Employability and Students’ Part-time Work in the UK: Does Self-efficacy and Career Aspiration Matter?

Amid a growing focus on graduate employability, this study examines the relationship between students’
part-time work, career aspirations and self-efficacy, in a survey of 357 UK students from two
post-92 universities. The results suggest a positive and significant relationship between part-time
work and career aspiration. Students who work part-time, and value this opportunity, are likely to
have a high career aspiration and strive to enhance their employability agenda. Self-efficacy (students’
belief in their ability to succeed) is significantly associated with career aspiration. No significant
gender differences were found in our sample for all study variables. Finally, students’ level of
study and malleable self-theories (the belief that people are changeable and with effort can achieve
more) were found to be the strongest predictors of part-time work, while self-efficacy is the strongest
predictor of career aspiration. These findings confirm the importance of individual self-efficacy in
the value attached to part-time working among students in higher education (HE). Nonetheless,
those students who do not work part-time while studying, do so mainly because they do not want to
detract from their study. The concluding part of the paper discusses relevant application and policy
implications of these findings.