The personal equipment and social ecologies needed for successful employability: an exploration of perceptions among undergraduate social sciences students
Objectives There is a range of factors that could affect an undergraduate students’ progress in being able to identify and capitalise on their employability prospects. These factors could be influenced by how the students see themselves and their capabilities and the value of undertaking certain emp...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Cogent Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311908.2024.2344356 |
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| author | Glenn A. Williams Maria Karanika-Murray Helen Reed Hannah Wiseman |
| author_facet | Glenn A. Williams Maria Karanika-Murray Helen Reed Hannah Wiseman |
| author_sort | Glenn A. Williams |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Objectives There is a range of factors that could affect an undergraduate students’ progress in being able to identify and capitalise on their employability prospects. These factors could be influenced by how the students see themselves and their capabilities and the value of undertaking certain employability activities. Our research sought to explore how students perceived their employability and the factors underpinning such perceptions.Method Undergraduate Social Sciences students took part. Perceptions of employability were obtained from two cohorts at the same university. Cohort 1 comprised 30 students across eight focus group interviews, which were conducted in 2013. Cohort 2 comprised 43 students across 11 focus groups with data collected in 2021.Results Reflexive Thematic Analysis was used to extract two major themes: (1) Having the right ‘equipment’ for successful employability and (2) Social ecological factors. The first theme included taking responsibility, having self-confidence and relevant skills, recognising that experience could be more important than knowledge, having a clear identity, being passionate about a field, and self-awareness. The second theme comprised three sub-themes: (1) Microsystem direct influences on a student’s employability, (2) Dysfunctional mesosystems when microsystems around student employability clash, and (3) Macrosystem indirect wider national social influences on employability.Conclusions Implications for bolstering employability support include recognising the social ecologies surrounding students and the need for consistent messaging across microsystems that students are likely to encounter; more harmonious mesosystems should be created to help students to obtain more personalised, time-sensitive knowledge and skills to use on their employability journeys. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-5ee2939ee4934cbfb3f8f08f265c0bad |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2331-1908 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cogent Psychology |
| spelling | doaj-art-5ee2939ee4934cbfb3f8f08f265c0bad2025-08-20T02:22:15ZengTaylor & Francis GroupCogent Psychology2331-19082024-12-0111110.1080/23311908.2024.2344356The personal equipment and social ecologies needed for successful employability: an exploration of perceptions among undergraduate social sciences studentsGlenn A. Williams0Maria Karanika-Murray1Helen Reed2Hannah Wiseman3School of Social Sciences, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UKSchool of Business, University of Leicester, Leicester, UKSchool of Social Sciences, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UKSchool of Social Sciences, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UKObjectives There is a range of factors that could affect an undergraduate students’ progress in being able to identify and capitalise on their employability prospects. These factors could be influenced by how the students see themselves and their capabilities and the value of undertaking certain employability activities. Our research sought to explore how students perceived their employability and the factors underpinning such perceptions.Method Undergraduate Social Sciences students took part. Perceptions of employability were obtained from two cohorts at the same university. Cohort 1 comprised 30 students across eight focus group interviews, which were conducted in 2013. Cohort 2 comprised 43 students across 11 focus groups with data collected in 2021.Results Reflexive Thematic Analysis was used to extract two major themes: (1) Having the right ‘equipment’ for successful employability and (2) Social ecological factors. The first theme included taking responsibility, having self-confidence and relevant skills, recognising that experience could be more important than knowledge, having a clear identity, being passionate about a field, and self-awareness. The second theme comprised three sub-themes: (1) Microsystem direct influences on a student’s employability, (2) Dysfunctional mesosystems when microsystems around student employability clash, and (3) Macrosystem indirect wider national social influences on employability.Conclusions Implications for bolstering employability support include recognising the social ecologies surrounding students and the need for consistent messaging across microsystems that students are likely to encounter; more harmonious mesosystems should be created to help students to obtain more personalised, time-sensitive knowledge and skills to use on their employability journeys.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311908.2024.2344356Employability perceptionswork readinessundergraduate studentssocial sciencespersonal attributesknowledge and skills |
| spellingShingle | Glenn A. Williams Maria Karanika-Murray Helen Reed Hannah Wiseman The personal equipment and social ecologies needed for successful employability: an exploration of perceptions among undergraduate social sciences students Cogent Psychology Employability perceptions work readiness undergraduate students social sciences personal attributes knowledge and skills |
| title | The personal equipment and social ecologies needed for successful employability: an exploration of perceptions among undergraduate social sciences students |
| title_full | The personal equipment and social ecologies needed for successful employability: an exploration of perceptions among undergraduate social sciences students |
| title_fullStr | The personal equipment and social ecologies needed for successful employability: an exploration of perceptions among undergraduate social sciences students |
| title_full_unstemmed | The personal equipment and social ecologies needed for successful employability: an exploration of perceptions among undergraduate social sciences students |
| title_short | The personal equipment and social ecologies needed for successful employability: an exploration of perceptions among undergraduate social sciences students |
| title_sort | personal equipment and social ecologies needed for successful employability an exploration of perceptions among undergraduate social sciences students |
| topic | Employability perceptions work readiness undergraduate students social sciences personal attributes knowledge and skills |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311908.2024.2344356 |
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