Maintaining the promise without killing the dream: Developing resilience for future ‘graduate’ careers

Abstract

Significant numbers of recent graduates continue to enter non-graduate roles. Against this backdrop, there is a need to consider how students and graduates can be prepared for the graduate labour market. Resilience is represented as a key attribute for successfully navigating this challenging and complex labour market. Drawing on empirical research with higher education careers practitioners, we examine approaches to supporting graduates in developing ‘resilience’ against a backdrop of competing stakeholder priorities. We highlight the challenges of acknowledging transition experiences that are counter to dominant notions of successful graduate outcomes. We advocate support for practitioners to provide realistic insights into the graduate labour market.