ERIC Number: EJ1070688
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-Aug
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0950-4222
EISSN: N/A
Graduate Dress Code How Undergraduates Are Planning to Use Hair, Clothes and Make-Up to Smooth Their Transition to the Workplace
Cutts, Beth; Hooley, Tristram; Yates, Julia
Industry and Higher Education, v29 n4 p271-282 Aug 2015
This article explores the relationship between students' identities, their ideas about professional appearance and their anticipated transition to the world of work. It is based on a series of semi-structured interviews with 13 students from a vocationally-focused university in England. It was found that participants viewed clothing and appearance as an important aspect of their transition to the workplace. They believed that, if carefully handled, their appearance could help them to fit in and satisfy the expectations of employers, although some participants anticipated that this process of fitting in might compromise their identity and values. The article addresses students' anticipated means of handling the tension between adapting to a new environment and "being themselves". It is argued that the way this process is handled is intertwined with wider facets of identity--most notably those associated with gender.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Undergraduate Students, Job Search Methods, Physical Characteristics, Clothing, Semi Structured Interviews, Grounded Theory, Dress Codes, Self Concept
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom (England)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A