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Att uppleva sig som anställningsbar innebär inte en anställning. Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur unga män från Rinkeby med akademisk examen upplever deras anställningsbarhet, vilka eventuella stödjande strukturer de upplever kan öka deras möjligheter till arbete, samt vilken effekt arbetsmöjligheterna har på deras välbefinnande. Det genomfördes 8 semistrukturerade intervjuer som sedan tematiserades, där 8 centrala teman identifierades: fördomar under ytan, områdets begränsningar till önskat arbete, nätverkets betydelse, brist på vägledning, ekonomisk trygghet, känsla av exkludering, hopplösa drömmar och effekten på självförtroendet. Resultatet visade att männen upplever sig vara anställningsbara då de erhåller en examen, samt att de upplever sig ha kontakter, men inte väsentliga kontakter i förhållande till önskat arbete. Arbetsmöjligheterna har påverkat männens välbefinnande, men inte självförtroendet. Resultatet antyder att bristande ekonomi och känslan av exkludering har haft en effekt på välbefinnandet. Samt att de unga männens egen viljan och förmåga har en inverkan på deras anställningsbarhet.

This dissertation explores the institutional practices that shape and inform internships within the public relations industry to shed light on the motivations and operating constraints that can lead to exploitive internship opportunities. It addresses how universities prepare emerging talent and the ways the public relations industry solicits labor. Theoretically informed by political economy of communication and cultural studies, this research builds on several key precepts, including creative autonomy, invisible labor, exploitation and practices of resistance, power dynamics within social structures, and investigates how hegemony is exercised through relations of power and consent. The investigation is pursued through three entry points: A textual analysis of PR News examines how trade publications influence the professional identities of PR practitioners to understand how the industry constructs the ideal public relations employee. This study argues PR News creates interoffice conflict between generations of professionals centered on the topic of professional development. Next, an institutional analysis of internship advertisements at the top 25 communications firms provides insights on how the culture industries solicit student workers, illicit emotional responses to the media text, exploit the ontological rewards of future employment, and governance structures that may conceal forms of exploitation. Lastly, in-depth interviews with interns shed light on how these young laborers negotiate creativity within corporate governance structures, as well as intern’s motivations to produce content without earning a paycheck. The conclusion summarizes findings, implications, real world applications, suggestions for future interns, as well as offers areas for future scholarship. / Media & Communication

Sistaårsstudenter som lämnar högskola/universitet och ska ut i arbetslivet ställs inför tuffa utmaningar. Syftet med studien var att undersöka beteendevetenskapliga sistaårsstudenters förväntningar inför arbetslivet och deras möjligheter att använda kunskapen från utbildningen i praktiken. Semistrukturerade intervjuer utfördes med 10 sistaårsstudenter inom beteendevetenskap på ett svenskt lärosäte. Intervjuerna tematiserades och 5 teman framkom varav 3 teman beskrev förväntningarna på arbetslivet och 2 teman beskrev vad studenterna tar med för kunskap ut i arbetslivet. Tidigare forskning visade att studenter känner ångest angående den osäkra arbetsmarknaden och sin anställningsbarhet. Resultatet från vår studie visade att deltagarna kände oro inför framtiden och vad som väntar dem efter examen. Beteendevetarna var i huvudsak oroliga för att inte få arbete efter avslutade studier. Resultatet visade även att deltagarna kommer ta med sig personlig utveckling och ett nytt tankesätt från sina utbildningar. Studien kan bidra med en större förståelse för lärare och lärosäten om utvecklingsmöjligheter för beteendevetenskapliga kurser och program.

Our society has become a society of knowledge. The answer to the question of how to reduce unemployment has become more and more unified: education. In this case, higher education, meaning college and university. With this disposition in our society, how does it affect the students? How does this change of society and our universities affect the students of these institutions?In this study we have chosen to examine the choices of students in universities in several Swedish cities. We wanted to compare choices students made from educations which lead to a professional degree and students who were undertaking studies from a higher-education course which were not attached to a professional degree. We sent surveys to six different programs and courses, three from each category.Because our examination paper concerned choices we used rational choice as a concept and we were also interested in how the students social class interacted with the choices they made. We also used Bourdieu’s idea of habitus, along with his concept of field and capital.The results we uncovered showed us that social class played little part in how students made their choices. We could also see that most of the students from the professionally attached educations were more inclined to have employment as the main reason for studying. The students who studied higher education course were not as high in this opinion but still in a majority. The results also showed that to get educated in their field, to get the proper knowledge required were less important than just getting the job.This points to a risk that students in our society will, to a greater extent than before, only use education as a stepping stone for employment. The knowledge gained will not be as important as the employment that comes after. Knowledge will in this way take a second place to employment and if this trend continue maybe educations made for knowledge and not employment will be seen as unnecessary.

Societal demand to enhance individual employability in an increasingly congested postgraduate labour market has led to a boom in unpaid internships in the 21st century. This has produced a continuum of attitudes, from perceiving the unpaid internship as an important career opportunity to perceiving it as exploitative slavery. The present study is a netnography that draws on empirical data from debates taking place on LinkedIn, aiming to explore and understand former and potential interns’ conceptualisations of the unpaid internship phenomenon. It translates Olofsson’s (2013) concept of the ‘educational contract' (an implicit social contract with certain expectations attached) to the phenomenon of the unpaid internship. The findings show that the unpaid internship may be conceptualised as a successful or broken contract, based on both the lived experience, and whether the expected labour market outcomes were delivered. A third theme that emerged was the unsigned contract, whereby individuals who were unable to partake in unpaid internships based on life circumstances and socioeconomic factors perceived the phenomenon ambivalently - as both as a career enhancer and an exploitative practice that reproduces class inequality.

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Yes / This project built on research from university and employer perspectives exploring relationships between expectations of employers, professional bodies, students and universities on what constitutes a good work placement. Qualitative information on good practice was gathered in order to identify areas for improving placement practice and to illuminate employer engagement processes. Impact and benefits of different approaches to placements and curricula and/or staff Continuing Professional Development (CPD) implications were identified, together with recommendations on how improvements in understanding are shared and disseminated among employer groups and universities. Findings included that, although there were already guidelines on placement practice from a number of bodies, good practice identified at a wide range of points seemed more the result of academic staff drawing on their own experience, formed in the light of good knowledge of professional institution requirements, rather than use of guidelines. Employers mentioned professional institution requirements almost as a matter of course. That guidelines are not used as intended by those that produce them may be a general tendency, but this project¿s guidelines specifically reflect the organised voice of employers thanks to the involvement of their senior groupings, Sector Skills Councils and similar, in addition to individual employers. This project¿s guidelines are also more up to date than others identified, including particular issues affecting provision of placements that may face universities over the next few years. Students seem to recognise the benefits of placements more in retrospect than in advance. Some universities seem more flexible than others, adapting provision of placements as economic and other conditions have changed and to meet the needs of employers and placements. As one employer put it, ¿employers gravitate towards universities that make it easier¿. Employers also want to see academic credit awarded for placement learning and understandable processes with which they can help in support of this. The guidelines will be made available through a number of channels. / Royal Academy of Engineering

In Ghana, the transition from school to the labour market has been extremely difficult for graduates, especially in securing jobs. It is estimated that the tertiary institutions in Ghana produce an annual graduate turnout of 300,000 students. This thesis seeks to understand the extent to which social capital and networks act as a resource-opportunity structure in obtaining or depriving employment opportunities. The research findings were obtained by the application of qualitative methods. This study argues that graduate unemployment in Ghana is not as a result of lack of employability skills and incompetence of the graduates, but rather the issue of limited employment opportunities and favouritism, often called ‘whom you know’ in the labour market. Informal job search methods reflect jobseekers’ activation and use of social networks or ties, such as acquaintances, friends, relatives, neighbours, colleagues, and peers. Particularly, an individual’s family and friends (strong ties) are not only important sources of job information but also means of securing jobs. Attitudinal and behavioural traits and the kind of interactions between graduates and their contacts enabled the author to group social networks into three categories: formal social networks (employee referral), informal social networks (family and friends) and linking referrals (third-party or intermediary). The key to understanding why both employers and jobseekers are resorting to informal networks is due to the limited job opportunities in the labour market. The pervasiveness of informal channels means that without having a relative or a friend to connect you to a vacancy, securing a job would be difficult. This means that intrinsic and extrinsic factors underpinning the graduates’ aspirations are being shaped by social support and barriers in the labour market. The seemly widespread and ‘general acceptance’ of informal channels in the labour market has led to favouritism and discrimination. Specifically, it has led to the constant redirecting of jobs toward a certain class of people; institutional closure for some people; occupational segregation and immobility leading to limit status attainment; deliberate favouring of one’s family members and friends (nepotism and cronyism). In addition, informal channels have opened the floodgate for referee opportunism, agents and agent scammers to flourish in the job market.