In a world where there are increasing concerns about graduate underemployment and likely career trajectories, it is not surprising that there is a significant body of literature examining graduate careers in post-industrial societies. However, it has become increasingly evident in recent years that there is a stark disconnect between academics who research employment and education, and careers and employability professionals. Graduate Careers in Context brings these two separate groups together for the first time in order to provide a better understanding of graduate careers.

The book addresses the problems surrounding the graduate labour market and its relationship to higher education and public policy. Drawing on varied perspectives, the contributors provide a comprehensive examination of issues such as geography, mobility and employability, before presenting and discussing the benefits of future collaboration between practitioners and academic researchers.

The interdisciplinary focus of this book will make it of great interest to academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the areas of education, sociology, social policy, business studies and career guidance and coaching. It should also be essential reading for practitioners who wish to consider their role and responsibilities within the changing higher education market.

About the Author

Ciaran Burke is an Associate Professor of Higher Education, his research focuses on access to higher education and graduate employment pathways. Adopting a Bourdieusian theoretical lens, he has published extensively on issues including graduate employment, social justice and social theory.

Fiona Christie is a Careers Consultant, Writer and Researcher. Her experience includes extensive advice and guidance, teaching, and management in Higher Education and she has also worked in Secondary/Further Education. She has recently completed her PhD in Educational Research with a focus on graduate transitions, careers and employability.

Reviews

"The graduate employment environment is thematically explored in policy, market, institutional, and human resource terms [...] This is certainly a book with something for everyone, and something that everyone can use."

Dr Kate Daubney, Head of King's Careers & Employability, written in Phoenix, The Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Service.

"This is a unique book and fills a gap in the literature. The range of writers is impressive and it represents a considerable feat of scholarship. Ciaran Burke and Fiona Christie have done a great job in not just talking the talk but walking the walk in relation to improving dialogue between theory and practice. Judged on its own terms it certainly delivers on its objectives. Speaking personally, this book will definitely be a welcome addition to the reading lists on our courses for career development professionals at Warwick. I can see some chapters quickly becoming core reading on our modules. It should be similarly adopted at other training centres. It will also be useful more widely for educational developers, university learning and development centres, teacher training centres, HR departments, and, of course, students too."

Dr Phil McCash, NICEC Fellow, Principal Teaching Fellow in the Career Studies Unit at the University of Warwick, written in the Journal of the National Institute of Careers and Educational Counselling.

"With the increasing profile of graduate employability in Higher Education Institutions, Burke and Christie's Graduate Careers in Context is timely and most welcome. Bringing together chapters written by leading experts in the field, the book offers a wide range of perspectives on the subject, examining graduate employability from theoretical, empirical and practitioner viewpoints. This is a unique synthesis of the current landscape, and provides a comprehensive overview of contemporary issues in the graduate labour market, graduate careers and employability, and HE career practice. The book will provide valuable food for thought and is a must-read for researchers, students and practitioners in the field."

Dr Julia Yates, City, University of London.

"This excellent collection could not be more timely. Drawing on leading-edge research, it brings together a series innovative and wide-ranging analyses on the ways in which graduate careers can be conceptualised and practically addressed. The chapters in this collection will help shape the direction of debate on graduate career readiness and serve as a catalyst for further insightful and nuanced discussion around how we manage this process within a fast-moving economy for the highly qualified. This collection should be of considerable interest to the HE research and practitioner community alike."

Dr Michael Tomlinson, University of Southampton.

Book Information
ISBN 9780367488888
Author Ciaran Burke
Format Paperback
Page Count 202
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 453g