Employer perspectives on professional identity and its role in graduate recruitment

Practice and theory on graduate employability continues to recognise the importance of professional identity (PI) as a key determinant of individuals perceived and realised worth in the labour market. However, studies are predominantly from student, graduate and academic perspectives with little exploration of employers’ perceptions on PI and its importance for graduates’ acculturation into practice and workplace outcomes. Accordingly, we explored employer perspectives on what PI means and what it signals during graduate recruitment. Using closed and open response questions, we gathered survey data from 339 employers closely involved in recruiting, developing, supervising and performance managing graduates in Australia. We examined the importance of familiarity, proximity, experience, and professional self-efficacy as dimensions of PI and their influence on early career graduates’ learning, performance and wellbeing in the workplace, as understood by employers. We also investigated what PI signalled during recruitment, how it was assessed and its capacity to predict specified workplace outcomes. Findings advance the conceptual framing of PI and our understanding of its role in graduate recruitment, informing practical strategies for careers professionals and educators to support higher education students in their transition to work.