Klædt på til arbejdslivet: Et casestudie af væsentlige kompetencer for CBS-studerende i transformationen fra studieliv til arbejdsliv

Abstract

Competencies and an educated workforce are a crucial resource in the Danish society. Still, students feel their competencies fall short in the transition to their professional careers. Despite the importance, there is currently no thorough research on Danish students’ transition to professional life. This study aims to address this gap by contributing with knowledge on essential competencies for equipping master’s students at Copenhagen Business School for the transition from academia to professional careers and provide initiatives for how CBS can prepare students for this transition. Founded in the hermeneutical paradigm, this paper adopts an abductive and qualitative approach to examine data gathered through seven interviews with final-year master’s students from CBS and four interviews with agents from the financial sector. The empirical data is exploratively analyzed drawing on presumptions, preliminary knowledge, and a theoretical framework revolving modern work life, shame, emotions, self-efficacy, motivation, and control. This study finds that students’ education is closely intertwined with their identity, whereby the transition to professional life influences their self-consciousness. Moreover, findings show that CBS students possess high expectations to themselves in the transition, from which eight main concerns are identified. These concerns relate to doubts about competencies and ability to influence their future job. In contrast, our findings indicate that agents from the financial sector consider students’ competencies as satisfying for the corporate world’s needs and expectations. From this contradiction, five competencies essential for students’ transition to professional life was developed: 1) being honest, 2) accepting inadequacy, 3) engaging in a team, 4) daring to change direction, and 5) thriving in boredom. To further prepare students for the transition, this paper recommends a collaborative partnership between CBS, corporate stakeholders, and CBS students, to create realistic expectations amongst students and decrease their concerns. Lastly, this paper proposes further empirical studies to obtain wider understanding of students’ transtion to professional careers and its implications.