“Hey GRINGO!”: the HR challenge of graduates in non‐graduate occupations

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the phenomenon of growing numbers of graduates in non-graduate occupations (GRINGOs), and to explore the HR issues and complexities that arise as a consequence. The article also suggests avenues for future research. Design/methodology/approach: A case study methodology was used to gather data from four companies employing significant numbers of graduates in non-graduate jobs. Findings: The case studies suggest that GRINGOs can bring significant benefits to organisations, but are also challenging to manage: organisations which cannot offer them opportunities for career development risk having an able but resolutely uncommitted group of staff. Research limitations/implications: The research is based on a relatively limited sample, and the respondents were in management, so the findings were not triangulated with the perceptions of GRINGOs within the organisations. There is a paucity of literature examining the consequences of the GRINGO and the challenges that they pose for organisations, and this paper seeks to explore these issues and prompts further research in this area. Practical implications: The paper suggests that organisations are not fully utilising the potential of their GRINGO staff, and identifies ways in which HR departments might respond to this issue. Originality/value: The article makes an original contribution to the literature on graduate under-employment, by examining the issue from an organisational perspective

‘Are they out to get us?’ Power and the ‘recognition’ of the subject through a ‘lean’ work regime

Critical studies of ‘lean’ work regimes have tended to focus on the factory shop floor or public and healthcare sectors, despite its recent revival and wider deployment in neoliberal service economies. This paper investigates the politics of the workplace in a United Kingdom automotive dealership group subject to an intervention inspired by lean methods. We develop Foucauldian studies of governmentality by addressing lean as a technology of power deployed to act on the conduct of workers, examining how they debunk, distance themselves from and enact its imperatives. Our findings support critiques of lean work regimes that raise concerns about work intensification and poor worker health. Discourses of professional autonomy allow workers to distance themselves from lean prescriptions, yet they are reaffirmed in their actions. More significantly, we illustrate the exercise of a more encompassing form of power, showing how lean harnesses the inherently exploitable desire for recognition among hitherto marginalised workers, and its role as a form of ‘human capital’. The paper contributes to critical studies of lean by illustrating its subtle, deleterious and persistent effects within the analytical frame of neoliberal governmentality. We also demonstrate how studies of governmentality can be advanced through the analysis of contested social relations on the ground, highlighting the ethico-political potential of Foucauldian work

Navigating the graduate labour market: the impact of social class on student understandings of graduate careers and the graduate labour market

Significant expansions in higher education over the last few decades have raised concerns about an over-supply of graduates in the labour market, such that a degree no longer seamlessly translates into a graduate career or occupation, with the increased life chances this could bring. In this paper, we report a study of undergraduates’ perceptions of graduate careers and the graduate labour market. As the data showed perceptions were shaped strongly by social class we applied a Bourdieusian theoretical lens to examine the role of capitals and hysteresis of habitus on students’ expectations. The study demonstrates how the classed nature of the graduate labour market manifests itself through differences in the level of understanding and preparedness for navigating the labour market. We highlight the structural barriers ‘non-traditional’ graduates face when entering and navigating a volatile graduate labour market

Networks Amongst Syrians: Situated Migrant Positionalities and the Impact on Relational Embedding

This article employs Yuval‐Davis concept of situated intersectionality to explore processes of relational embedding amongst Syrian migrants in the UK. By drawing on in‐depth interview data from 31 men and women living in North East England, we explore how varying social categories—or positionalities—intersect and shape personal networks and feelings of attach‐ ment amongst Syrians. We show how wider structural contexts and systems of social relations shape migrants’ sense of belonging and attachment which can serve to enhance or weaken opportunities for social and economic inclusion. The findings reveal how, for Syrian migrants, wider macro level contexts determine immigration and asylum routes which in turn shape place‐specific opportunity structures that impact on micro individual level processes of relational embedding. We develop the term “migrant positionalities” as a social category to capture the multiple experiences of migration and asylum and the power dynamics that determine opportunity structures and processes of embedding. We contribute to the debates in this field by demonstrating how the wider structural context can lead to a multiplicity of immigration and asylum experiences for individuals, resulting in differences in support and rights that go on to shape processes of embed‐ ding and personal networks. By employing a situated intersectional lens, we also demonstrate how and why processes of relational embedding differ amongst migrants of the same nationality on the basis of social positionings such as ethnicity, class, and religion, that are situated in context, time, and spac

'More than just a 'phone monkey' ... ' : exploring graduate experiences of underemployment in call centres

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Under-employment among recent graduates: a review of the literature

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to offer a systematic review of the literature that explores under‐employment among recent graduates. Literature from a range of disciplines is reviewed in an attempt to further a theoretical understanding. In doing this, the secondary aim is to identify avenues for future research. Design/methodology/approach: The paper adopts a systematic literature review methodology to answer the question “What is graduate underemployment?” Findings: The review highlights significant issues around the conceptualisation and measurement of graduate under‐employment. It argues that individual volition and meaning making are important issues that to date remain under‐researched in relation to graduate under‐employment. The paper argues that the most appropriate basis for developing a theoretical understanding of graduate under‐employment is to draw upon relevant theoretical frameworks from career studies – specifically those on the objective‐subjective duality of career, career indecision, and career success. This approach provides a greater focus on the dynamics of the individual's experiences. Practical implications: This review has implications for a range of stakeholders including students, graduates, teachers and careers advisers, parents, universities, employers, HR professionals and policy makers. Originality/value: In the context of policy debates surrounding the purpose and value of higher education, this review brings together the highly fragmented perspectives on a phenomenon that encapsulates many of the issues being debated