Graduates into the retail industry: an assessment of the nature and causes of mismatches between the needs and expectations of the retail industry and its graduate employees

Identifies the degree of satisfaction in the early employment experience of general commercial graduates in UK retailing, and examines the level and causes of dissatisfaction from both sides in the employment relationship using a gap analysis model. Concludes that there is a difference between short‐ and long‐term needs. Short‐term needs are more easily satisfied than longer‐term needs. Employers are able to select graduates with high levels of transferable skills; the graduates in turn benefit from early job responsibility and well‐developed training and development programmes. The business need for accelerated performance levels induces a responding desire for rapid career progression and job fulfilment in graduates. A changing environment with resultant organizational restructuring means graduates now find career paths blocked as the needs of the business take precedence in the longer term. This can result in high levels of graduate turnover.