What role do social resources play for minority ethnic graduates in the graduate employment market? A review of a targeted market intervention

Higher education has traditionally been a route to career entry. In the last three decades, the UK government policy to open up higher education to many more students has almost doubled the proportion of the population with undergraduate degrees. However, this has not kept pace with graduate-level employment, and many graduates find it challenging to access entry-level roles. While structurally disadvantaged graduates may possess an abundance of human capital at the conclusion of their studies, they may not possess adequate amounts of social capital, i.e. connections, which can benefit job acquisition. This paper reviews a training intervention designed to help structurally disadvantaged minority ethnic graduates access careers in one specific business management discipline, corporate communications. The intervention was designed to deliver both discipline-specific human capital and social capital. Through interviews with graduates who were accepted for training, and those that were not, the main themes addressed by the intervention were established: the challenge of the transition from university to employment, the role of connections in supporting that transition, understanding the value of connections and using them to access opportunities. Targeted training interventions may have a role to play in levelling the playing field for disadvantaged graduates and career access.