Employers and graduates: the mediating role of signals and capitals

Abstract

This article provides evidence and insight on the demand-side of graduate employment and selection through an investigation of employers’ conceptions of what constitutes hireable and employable graduates. Drawing on evidence from a qualitative study with a diverse range of employers in the UK, the article shows that employers understand graduates’ employability to encompass a complex mix of key resources, understood here as capitals, that enable graduates to present a compelling narrative of employability. Departing from conventional graduate skills approaches, the article integrates signaling and socio-cultural approaches for examining the ways in which capitals operate as signals that inform employer conceptions of which graduates are perceived to be most hireable and ultimately employable. A range of human, organisational-cultural and identity capitals enhance the value of graduates’ profiles and provide signaling information that enables employers to screen graduate potential in competitive and crowded labour markets.

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