Graduate identity and employability

Abstract

This paper develops the concept of graduate identity as a way of deepening the understanding of graduate employability. It does this through presenting research in which over 100 employers in East Anglia were asked to record their perceptions of graduates in respect of their employability. The findings suggest a composite and complex graduate identity, depending on employer size and sector. There is no one fixed identity for graduates. Nevertheless, certain themes emerged that seriously put into question the traditional model of graduate employability comprising skills, competencies and attributes. What emerges is a four‐stranded concept of identity that comprises value, intellect, social engagement and performance. Thus, when assessing the potential of graduates, performance is not the only criteria that employers take into account. Moreover, the four elements of identity are by no means independent of each other but are expected to interpenetrate producing a composite identity, with different employers emphasising different facets of this identity. Everybody talks about transferable skills and nobody knows what it means. That baffles me. What's a transferable skill—they've never transferred anything. … They don't know how to do it. (E‐Learning SME, Director) What is different about a graduate? Young ideas, freshness, the way they live their lives— a whole lifestyle that brings enthusiasm of youth—[it] brings freshness to the organisation and can create a different dynamic. (Energy Sector, Manager)