For years we have tried to improve youth employment by ‘fixing’ young people with more workshops, more micro-credentials, and more bootcamps. Yet many early careers still get stuck. The real problem isn’t a lack of effort or talent. It’s that the system young people enter is not joined up.
The move from education to work is not a straight pipeline but an ecosystem. Universities and colleges, employers, government and civil society all shape the outcome. When these actors pull in different directions, through mismatched expectations, incentives, or timelines, even capable graduates fall through the cracks. Seeing youth transition as a non-linear process within an ecosystem means moving away from understanding ‘employability’ as a private asset and instead viewing the transition from education to work as a shared responsibility the whole system can co-design, co-improve and co-evolve. In practice, an ecosystem is not a metaphor but a way of organising how people, information and incentives move. It has actors (universities and colleges, employers large and small, public agencies, civil society and youth themselves), rules (how we hire, assess, fund and recognise), resources (time, money, data, mentoring capacity) and, crucially, routines: the ongoing practices through which the system learns and adjusts. When these pieces line up, the whole is smarter than any single part; when they don’t, even strong graduates struggle to turn their potential into recognised employability.
Why the old ‘pipeline’ story keeps failing
‘Patching the pipeline’ approach assumes that if each person adds another course or certificate, the job will naturally follow. But job requirements change, skill needs shift, and hiring signals are often unclear. Without coordination, providers guess what to teach, employers guess what graduates can do, and policy only sees the results months later. We don’t need more patches; we need a better way to steer the system.
Five rethinks for an ecosystem that works
1) From one-off projects to a standing alignment loop
Pipeline practice: Ad-hoc meetings and pilots; each institution tweaks its own offer; employers complain about ‘job-readiness’; policymakers react after the fact.
Ecosystem practice: Create a stakeholder platform, such as a Living Lab, where universities, employers, policymakers and youth representatives meet every semester to review the rules of the game together. Each cycle answers three practical questions: Which skills and mindsets matter now? What should a good entry-level role include? What evidence will persuade employers that a graduate can do the work? When all actors align their vision and efforts, providers stop second-guessing the labour market, employers hire to today’s skills rather than yesterday’s curriculum, and policymakers can link their legislation or funding mechanisms to real improvements such as better skills-match and first-year retention.
2) From private CVs to shared signals of capability
Pipeline practice: Graduates list modules and grades; employers filter by degree, institution and keywords; both sides hope the match is right.
Ecosystem practice: Use a common skills language and verifiable evidence that travels smoothly through the system. Programme coordinators define their learning outcomes and assessments in that shared language; students graduate with concise, portable proofs: a portfolio of work samples, outcomes, supervisor comments and digital credentials; employers write job descriptions and design selection tasks using the same terms, with transparent scoring so candidates know what ‘good’ looks like. This improves the signal fit between employability (what graduates can do and show) and employer-ability (what organisations can recognise and reward), reducing noise at every step: from course design, to hiring and onboarding.
3) From ‘job-ready’ slogans to a first-job quality pact
Pipeline practice: Raise entry bars and hope higher standards produce better hires; leave the quality of entry-level roles to chance.
Ecosystem practice: A major reason the signal fit breaks down between what graduates can actually do and what employers notice, reward and develop – is that learning and hiring happen in separate spheres with little day-to-day overlap. The remedy is a cross-sector first-job quality pact. This is an agreement between universities, employers and (where needed) government to make the first year a real learning year. It promises clear goals, regular check-ins, a named mentor, at least one stretch task, and a visible next step on the ladder. Crucially, it uses the same skills language as job ads and interviews, so what you do in your first 90 days – small projects, task outcomes, mentor sign-offs – turns into clear, portable proof of ability. In short: better job design + better evidence = a launchpad, not a dead end.
4) From a single pipeline to a mobility web across levels and fields
Pipeline practice: Treat careers as a straight ascent within one discipline; label sideways moves as failure; restart from zero when a mismatch appears.
Ecosystem practice: Build a mobility web with bridges as well as ladders. Map field adjacencies (near-neighbour roles where most skills still apply); offer stackable modules and short credentials that help people tilt into those roles without starting over; give credit for workplace learning; speed up recognition across institutions and regions. The goal is to turn mismatch into managed mobility with quicker, supported moves rather than long stalls.
5) From after-the-fact fixes to future-oriented foresight
Pipeline practice: Static manpower plans; syllabi rewritten only after complaints; one-off forecasting reports that gather dust.
Ecosystem practice: Build a standing foresight loop so education and labour-market partners anticipate change together and act early. On a simple term/semester rhythm: scan weak signals (AI/automation, the green transition, demographic shifts, regulatory changes), run scenario exercises to stress-test courses, placements and entry-role design, and launch micro-pilots tied to early indicators (e.g., tools used in student projects, skill terms in job ads, internship supply, first-year retention curves). Record decisions and feed them directly into the alignment loop and shared-signal practices. Foresight turns ‘react and patch’ into proactive sense–test–adapt, reducing mismatch and shortening pivot times while maintaining an ‘insurance shelf’ of cross-cutting capabilities (data/AI literacy, sustainability and ethics, communication, collaboration).
How the five fit together
Think of the five rethinks as a flywheel. The alignment loop defines the priorities each term/semester. Shared signals let evidence travel from classroom to hiring to onboarding without being lost in translation. The first-job pact turns entry roles into learning engines while producing portable, trusted signals. The mobility web keeps options open as skills and markets shift. And future-oriented foresight ensures the whole system stays in sync with tomorrow’s work, not just yesterday’s. Once this flywheel is spinning, the ecosystem updates itself in an agile way: decisions are faster, signals are clearer, and first jobs are more likely to launch real careers.
What can be changed now, without waiting for a law?
- Universities and colleges can align their assessments practices each semester by integrating employer feedback and current labour-market needs, making transversal skills such as communication, teamwork, data and AI basics visible on transcripts or digital credentials, and run light-touch foresight reviews to adjust modules early.
- Employers (especially SMEs) can hire for skills using short work samples and clear scoring, publish a simple first-year journey, and join curriculum councils so they co-create talent rather than just consume it – updating job profiles as foresight signals emerge.
- Policymakers can focus on measuring what truly matters, such as NEET rates by subgroup, skills mismatch, first-year retention, and internal mobility, and direct funding toward initiatives that demonstrably improve these outcomes, while supporting regional foresight and rapid micro-pilots.
- Young people can keep a small portfolio of projects, outcomes and feedback, and use interviews to check whether an organisation is truly employer-able: offering mentoring, regular feedback and a clear next step.
Final Remarks
Ecosystem insights suggest that when key stakeholders are aligned and signals are clarified, young people no longer need to succeed despite the system – they succeed because the system is intentionally designed to support their growth. From a systems perspective, this calls for a redefinition of employability: not merely as the ability to secure and maintain employment, but as the capacity to sustain wellbeing and purpose within work. A well-functioning graduate transition-to-work ecosystem must be inclusive of diverse contexts, recognising that in many parts of the world, transitions are shaped by informal economies, hidden jobs, uneven access, and innovative grassroots solutions. Crucially, young people should be viewed not only as recipients of systemic reform, but as its active co-creators.
Author Bio
Dr Yuzhuo Cai is a Professor in the Department of Education Policy and Leadership and Co-Director of the Global Research Institute for Finnish, European, and Global South Education at The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK). Prior to joining EdUHK, he spent over two decades with the Higher Education Group at Tampere University in Finland, with which he still remains affiliated. His research is internationally recognised in areas such as institutional theory analysis in higher education, the internationalisation of higher education, the Triple Helix model of innovation, university engagement in innovation ecosystems, and graduate employability. As Principal Investigator of the NEXT-UP project, he led the consortium in securing a €2.9 million Horizon Europe grant and has continued to serve as the project’s Co-Investigator following his job transition from Tampere to Hong Kong in April 2025.
