HR graduate employability: An exploration of organisational contributors

In the UK, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are striving to be more responsive to the needs of stakeholders, such as more closely aligning Higher Education (HE) with the work skills required by employers. From an academic standpoint, increasing attention is being paid to transference of ‘skills’ and other aspects of graduate employability from HE to the workplace. This paper outlines findings from a qualitative study into line managers’ perceptions and experiences of graduates working in graduate level jobs in the UK, placing particular emphasis on the influence of organisational contributors. The context of this research is focused on Human Resources (HR) graduates, a discipline that has seen little qualitative inquiry across the Higher Education (HE), employability and HR literature. As such, this paper works towards building up a richer ‘picture’ of HR graduate employability and HR graduate level work.