Negotiating perceived employability as sensemaking in the context of undergraduate work integrated learning

Abstract

As labour markets shift responsibility for navigating career transitions and employability from organisations to individuals, sensemaking around their own ‘perceived employability’ gains importance. Prior research suggests work integrated learning (WIL) experiences constitute a significant route to perceived employability for potential entrants to the accounting profession. The mechanisms through which this develops are less understood. Understanding of the impact of WIL on perceived employability, shaping individual career trajectories, augments efforts to attract new members to the profession. This study captures how representations of the world of professional accounting work are built, as entrants construct liminal places within that community. Through qualitative analysis of subjective experiences of transitions into, during and out of accounting-based WIL roles, ‘narratives of employability’ are tracked, charting contextualised sensemaking processes as individuals come to understand what an employable accounting graduate might be. Employability is positioned as a multi-dimensional construct involving reciprocal interactions between individuals sensemaking and organisational cues, highlighting how interpretation of key events informs individual agency and shapes career trajectories. Given rapidly changing workplaces and career concepts, this is an important mindset for graduates to develop. With rising concerns about recruitment issues for the profession, listening to potential entrants would seem an important first step. © 2025 The Authors

Keywords

Author Keywords

Career transitions Work Integrated Learning (WIL) Perceived employability Sensemaking

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations

Department of Accounting and Information Systems, Munster Technological University (MTU), Bishopstown, Cork, Ireland

Celtic Studies and Social Sciences, University College Cork, Cork, Munster, Ireland

Department of Accounting and Finance, Cork University Business School (CUBS), Cork, Munster, Ireland

Funding & Acknowledgements

No funding information

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Negotiating perceived employability as sensemaking in the context of undergraduate work integrated learning

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