Rhetoric or reality: shifts in graduate career management?

The current rhetoric about the demise of traditional concepts of “career” poses a challenge to organizations which rely on the development of managerial talent through fast‐track programmes. Reports on the career management philosophy, strategy, policy and practice of 20 organizations which are major graduate recruiters. Human resource and career management specialists responsible for fast‐track recruitment and career development within these companies provided information via semi‐structured interviews. Data were analysed using content and thematic analysis with the aid of a qualitative data analysis package to elicit patterns and trends in the approaches being used. Organizations varied in the extent to which they were attempting to achieve a shift in the employment relationship offered to graduates. Symbolic shifts were being generated through both cultural and process changes in an attempt to move from a traditional notion of career to a transactional‐type relationship with graduates, based on opportunities for development.