“Being Flexible”: Graduates Facing Changes in Their Work Environment

In their working environment, graduates are exposed to at least two kinds of changes: changes in the labour market, which are associated with a need for external flexibility, and changes on the work floor, requiring functional flexibility on their part. The chapter investigates various types of changes related to external flexibility in graduates’ early career, looks at the effects of employment mobility on graduates’ competences, and on the the chance of having a good job, and search for the main determinants of temporary work five or six years after graduation. Turning to graduates’ workplace, functional flexibility is examined focusing on changes in the contents of graduates’ work tasks. The drivers of functional flexibility, the kind of competences that are required of flexible graduates, and graduates’ perception of the contribution higher education has made to preparing them for work in a changing environment are analysed.