The influence of part-time work on graduates' careers
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore university students' perceptions about career development in relation to their part-time working and to examine whether students maximise opportunities arising in their part-time job in order to enhance their personal profile and career aspirations...
Saved in:
Published in | Higher education, skills and work-based learning Vol. 11; no. 5; pp. 1106 - 1115 |
---|---|
Main Authors | , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Bingley
Emerald Publishing Limited
19.10.2021
Emerald Group Publishing Limited |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
Cover
Loading…
Summary: | PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore university students' perceptions about career development in relation to their part-time working and to examine whether students maximise opportunities arising in their part-time job in order to enhance their personal profile and career aspirations.Design/methodology/approachSemi-structured interviews were held with 20 degree students at a UK university. The interview was based around 19 questions, split into three sections: general; career and the part-time job.FindingsThe findings indicate that while students are aware that part-time work helps in developing personal skills, there is a lack of awareness on how part-time work can provide differentiation in the graduate jobs market and support long-term graduate careers. The conclusion discusses the implications of the findings suggesting greater awareness among students of how part-time work can drive work readiness and long-term career aspirations. It also recommends greater involvement of career advisors and university teaching colleagues in supporting this endeavour.Originality/valueWhile other papers on student working have included a small element regarding careers, this paper offers originality by focussing solely on the relationship between students' part-time work and career aspirations. Moreover, most works in this area have been quantitative studies, whereas this study is qualitatively-based. |
---|---|
Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Report-1 |
ISSN: | 2042-3896 2042-390X |
DOI: | 10.1108/HESWBL-07-2020-0156 |