Challenges for graduates of Australian universities, when using connections and developing guanxi during their transition from university to professional employment: Conference paper abstract for ANZAM Conference 5-8 December, Melbourne, Australia

Chinese and Australian graduates of Australian universities develop graduate attributes which they hope to transfer into employment in Australia and China. Much contemporary research focuses on the development of appropriate graduate attributes within the curriculum; how specific attributes such as leadership, team work and communications transfer into employment; and whether employers’needs are being met. This paper contributes to these discussions by comparing how Chinese and Australian graduates apply a lesser known attribute‘use of connections’. For Chinese graduates, this may be complicated by expectations of Chinese employers to follow the principles of guanxi. In analysing qualitative interview data from the perspective of graduates’ this paper presents graduates’ experiences and perspectives of using connections.