Untangling graduate employability and work readiness to inform evidence-based practice in higher education

Career development is crucial for graduate employability and a strategic priority in higher education. Despite widespread adoption of career development interventions, inconsistencies in design, measurement and evaluation reveal significant practice issues. The conflation of graduate employability and work readiness exacerbates conceptual ambiguity and reflects underlying jingle jangle fallacies. This review examines conceptual overlaps and differences between these constructs within undergraduate higher education. Drawing on psychometric theory and behavioural science principles from organisational psychology, we highlight the importance of construct validity for evidence-based interventions. Findings indicate that graduate employability and work readiness, though related, are distinct constructs with unique implications for capability development and measurement. We present four propositions to guide higher education practice: (1) conceptualising graduate employability as a higher-order construct comprising foundational capabilities, (2) framing work readiness as a higher-order capability beyond basic or technical skills, (3) prioritising immediate work readiness outcomes, and (4) positioning work readiness as a core capability of a unified graduate employability construct. Practical implications include a capability-based organising framework to support clearer definitions, robust measurement and the design of targeted evidence-based career development initiatives.