It is theorized that competition in the global market requires highly skilled human capital with different types and levels of skills, and with transferable skills. Internships are intended to nurture the skills and make students better professionals, better innovators, and more likely to get employment. In this thesis I evaluated these claims by examining the effect of the skills developed by internships on the professional performance, innovation capability and employability of Mexican students. The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate both the mandatory internship program in its ability to improve employability and to test some of the educational theories of workforce improvement and of what skills contribute to workers’ innovation capacity. Internships prepare students for the workplace by giving them opportunities to develop relevant skills. The Committee on the Assessment of 21st Century Skills of the U.S. National Research Council (NRC), identified three categories of workplace skills enabling individuals to face 21st Century challenges: cognitive, interpersonal, and intrapersonal skills. I tested the relevance of these skills to interns’ professional performance using intern evaluation data on interns working at a multinational enterprise in the global steel industry, Ternium Mexico. A general model of internship outcomes was used to predict Main task and learning performance internship outcomes, and ordered logistic regression was used to predict Overall internship performance. The results confirmed that (1) cognitive intelligence or technical skills are necessary but not sufficient for success in executing professional tasks and (2) certain interpersonal and intrapersonal skills were also significantly associated with better professional performance as an intern. vi The ability to innovate is one of the most important and desired meta-skills for individuals, firms, and economies. It is believed that nurturing students’ innovation capability will improve their employability and their ability to deal with a rapidly changing future. A recent conceptual model of Individuals’ Innovation Capability, the D4 innovation model, has four stages: defining, discovering, developing, and demonstrating. Using the same internship evaluation data set, I determined whether the four D innovation skills: defining, discovering, developing and deploying skills, predicted Individuals’ Innovation Capability. The study confirmed that three of the innovation skills, discovery, developing and deploying, increase Individuals’ Innovation Capability. The foundation skills of oral communication and ability to self-update, and the professional competencies of establishing priorities and explicit knowledge also foster individual innovation capability. Internships have often been required for graduation by institutions of higher education because internships are perceived to help students increase their employability as well as provide educational value. I conducted statistical analyses to test whether students’ performance as interns and the number of internships they completed are predictive of their Probability of Employment, controlling for various labor-market conditions. The study analyzed the records of graduates at a private Mexican university who had completed undergraduate degrees as well as mandatory internships. A logistic regression model for job placement four months following graduation included: individual factors, personal circumstances, external conditions, and interactions with external conditions. This study revealed that the performance as an intern played an important role on employment and that employability depended on the interaction of a vii graduate’s personal assets, his/her family connections, and whether or not the labor market was contracting. This thesis is an empirical exploration of educational theory concerning the value of internships and also the skills that internships should foster. Since educational policy is frequently driven by theory, such validation is a potentially useful reality-check for policy makers. This work can inform educational policy and provide the underpinnings for shaping initiatives that benefit students, firms and the region.

Uppsatsen undersöker situationen på arbetsmarknaden för personer med funktionsnedsättning och arbetsgivares vilja att anställa personer med funktionsnedsättning genom förmedlares uppfattningar. Genom att intervjua förmedlare som arbetar särskilt med att få ut funktionsnedsatta på arbetsmarknaden har det gått att få en uppfattning om situationen. Förmedlarna utgör länken mellan personer med funktionsnedsättning och arbetsgivaren och har möjlighet att uppfatta båda perspektiven. Undersökningen strävar också att ta reda på vilka metoder förmedlarna använder för att påverka arbetsgivares anställningsbenägenhet och funktionsnedsattas anställningsbarhet. För att förklara hur förmedlarnas subjektiva uppfattningar är en del av en allmän kunskap om funktionsnedsatta användes Berger och Luckmanns Kunskapssociologi (1979). Det teoretiska perspektivet ger också en förklaring hur förmedlarnas erfarenheter, från att arbeta med funktionsnedsattas arbetsmarknadssituation, leder till ny kunskap som kan förändra människors uppfattningar. Resultatet av undersökningen visar att personer med funktionsnedsättning, särkskilt de med dolda funktionsnedsättningar som också har nedsatt arbetsförmåga, har en svårare situation på arbetsmarknaden än andra människor. Orsaken till det kan förklaras utifrån en bristande kunskap om funktionsnedsättningar hos olika aktörer på arbetsmarknaden men också de strukturella villkor som råder där och i samhället. / The paper examines, through the intermediary perceptions, the labour market situation of people with disabilities and employers' willingness to hire persons with disabilities. By interviewing intermediaries who work specifically with getting the disabled into the labour market, it has been possible to get an idea of ​​the situation. Intermediaries are the link between people with disabilities and employers and are able to perceive both perspectives. The investigation has also applied the methods intermediaries use to influence an employer’s employment propensity and disabled people’s employability. To explain how intermediaries’ subjective perceptions are part of a general knowledge of disabilities was Berger and Luck Mann's Sociology of Knowledge (1979) used. The theoretical perspective also explains how intermediaries’ experiences, from working with disabled people's labour market situation, may lead to new knowledge that changes people's perceptions.  The surveys result show that people with disabilities, in particular those with hidden disabilities who also have less capacity to work, have a more difficult situation on the labour market than other people. The reason for this can be explained by a lack of knowledge about disabilities of different actors in the labour market but also by the structural conditions which exists there and in the community.

This study explores the extent to which government policies for higher education impact upon the ways in which higher education institutions (HEIs) implement these and the students themselves experience their studies. The focus is accredited volunteering in higher education. A case study approach has been undertaken to scrutinise the impact of policy directives on several stakeholders within one post-1992 HEI, the University of Wrottesley (a pseudonym). The methodological approach is qualitative. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with senior university staff and Students Union personnel, and a detailed on-line survey was conducted with three cohorts of students undertaking the Volunteering in the Curriculum (ViC) programme. What emerges is the extent to which the dominant discourse of 'employability' is foregrounded in government policy directives, and the pressures thus placed on the university management of Wrottesley to respond effectively to first destination scores (DHLE). 'Employability' in this sense is understood as a graduate student obtaining employment, rather than a broader sense of good learning which embraces both learning (cognitive, theoretical and practical) and employability (Knight & Yorke, 2004). The findings expose the ways in which volunteering has been drawn into the dominant discourse of 'employability', yet what emerges from the student survey of their participation in the ViC programme is a broader, more nuanced learning experience which draws on both experiential and theoretical learning that encompasses academic studies, personal development, social action and graduate employment. The evidence validates the theoretical and pedagogic practice of ViC whereby students experience holistic learning. Universities such as Wrottesley are missing an opportunity in not embracing wider objectives of initiatives such as ViC which enable enhancement of graduate employability and also learning gain with the development of well rounded critical citizens and institutional permeability between community and the academy.

This research was designed to elicit insights from the implausibly-hushed stakeholders of graduate employability - current undergraduates. (Johnston, 2003; Moreau and Leathwood, 2006; Tymon, 2013). It is argued that previous rare attempts to probe students about employability have utilised methods, frameworks and/ or language that reflect dominant discourses of employability, so encouraging capitulation to existing perspectives; and have focussed mainly on alumni rather than current undergraduates. It is hypothesised that graphic elicitation is an apt data capture practice by reflecting the epistemologies and practice of its thirty-seven final-year graphic design undergraduate respondents at eight art and design institutes across the United Kingdom. My version of graphic elicitation was theatricalised through large sign-writing pens on expansive golden 'safety' blankets, emphasising to respondents both the process and the artefacts of production. The analytical framework was phenomenography, selected for its claim to reveal the range of experiences that respondents have of a target phenomenon (Åkerlind, 2012). This contrasts with other qualitative frameworks that focus on finding commonalities of experience. The multi-step, iterative analysis led to several phenomenographic outcome spaces, elaborating the extent of ways that undergraduates experience and perceive the construct of employability within their education and beyond. The outcomes were incorporated to an interactive interface to address a key criticism of phenomenography - that individuals' conceptions are forsaken by its reductive practice (Säljö, 1997). This element of my practice is proof of concept of an interactive phenomenographic outcome space, in which the categories of the outcome space can be drilled-down to associated underlying conceptions. The thesis describes the reason for, and elaborates, my inquisitive graphic practice with students, and discusses the outcomes. The accompanying praxis document supports the telling, from production of graphic artefact, via photographic recording of the artefacts and iterative analysis, to the phenomenographic outcome spaces and interface. The thesis concludes with an elaboration of what has been revealed, and what might be elaborated by subsequent practice.

The following study attempted to operationalize the willingness to work hard component of Hogan’s RAW model of employability. Willingness to Work Hard, the W in the model, appears to be multi-faceted; a qualitative synthesis of themes suggests that the construct may be dispositional. I examined proactive personality by using the G ProACT scale to help understand the multi-dimensionality of Willingness to Work Hard. Taking initiative, rigidness, planning, and anticipating opportunities were the four subscales that emerged. The purpose of my study was to collect evidence of construct validity for the proposed measure. I examined the relationship between the G ProACT measure and discriminant and convergent variables. A survey was distributed among CSUSB students that contained the G ProACT measure, demographic related items, and other established measures to gather construct validity. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with 488 participants indicated a lack of support for the hypothesized model. Specifically, the CFA revealed that three of the four factors did not relate to the presumed construct of proactive personality. Rigidness showed no relationship whereas anticipating opportunities and planning demonstrated marginal relationships to the underlying construct. Follow-up analyses indicated that taking initiative was the only subscale deemed as strongly factorable. Findings suggest a need to further explore taking initiative to determine if the measure appropriately captures the dispositional nature of Willingness to Work Hard. Future research should continue to examine if proactive personality or other motivational constructs are an appropriate fit for the RAW model.

In a recent model of employability, Hogan, Chamorro-Premuzic, and Kaiser (2013) defined employability as the ability to gain and maintain employment and find new employment when necessary. The authors presented employability as a formative construct containing an ability dimension (the ability to do the job), a social skills dimension (being rewarding to work with), and a motivational dimension (being willing to work hard). There is no question as to whether these three dimensions affect one’s level of employability; research is abundant on the positive relationships between intelligence, social and emotional skills, motivation and career success. However, little research has been conducted to empirically test employability models in their entirety. Thus, the purpose of this research was to test the RAW model of employability, using various indicators of the three RAW dimensions of employability using structural equation modelling. Surveys were administered electronically eliciting both a student and community sample. Marginal support was found for the hypothesized model with post hoc modifications producing an acceptable fitting model. Findings suggest that having the ability and motivation to do the job are related to being employable. However, being rewarding to work may not impact levels of employability, suggesting that employers may be asking for one thing while rewarding another.

<p>Many knowledge-intensive organizations are experiencing difficulties retaining talented graduate recruits, as young engineers tend to change jobs frequently at the expense of employers’ seeking to keep their competitive edge. The current study examined the predictive strength of numerous work related employee attitudes for turnover intentions and behaviors. A survey based on well-established measures was distributed to employees of two technically oriented companies. The investigation identified opportunities for mental work and stimulation, possibilities to discern one’s own work performance, feelings of being locked-in, and job offers as predictors of employee turnover intentions and behaviors. The results indicated that young engineers act different than other occupational groups with regards to turnover, highlighting a need for between-groups comparisons.</p>

Many knowledge-intensive organizations are experiencing difficulties retaining talented graduate recruits, as young engineers tend to change jobs frequently at the expense of employers’ seeking to keep their competitive edge. The current study examined the predictive strength of numerous work related employee attitudes for turnover intentions and behaviors. A survey based on well-established measures was distributed to employees of two technically oriented companies. The investigation identified opportunities for mental work and stimulation, possibilities to discern one’s own work performance, feelings of being locked-in, and job offers as predictors of employee turnover intentions and behaviors. The results indicated that young engineers act different than other occupational groups with regards to turnover, highlighting a need for between-groups comparisons.

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Syftet med detta arbete var att undersöka hur stor vikt arbetsgivare lägger på en ansökandes skolbetyg, om det skiljer sig mellan olika skolbetyg och om olika branscher ser olika på betyg och vad de påvisar. För att ta reda på detta gjorde jag fem intervjuer med utvalda arbetsgivare inom olika branscher. Jag jämförde dem sedan med tidigare forskning och litteratur samt med läroplanen och vad den säger om vad betygen ska sättas på för att få en djupare förståelse för dels hur väl intervjuerna representerade det arbetsgivarna anser om skolbetyg och dels vad som skulle kunna utvecklas för att skapa en mer gynnsam användning av skolbetyg. Resultatet visade tydligt att arbetsgivare inte tittar nämnvärt på skolbetygen och görs det så handlar det om en allmän behörighet som yrkesrollen kräver. Inom mer akademiska yrken verkade arbetsgivaren ha en större medvetenhet om vad betygen visar men det använde sig ändå inte nämnvärt av dem. Ett bra betyg kunde tolkas som att man hade ett speciellt intresse vilket skulle kunna vara av nytta för arbetsgivaren. För att vara anställningsbar krävdes social kompetens mer än betyg men betygen kunde visa på om individen är ansvarstagande och slutför sina åtaganden. Arbetsgivare eftersökte bevis för att arbetssökande har de kompetenser de söker eftersom de till stor del anser att skolbetygen inte påvisar detta. Flera arbetsgivare eftersökte betyg i vad de kallar "social kompetens" och vet annars inte vad de ska ha betygen till. Mitt arbete förtydligar det som visats under flera årtionden – skolan och arbetslivet är inte matchade mot varandra i någon större omfattning och som Studie- och yrkesvägledare bör man vara medveten om detta för att kunna skapa mer gynnsamma förutsättningar.