This paper discusses the results of a study that focused on the perceived preparedness of recent graduates. Fifty-five St. John's University MLS students surveyed 348 practitioners in public libraries (181) and school libraries (167) concerning perceived preparedness of recent MLS graduates for the realities of working in libraries. The overriding…

A hallmark of the US education system is the opportunity afforded to students to pursue education and career paths of their own choosing. This flexibility and autonomy, however, has drawbacks. Students must navigate a series of complex and often disconnected environments, as well as numerous decision points, before they attain a fulfilling career.…

Innovation holds the key to ongoing improvements in living standards, as well as to solving pressing social challenges. Skilled people play a crucial role in innovation through the new knowledge they generate, how they adopt and develop existing ideas, and through their ability to learn new competencies and adapt to a changing environment. This…

This author contends that, during the past decade, people have witnessed escalating crises in the most vital areas of their public life, including: (1) a relentless acceleration in the awesome failure to effectively educate vast numbers of the young; (2) a no-less-relentless increase in the spectacular inequities in the distribution of wealth; (3)…

Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study and the Current Population Survey, we find that labor market conditions play a large role in explaining the positive relationship between educational attainment and marriage. Our results suggest that if low-educated parents enjoyed the same, stronger labor market conditions as their…

Obtaining an entry-level job can be critically important for women with little education, particularly those who have taken time out of the labor force. This article uses archival data from a field experiment, called a resume audit study, to examine the characteristics of entry-level resumes that are important to potential employers. In accordance…

Singapore has a high performing school system; its students top international tests in maths and science. Yet while the Singapore government cherishes its world class "brand", it realises that in a globally competitive world, its schools need to prepare students for the twenty-first-century knowledge-based economy (KBE). Accordingly,…

This paper discusses the experience of UK doctoral graduates in pursuing entrepreneurial careers: there is evidence that this applies to a substantial number--about 10%--of doctoral graduates. The nature of their experience was explored using 37 interviews with doctoral entrepreneurs. The research was funded by Vitae (www.vitae.ac.uk), an…

Purpose: The primary objective in this paper is to examine the role of small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in promoting and/or hindering educational opportunities to adult employees in the UK. Design/methodology/approach: The paper draws on 12 case studies of SMEs in England and Scotland, which form part of a larger European Sixth Framework…

Although much has been written about preparing community college leaders, little is known about how presidents believe they might have better prepared for the role. Using presidential narratives from a national study, this article describes how presidents perceive gaps in prior preparation and offers recommendations to support the professional…

In the context of international consensus that the knowledge economy requires more highly educated people, the Australian federal, state and territory governments agreed on a set of policies and targets for lifting the minimum level of educational attainment of young people, which are analysed in Part 1 of this paper. This "Compact with young…

There is much disagreement in the literature over the extent to which graduates are mismatched in the labour market and the reasons for this. In this paper we utilise the Flexible Professional in the Knowledge Society (REFLEX) data set to cast light on these issues, based on data for UK graduates. We find substantial pay penalties for…

Providing graduates with a set of skills and attributes relevant to their future employment remains a key topic in both higher education policy and research. This paper reports findings from a pilot study of human resource management (HRM) students' perceptions of the graduate work experience. Specifically, it focuses on how these perceptions are…

Using a unique European data-set, we investigated the significance of five higher education programme characteristics for the labour market position of the graduates: the academic versus discipline-specific character of the competencies generated; the standardization of these competencies; the combination of working and learning; the…

We began this series by addressing the challenges of career advising in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environment. In this article, we define human capital and suggest that advisors encourage students to utilize the principle of maximizing human capital when making decisions. We describe the personal traits and attitudes needed to…