been extensive discussion on what constitutes graduate employability and what shapes graduates’ labour market outcomes. Many of these discussions are based on skills-centred approaches and related supply-side logic. The purpose of this paper is to develop an alternative, relational conceptualisation of employability based on the concept of capitals. It discusses how this provides a more detailed and multi-dimensional account of the resources graduates draw upon when transitioning to the labour market. Design/methodology/approach The paper presents a new model on graduate employability, linked to five areas of capital which are seen as constitutive of graduates’ employability and significant to their transitions to the labour market. The paper draws together existing conceptual approaches and research studies to illustrate the different features of the model and how they relate to graduate employability. It also discusses some practical implications for those helping to facilitate graduates’ transitions to the job market. Findings The paper argues that the graduate capital model presents a new way of understanding graduate employability which addresses the challenges of facilitating graduates’ transitions and early career management. The forms of capital outlined are conceived as key resources that confer benefits and advantages onto individuals. These resources encompass a range of human, social, cultural, identity and psycho-social dimensions and are acquired through graduates’ formal and informal experiences. Research limitations/implications Whilst this is a conceptual model, it has potentially strong implications for future research in this area in terms of further research exploration on the core components and their application in the labour market. Practical implications This re-conceptualization of graduate employability has significant implication for graduates’ career management and strategising in developing resources for enhancing their transitions to and progression within the labour market. It also has implications for career educators in developing practical employability strategies that can be used within institutional settings. Social implications The paper raises salient implications for the effective and equitable management of graduate outcomes post-graduation which has clear relevance for all stakeholders in graduate employability, including students/graduates, career educators and employers. Originality/value The paper develops a new model for conceptualising graduate employability and illustrates and applies this to discussion of graduate employability. It also raises practical applications around the different components of the model.

Currently, the training of the future work force presents challenging problems to higher education. This training, in the form of practical and theoretical knowledge can come from multiple platforms, channels and means, both formal and informal. In addition, it is quite difficult to assess the knowledge skill level that a student has acquired to optimize their chances for future employability. This, together with the need to still manage academic curricula on paper, the problems of confidence when validating these documents and contrasting them with real knowledge, etc., means that management in higher education requires revolutionary new tools. This work evaluates the benefits of the blockchain (or distributed ledger) technology and advocates a decentralised model of confidence for transactions based on an academic crypto currency. In this approach blockchain is used to manage transactions of content, teaching and competencies, assessed by consensus by students, trainers and employers, to eliminate once and for all the “gap” between the academic world and the working world. This paper aims to address the current challenges of an increasingly dispersed, open and ubiquitous higher education. The proposed model can be implemented in any training institution to adapt its teaching to the specific needs of professional profiles validated by employers in the sector. This model has been validated by means of a prototype with more than acceptable results.

This paper addresses the limited empirical analysis of higher education students’ perceptions of contemporary labour market demands. It explores their perspectives on the health of the graduate labour market, what factors determine these and how their perceptions relate to self-perceived employability, career proactivity, career control and efforts to develop positional advantage. Further, the study examines determinants of students’ career planning, all in the context of a challenging graduate labour market and higher education systems that have become more market-driven. The paper draws on evidence from a survey among Australian and UK students (N = 433), from two institutions and across a range of disciplines. Data revealed a number of significant findings. Overall, students who reported more positive perceptions of the current labour market were more likely to develop higher self-perceptions of employability, believe they had a greater sense of control over their career yet were less engaged with proactive career behaviours. Students perceived employability, their sense of career control and their reported career proactivity positively determined their engagement in career planning. The study enhances our understanding of the impact of labour market demand-side factors on student approaches to careers. It raises significant implications for universities and their career practitioners in identifying ways of enhancing students’ career planning strategies within a more challenging labour market context.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the concept of graduate work readiness (GWR) from a stakeholder perspective. The research attempts to pull together the various multidisciplinary themes from the literature into a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between graduates and the labour market, considering the international dimension of what is a global phenomenon. Design/methodology/approach The critical review is divided into four distinct sections, the first is to contextualise the concept of GWR and graduate employability taking into account recent academic discussion, particularly in the EU and ASEAN; second, to explore the different perspectives of stakeholders in the “triple helix” of universities, governments and the corporate world; third, critically to assess the arguments that educational provision is poorly aligned with labour market needs; and finally, to investigate the implications of the fourth industrial revolution for graduate jobs and skills and propose an agenda for future research. Findings Despite the apparent consensus between stakeholders over the central importance of graduate employability, there is considerable diversity in how each imagines GWR is best assured. Research limitations/implications Any review is limited by the extant literature and whilst it is not uncommon that most research has been done in North America, Western Europe and Australasia, this is a serious limitation. GWR is a global concern and this review shows the need for more research that extends beyond the dominant geographical focus and its attendant paradigms. The implication is that geography is important and local research is needed to develop solutions that fit specific cultural, economic and institutional contexts. Practical implications The paper highlights the need to reconcile different stakeholder perspectives on GWR and ensure that they work together on shared agendas to improve graduate transition to the labour market. At the same time, the profound changes being brought about by the fourth industrial revolution suggest that more attention should be paid to the employability of existing employees. Originality/value This review should prove useful to both academics and practitioners because it emphasises the need to treat GWR as a concept that varies according to context and stakeholder interests, rather than a homogeneous phenomenon.