From Skills to Opportunity: Negotiated Employability and Youth Transitions from Education to Work in the United Kingdom and Nigeria

Abstract

Youth unemployment persists despite sustained investment in education and skills development, raising questions about whether employability is adequately understood as an individual skills deficit. This study examined how young people in the United Kingdom and Nigeria negotiated the transition from education to employment, focusing on how educational and experiential capabilities became visible, credible and convertible into employment opportunities. A comparative qualitative design explored young people's experiences of skills development, employer expectations, access to opportunities, and career adaptation. Reflexive thematic analysis identified patterns within and across the two national contexts. The findings showed that qualifications and skills were generally perceived as necessary but insufficient for labor-market entry. Participants described a conversion process in which capabilities had to be signaled through credible evidence, recognized as valuable by relevant actors and connected to accessible opportunities. When conversion failed, participants adapted their skills, signaling strategies and career pathways, although the possibilities and consequences of adaptation varied across the UK and Nigerian opportunity structures. The study develops Negotiated Employability as a conceptual framework that positions employability as a recursive capability-conversion process. The framework specifies four interrelated mechanisms: capability, signaling, recognition and opportunity access, with negotiation and adaptation operating across the process under particular institutional and labor-market conditions. The findings suggest that effective youth-employment policy requires not only investment in skills development but also stronger systems for credible skills demonstration, recognition, inclusive recruitment and accessible pathways into meaningful employment.