Identity and Employability: Challenges and opportunities in the context of Covid-19

Chris Jones and Cassie White, Nottingham Trent University, UK

Emails: chris.jones02@ntu.ac.uk; cassie.white@ntu.ac.uk          

Click to download Identity and Employability: Challenges and opportunities in the context of Covid-19 (.pptx)

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Abstract

Following an extended period of lockdown and online learning in UK Higher Education, universities and employers are reporting lower levels of engagement with careers events and industry vacancies.   It is anecdotally reported that some students returning to campus for their second and final years of undergraduate study feel unprepared for graduate employment and have a 'first year mindset' in relation to learning for employability, having missed out on important personal development opportunities and experiences.

This brief conceptual presentation will consider these issues through the lens of student and graduate identity development, an important but often overlooked aspect of employability.  We will discuss employability insights which may be gained from academic literature on identity, including Identity Capital (Tomlinson, 2017) Identity Process Theory (Jaspal and Breakwell 2014) and Pre-Professional Identity (Jackson, 2016), and look at how the potential impact of Covid 19 on student engagement, self-confidence and mindset might be viewed from these different perspectives.   

In the light of these challenges, we will discuss how different types of interventions within and beyond the curriculum could help to support students' identity development for the benefit of their future employability. 

References 

Jackson, D., 2016. Re-conceptualising graduate employability: the importance of pre-professional identity. Higher Education Research & Development, 35, 1-15.

Jaspal, R & Breakwell, GM (eds) 2014, Identity Process Theory: Identity, Social Action and Social Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U. K.

Tomlinson, M., 2017. Forms of graduate capital and their relationship to graduate employability. Education + Training, 59 (4), 338-352. 

Insights into the post-Covid-19 Higher Education and graduate recruitment context:

• https://insights.ise.org.uk/attraction-and-marketing/blog-ise-experts-on-grabbing-student-attention-this-autumn/ (ISE, November 2021)
• https://luminate.prospects.ac.uk/early-careers-survey-2021-jobs-apprenticeships-and-postgraduate-study, (Prospects, June 2021)
•  https://luminate.prospects.ac.uk/early-careers-survey-2021-work-experience-during-a-crisis, (Prospects, May 2021)
• https://wonkhe.com/blogs/students-need-universities-to-prioritise-inclusion-and-academic-confidence-in-the-years-ahead/  (WonkHE, Sept 2021)
• https://wonkhe.com/blogs/the-pandemic-has-decimated-the-university-experience-how-can-we-put-that-right/ (WonkHE, Feb 2021)
• https://wonkhe.com/blogs/lack-of-work-experience-proves-a-barrier-for-jobseekers/  (WonkHE, June 2021)