Networked or Excluded?: A Critical Review of Social Capital, Career Access, and Informal Disadvantage in Graduate Employment

This chapter explores how social capital and network inequality shape graduates' transitions from higher education into employment. Despite higher education's meritocratic ideal, graduate outcomes remain patterned by class, ethnicity, and structural divisions. Drawing on the Graduate Capital Model (Tomlinson, 2017), Clarke's (2018) Six-Dimension Model, Holmes's (2013) Possession–Position–Process typology, and Donald et al.'s (2023; 2025) Employability Capital Growth Model, the chapter argues that relational dimensions of career development—who one knows as much as what one knows—are central to understanding inequality. Limited access to influential networks constrains the accumulation and conversion of employability capitals, restricting opportunities for mentoring, internships, and advancement. Synthesising evidence across class, race, and intersectional lines, the chapter reframes employability as a relational, power-inflected process and highlights inclusive mentoring, sponsorship, and embedded career learning as mechanisms for fostering more equitable ecosystems of opportunity.