Introduction

In this chapter, we turn to a consideration of graduate pathways for those who had no clear and definite employment plan during their time at university and at the point of exit. In doing so, we consider the ways in which early experiences of transition from university are inflected by social class, race and gender. The chapter presents the narratives of two middle-class, white, male politics graduates – Oscar and Liam – and two working-class history graduates – one white male (Garry) and one ‘mixedrace’ (white Welsh and African-Caribbean heritage) female (Adele). We consider the development of their career pathways on leaving university and highlight the significance of the role of time in facilitating/shutting down opportunity. We compare the unplanned ‘serendipity’ of the middle-class graduates with the unplanned ‘fateful outcomes’ of their working-class counterparts. The chapter highlights that what can superficially appear to be luck or serendipity is, in fact, a manifestation of privilege and relies on the availability of stocks of capital. Moreover, outcomes that appear to be ‘fateful’ are actually mediated by classed, racialized and gendered forms of capital. The chapter concludes with consideration of graduate spaces as important components in the navigation of unplanned pathways in the ways in which they invite privileged bodies, while rendering ‘other’ bodies as trespassers (Puwar, 2004).

Like many UK graduates across higher education, there were a number of young people in our study who graduated with minimal plans for the immediate future and no clear employment pathway. We found no pattern in terms of strategic planning and institution attended, gender, or class or ethnic background. We did, however, discern that certain subjects, such as law, economics, engineering, accounting and finance, were more likely to produce graduates with direct career goals. It is obvious that these subjects are taken with particular careers in mind, and this observation is not surprising. However, in the current context where some university subjects are under fire for their apparent lack of employment opportunities, it is important for us to highlight that a significant number of graduates taking subjects that do not have an obvious employment outcome go on to develop successful graduate careers.