I doubt very seriously whether anyone will hire me; factors predicting employability perceptions in higher education

Understanding what makes people feel employable is enhanced by studying both the structural and individual dimensions of human behaviour. This paper examines the relative impact of three variables on perceptions of the employability of students in Higher Education (18–25); the way in which students think about themselves (mindset), their ability to overcome adversity (resilience) and the relationships and values that govern their interactions (social capital). It is reported that perceptions of employability are predicted largely by two subscales of the CD-RISC scale; “support” (p < .01, ηp2 = .07) and, “goal orientation” (p < .01 ηp2 = .29) and social capital “bridging” (P < .01, ηp2 = .05). Whilst mindset had no direct effect on perceived employability, both the fixed and growth mindsets have significant roles to play in personal resilience. We argue that contrary to previous findings, having a fixed mindset possibly supports the building of self-trust, self-respect and an acceptance of why you may be different from others. Results suggest that developing goal-oriented attitudes in students will support stronger beliefs about the extent to which they are employable.Published onlin

Job search information behaviours: An ego-net study of networking amongst young job-seekers

Networking is considered an integral feature of job search, yet its behavioural manifestation has received little attention in the extant literature. Here this is addressed in a study of young job-seekers that adopted an egocentric network approach underpinned by Information Behaviour theory, with specific reference to Wilson's model of information needs and seeking. The analysis of data from semi-structured interviews reveals that job-seekers acquire a broad range of job search information from contacts in their networks, and that the contributions of such contacts extend beyond the sharing of job vacancy alerts. In addition, in cases where social media platforms are accessed by job-seekers, these facilitate crucial ties to industry contacts, and provide valuable informational opportunities to those who adopt them. These findings contribute to a widened understanding of the information behaviours that support the effective mobilisation of contacts within social networks during job search, and are of particula