The Employability Agenda

Employability Is a Journey: Conceptualising Processual Employability as a Career Identity Emergence Process

“…On a theoretical level, it reflects the interactional and dynamic nature of employability by involving career identity change in the face of transitions between changing social contexts [16,80]. In this way, we theorise employability as a social construct co-delivered by the individual and social environment they are in, which is a rather rare but highly needed perspective in the field of employability research [9], and poses a challenge to the traditional human capital-focused employability discourse [8,58] aiming to "produce" human resources.…”

“…The shaft of the arrow bears the arrowhead, so it can be shot by a bow. This aspect in processual employability is captured by the development of personal capital-a combination of personal resources that benefits the individual's value-creating functions in society and enhances their chance to maintain or acquire employment [8,58,61]. Since the fulfilment of economic needs is the premise for a career role to be needed and accepted, as a result, the possession of the appropriate personal capital required for a certain career role is essential for the individual to be recognised as employable, and the process of developing these capitals is what lays the foundation of the individual's display of their career identity during Signalling and Career Building (see Figure 1).…”

“…This situation raises a challenge to the traditionally dominating approach of possessional employability [6]. In this approach, employability is often defined as the possession of certain characteristics, skills, or capabilities [6,7], and the emphasis is often on the needs of the job market [8] viewed from a cross-sectional instead of a longitudinal perspective [9]. As a result, the employability concept gradually bears too many meanings [10,11] to effectively represent itself [12].…”

Remote Work Integrated Learning (RWIL) Field Placement in Retail Management

“…While preparing students for the workforce is a joint responsibility between HEIs, and industry members, Tomlinson (2017) argues that industry and government perceive that HEIs have failed to fulfill the outcomes that WIL ought to achieve by offering disconnected experiences between student education and practice. Suleman (2017) argues that the industry exerts pressures on HEIs to produce work-ready resources, while G. Crisp, J. Higgs, and W. Letts (2019) argue that the interpretation of responsibility ignores that alongside work-readiness, WIL opportunities should also provide challenges and change within the profession. A process often side-lined by members focusing on 'work-readiness' and ignoring the learning that extends beyond skills with immersive practice.…”

In Search of Responsible Career Guidance: Career Capital and Personal Purpose in Restless Times

“…Business school educators may not always be well-placed to gain direct insight into current and emerging labor market demands. Structurally, the interface between faculty on the one hand, and career and student services on the other is often underdeveloped and characterized by division of labor, rather than collaboration and reciprocal knowledge exchange (Crisp et al, 2019, p. 225). As a result, few faculty members, outside of subject matter specialists, would have an in-depth understanding of how current transformations in business—from digitization to sustainability— concretely affect demand for specific skill profiles, or the value of other career capital.…”