ERIC Number: EJ1424555
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0309-877X
EISSN: EISSN-1469-9486
Employability Capitals as Essential Resources for Employment Obtainment and Career Sustainability of International Graduates
Thanh Pham; Behnam Soltani; Jasvir Kaur Nachatar Singh
Journal of Further and Higher Education, v48 n4 p436-448 2024
This study deployed a mixed-method approach to explore how international graduates identified and strategically utilised their resources to negotiate employability in the host country. One hundred and eighty international graduates from Australian universities participated in a survey and in-depth interviews. Findings revealed that employability was determined by various forms of capital including human, cultural social, identity and psychological. More importantly, the graduates had to develop 'agentic capital' to decide how to utilise these forms of capital appropriately. Social and cultural capitals emerged as the crucially important elements when the graduates looked for opportunities to get a foot into the labour market. These forms of capital enabled the graduates to mobilise their human capital. However, to navigate barriers in the workplace, the articulation of a sound understanding about the working culture became a 'must' because the graduates found it hard to understand hidden rules and conventions in the labour market. Results from the study indicate that graduate employability should not just be measured right after students' graduation because different forms of capital play their significant roles at different stages of the graduates' career development. Besides, higher education should equip students with various forms of capital.
Descriptors: Employment Potential, Human Capital, Sustainability, Foreign Countries, Social Capital, Cultural Capital, Labor Market, Career Development, Foreign Students, College Graduates, Surveys, Participant Characteristics, Outcomes of Education
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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: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A