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ABSTRACT
In the context of an increasingly precarious and competitive graduate labour market, exposure to pre-graduation professional work experience is becoming an increasingly critical feature of graduate employability. Outside the creative professions the contours of this shift have received comparatively little empirical attention. This study provides evidence of increasing participation in unpaid work beyond the creative industries where it is well established as a common practice. This study examines the complex patterns of opportunities and challenges that are created for and by Australian urban planning students in gaining relevant exposure to professional work, with a particular emphasis on participation in unpaid work experience. Through the lens of employability and the voices of early career professionals, this study explores the complexity of decisions to engage in unpaid work and identifies the potential personal and professional implications of these decisions. Focussing on the ways decisions around unpaid work are shaped by a range of factors including labour market conditions and disciplinary norms the findings yield new knowledge of how unpaid work is practised and shaped as a principal means through which employment-related advantage and enhanced employability in education to employment transitions is sought by participants and the potential implications of this.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. The profession of planning is part of, but distinct from other built environment professions such as architects, engineers and surveyors. Common tasks undertaken by planners include developing and implementing land-use plans and policies, and providing advice on the social, environmental and economic factors affecting land use and resources planning (Grant-Smith and Mayere Citation2018).
2. A double degree in this context is two different Bachelor level degrees undertaken in parallel at the same institution in different but complementary disciplines. A double degree is generally completed in less time than it would take to earn each degree separately.
3. According to Department of Employment (Citation2014) 59.4% of Australian planners possess a Bachelor’s degree and 40.6% possess a postgraduate qualification.
4. This ambiguity is not unique to the Australian context and the majority of recent discussion about unpaid work experience, particularly unpaid internships, has been generated from US (e.g. Bacon Citation2011; Burke and Carton Citation2013; Curiale Citation2010; Frenette Citation2013) and UK perspectives (e.g. Figiel Citation2013; Hope and Figiel Citation2012; Siebert and Wilson Citation2013).