This article aims to understand predictors of objective (i.e., job offers, employment status and employment quality) and subjective (i.e., perceived) graduate employability during university-to-work transitions. Using survey data from two cohorts of graduates in the UK (N=293), it contrasts three competing theoretical approaches to employability: position (based on social background), possession (of human capital) and process (of career self-management (CSM)).Findings support the process view of graduate employability, developed through engaging in career self-management, in particular environment exploration, networking and guidance seeking. There is also some support for a possession view where educational credentials predict employment quality and perceived employability. Theoretically, the study highlights the importance of proactive career behaviours as well as the constraining role of educational credentials for some during university-to-work transitions. These findings have practical implications for university students/graduates and career counsellors, and, more indirectly, for employers and policy-makers.

This article examines whether organizations can enhance employee well‐being by adopting human resource management (HRM) practices strategically targeted to improve skill development and deployment in a recessionary context. Employee skill utilization is proposed as the mediating mechanism between HRM practice and well‐being. The role of workplace skill composition is also examined as a boundary condition within which HRM differentially impacts employee outcomes. Using a nationally representative survey of UK workplaces (Workplace Employment Relations Survey 2011) and matched management and employee data, the analysis focused on organizations that had implemented some recessionary action following the 2008–2009 global financial and economic crisis. The findings show that human capital enhancing HRM and enriched job design positively influenced both job satisfaction and work‐related affective well‐being through increased employee skill utilization. Organizations with predominantly high‐skilled workforces were more likely to adopt these skills‐oriented HRM practices. Nevertheless, the effects of HRM on employee outcomes via skill utilization applied across organizations, regardless of workforce skill composition. The findings demonstrate employee skill utilization as a driver of HRM outcomes and the sustainability of “best practice” HRM arguments across all skill levels, even in the face of recession.

Purpose: This article explores the nature and role of career boundaries for enabling/constraining career self-management for occupational boundary-crossing in the UK graduate labour market. Design/methodology/approach: The data is provided by career history interviews with 36 UK graduates. The analysis contrasts transitions for those who started careers in low- intermediate- and high-skilled segments of the labour market. Findings: Availability of development and progression opportunities were the most prominent career boundary experienced. Ease of boundary-crossing differed by career stage and educational background. Boundaries enabled career self-management by acting as psychological/external push factors, but push factors only aided progression to high-skilled segments for a third of graduates who started careers in underemployment. For the rest, an adaptation of expectations to labour market realities was observed. Research limitations/implications: Although career history interviews limit generalisability, they contextualise boundaries and deepen understanding of career actors' subjective experiences and responses. Practical implications: The study highlights the role of labour market and demand-side constraints for career transitions as well as proactive career behaviours. This has implications for career counsellors, employers and individuals. Originality/value: This article provides a distinctive ‘boundary-focused' analysis of emerging career boundaries in the graduate labour market. The findings point to the intricate interplay between structure and agency for career development

This article examines job quality for university graduates employed in intermediately skilled (emerging) and traditional graduate occupations. Skills policies largely assume that increasing the supply of skilled labour generates sufficient demand in terms of appropriate jobs, but job quality in emerging occupations and the effects on graduates' attitudes and well-being have yet to be established. The role of job quality (defined in terms of skills use, job content, job security and pay) was examined in a sample drawn from the 2006 UK Skills Survey. Graduates in emerging occupations reported lower use of ‘graduateness' skills, job control, opportunities for skill use and pay. In turn, job quality explained lower job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The defining features of a ‘good' graduate job related to intrinsic job content. The findings highlight the importance of employer practices and skills policies that better utilize and develop the highly skilled workforce