12: Belonging to Your Graduate Career: A Critical Exploration of Student Engagement With Employability

This chapter explores the link between student belonging and graduate employability. Preparing students for graduate employment is a key strand of the higher education (HE) experience. Undergraduate students are prepared for employment through a range of activities (academic study, work experience, extra-curricular, and careers development) bound together by the concept of employability. Collectively, these activities form the manifestation of ‘student engagement’ and in theory should maximise – for all students – the possibility of securing graduate employment aligned with aspirations. But the oil that lubricates these processes is a strong sense of belonging, which, in British university settings, connects to classed identities. Drawing on a phenomenological analysis of focus groups and interviews with students, this chapter describes their experiences of (not)belonging and how, in failing to engage with belonging, university employability schemes undermine employability skill development. Overall, the chapter contributes to the literature by providing theoretical insights, real-life examples and practical strategies for educators aiming to create environments that foster belonging and engagement among students.