Graduate Careers in Context Research, Policy and Practice

In a world where there are increasing concerns about graduate underemployment and likely career trajectories, it is not surprising that there is a significant body of literature examining graduate careers in post-industrial societies. However, it has become increasingly evident in recent years that there is a stark disconnect between academics who research employment and education, and careers and employability professionals. Graduate Careers in Context brings these two separate groups together for the first time in order to provide a better understanding of graduate careers. The book addresses the problems surrounding the graduate labour market and its relationship to higher education and public policy. Drawing on varied perspectives, the contributors provide a comprehensive examination of issues such as geography, mobility and employability, before presenting and discussing the benefits of future collaboration between practitioners and academic researchers. The interdisciplinary focus of this book will make it of great interest to academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the areas of education, sociology, social policy, business studies and career guidance and coaching. It should also be essential reading for practitioners who wish to consider their role and responsibilities within the changing higher education market.

Foreword: Paul Redmond Chapter One: Introduction – Graduate careers in context - setting the scene Fiona Christie and Ciaran Burke Part One: Graduate labour market: theoretical debates Chapter Two: "Investing Your Future": The Role of Capitals in Graduate Employment Pathways Ciaran Burke and Sarah Hannaford-Simpson Chapter Three: Whose employability? Fees, Labour Markets and the Unequal Rewards of Undergraduate Study Andrew Morrison Chapter Four: Regional Capital and ‘Local’ Graduate Employment Teresa Crew Part Two: Graduate careers and transitions Chapter Five: Graduate labour market myths Charlie Ball Chapter Six: Graduate Gap Years: Narratives of Postponement in Graduate Employment Transitions in England Katy Vigurs, Steven Jones, Diane Harris and Julia Everitt Chapter Seven: Geography, mobility and graduate career development Rosie Alexander Chapter Eight: Learning to be employable Jane Artess Chapter Nine: Life in the graduate graveyards: making sense of underemployment in graduate careers Tracy Scurry and John Blenkinsopp Part Three: Professional and Organisational issues relating to employability Chapter Ten: Organisational Responses to the Employability Agenda in English Universities Bob Gilworth Chapter Eleven: A new career in Higher Education careers work Siobhan Neary, Jill Hanson Chapter Twelve: Contested Boundaries of Expertise in HE careers and employability servicesNalayini Thambar Part Four: Careers Professionals Evolving into Researchers Chapter Thirteen: The rise of the practitioner-researcher. How big data and evidence-based practice requires practitioners with a research mindset David Winter Chapter Fourteen: Making connections through practitioner research Gill Frigerio Chapter Fifteen: Conclusion - editorial reflections and a call to action Fiona Christie and Ciaran Burke

Ciaran Burke is an Associate Professor of Higher Education, his research focuses on access to higher education and graduate employment pathways. Adopting a Bourdieusian theoretical lens, he has published extensively on issues including graduate employment, social justice and social theory. Fiona Christie is a Careers Consultant, Writer and Researcher. Her experience includes extensive advice and guidance, teaching, and management in Higher Education and she has also worked in Secondary/Further Education. She has recently completed her PhD in Educational Research with a focus on graduate transitions, careers and employability.