Abstract
Employability has become a key concept that has attracted the attention of scholars and industries in many countries. At the same time, this concept is highly fluid and vague because its nature is not evidenced by real employment and differences in the nature of labour markets from country to country. Thus, it would be more worthwhile to discuss strategies that graduates utilise while job hunting in order to show how employable they are, and then compare these strategies across countries. Therefore, in this study, the aim is to compare the strategic tendencies of graduates entering the labour markets in three countries: Australia, Japan, and Vietnam. To this end, a comparative institutional analysis is performed. Through the investigation, three types of strategy are identified. In Australia, as the market tends to consist of various competitors with different experiences, graduates must differentiate themselves from others. In Japan, the market consists of competitors from the same academic year cohort and employment tends to be more long term, so employment is seen more as a type of membership, where one must match the corporate culture. In Vietnam, as trust in universities is low in terms of their training programmes and little support is provided, university students utilise their human networks for entry into the labour market and demonstrate their capacity for growth during a probation period.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 369-382 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Higher Education Research and Development |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2019 |
Keywords
- comparative institutional analysis
- Employability
- job hunting
- labour market
Cite this
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A comparative institutional analysis on strategies that graduates use to show they are ‘employable’ : a critical discussion on the cases of Australia, Japan, and Vietnam. / Saito, Eisuke; Pham, Thanh Hong Thi.
In: Higher Education Research and Development, Vol. 38, No. 2, 2019, p. 369-382.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
TY - JOUR
T1 - A comparative institutional analysis on strategies that graduates use to show they are ‘employable’
T2 - a critical discussion on the cases of Australia, Japan, and Vietnam
AU - Saito, Eisuke
AU - Pham, Thanh Hong Thi
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Employability has become a key concept that has attracted the attention of scholars and industries in many countries. At the same time, this concept is highly fluid and vague because its nature is not evidenced by real employment and differences in the nature of labour markets from country to country. Thus, it would be more worthwhile to discuss strategies that graduates utilise while job hunting in order to show how employable they are, and then compare these strategies across countries. Therefore, in this study, the aim is to compare the strategic tendencies of graduates entering the labour markets in three countries: Australia, Japan, and Vietnam. To this end, a comparative institutional analysis is performed. Through the investigation, three types of strategy are identified. In Australia, as the market tends to consist of various competitors with different experiences, graduates must differentiate themselves from others. In Japan, the market consists of competitors from the same academic year cohort and employment tends to be more long term, so employment is seen more as a type of membership, where one must match the corporate culture. In Vietnam, as trust in universities is low in terms of their training programmes and little support is provided, university students utilise their human networks for entry into the labour market and demonstrate their capacity for growth during a probation period.
AB - Employability has become a key concept that has attracted the attention of scholars and industries in many countries. At the same time, this concept is highly fluid and vague because its nature is not evidenced by real employment and differences in the nature of labour markets from country to country. Thus, it would be more worthwhile to discuss strategies that graduates utilise while job hunting in order to show how employable they are, and then compare these strategies across countries. Therefore, in this study, the aim is to compare the strategic tendencies of graduates entering the labour markets in three countries: Australia, Japan, and Vietnam. To this end, a comparative institutional analysis is performed. Through the investigation, three types of strategy are identified. In Australia, as the market tends to consist of various competitors with different experiences, graduates must differentiate themselves from others. In Japan, the market consists of competitors from the same academic year cohort and employment tends to be more long term, so employment is seen more as a type of membership, where one must match the corporate culture. In Vietnam, as trust in universities is low in terms of their training programmes and little support is provided, university students utilise their human networks for entry into the labour market and demonstrate their capacity for growth during a probation period.
KW - comparative institutional analysis
KW - Employability
KW - job hunting
KW - labour market
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85054587377&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/07294360.2018.1529024
DO - 10.1080/07294360.2018.1529024
M3 - Article
VL - 38
SP - 369
EP - 382
JO - Higher Education Research and Development
JF - Higher Education Research and Development
SN - 0729-4360
IS - 2
ER -