- Tholen, G. (2023). Matchmaking under uncertainty: how hiring criteria and requirements in professional work are co-created. Employee Relations: The International Journal, 45(3), pp. 603–614. doi:10.1108/er-06-2022-0262.
- Tholen, G. (2023). Matching Candidates to Culture: How Assessments of Organisational Fit Shape the Hiring Process. Work, Employment and Society pp. 95001702311552–95001702311552. doi:10.1177/09500170231155294.
- Isopahkala-Bouret, U., Tholen, G. and van Zanten, A. (2023). Introduction to the special issue: positionality and social inequality in graduate careers. Journal of Education and Work, 36(1), pp. 1–8. doi:10.1080/13639080.2023.2169995.
- Tholen, G. (2022). The meaning of higher education credentials in graduate occupations: the view of recruitment consultants. Journal of Education and Work, 36(1), pp. 9–21. doi:10.1080/13639080.2022.2162019.
- Tholen, G. (2022). Within-Occupation Forms of Positional Labour Market Advantage in Three Skilled Occupations. Sociological Research Online, 27(2), pp. 273–291. doi:10.1177/1360780421999404.
- Tholen, G. (2020). Degree power: educational credentialism within three skilled occupations. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 41(3), pp. 283–298. doi:10.1080/01425692.2019.1690427.
- Tholen, G. (2019). The limits of higher education institutions as sites of work skill development, the cases of software engineers, laboratory scientists, financial analysts and press officers. Studies in Higher Education, 44(11), pp. 2041–2052. doi:10.1080/03075079.2018.1490894.
- Tholen, G. (2017). The Changing Opportunities of Professionalization for Graduate Occupations. Comparative Sociology, 16(5), pp. 613–633. doi:10.1163/15691330-12341438.
- Tholen, G. (2017). Symbolic Closure: Towards a Renewed Sociological Perspective on the Relationship between Higher Education, Credentials and the Graduate Labour Market. Sociology, 51(5), pp. 1067–1083. doi:10.1177/0038038516641857.
- Tholen, G., Relly, S.J., Warhurst, C. and Commander, J. (2016). Higher education, graduate skills and the skills of graduates: the case of graduates as residential sales estate agents. British Educational Research Journal, 42(3), pp. 508–523. doi:10.1002/berj.3222.
- Power, S., Allouch, A., Brown, P. and Tholen, G. (2016). Giving something back? Sentiments of privilege and social responsibility among elite graduates from Britain and France. International Sociology, 31(3), pp. 305–323. doi:10.1177/0268580916629966.
- Brown, P., Power, S., Tholen, G. and Allouch, A. (2016). Credentials, talent and cultural capital: a comparative study of educational elites in England and France. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 37(2), pp. 191–211. doi:10.1080/01425692.2014.920247.
- Allouch, A., Brown, P., Power, S. and Tholen, G. (2015). L'éthique des élites scolaires. Du mérite à la responsabilité chez les étudiants de sciences po Paris et de l'Université d'Oxford. Annee Sociologique, 66(1), pp. 193–224.
- Tholen, G. (2015). What can research into graduate employability tell us about agency and structure? British Journal of Sociology of Education, 36(5), pp. 766–784. doi:10.1080/01425692.2013.847782.
- Tholen, G. (2014). Graduate employability and educational context: a comparison between Great Britain and the Netherlands. British Educational Research Journal, 40(1), pp. 1–17. doi:10.1002/berj.3023.
- Power, S., Brown, P., Allouch, A. and Tholen, G. (2013). Self, Career and Nationhood: The contrasting aspirations of British and French elite graduates. The British Journal of Sociology, 64(4), pp. 578–596. doi:10.1111/1468-4446.12048.
- James, S., Warhurst, C., Tholen, G. and Commander, J. (2013). What we know and what we need to know about graduate skills. Work, Employment and Society, 27(6), pp. 952–963. doi:10.1177/0950017013500116.
- Tholen, G., Brown, P., Power, S. and Allouch, A. (2013). The role of networks and connections in educational elites’ labour market entrance. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 34, pp. 142–154. doi:10.1016/j.rssm.2013.10.003.
- Tholen, G. (2013). The Social Construction of Competition for Graduate Jobs: A Comparison between Great Britain and the Netherlands. Sociology, 47(2), pp. 267–283. doi:10.1177/0038038512444815.
Contact details
Address
Dr Gerbrand Tholen
City, University of London
Northampton Square
London EC1V 0HB
United Kingdom
Northampton Square
London EC1V 0HB
United Kingdom
About
Overview
Gerbrand Tholen is a senior lecturer in Sociology and Director of Research (internal). His research interests are centred around education, skills, jobs, occupations and the labour market. He has previously examined issues of skill utilisation, graduate work, elite education, labour market mobility, income inequality, skill formation and the global labour market as well as social theory.
I’m currently working on three research projects
1) The recruitment and selection process in skilled work, in particular, the role of external recruitment consultants, the construction of hiring criteria and requirements, and the role of organisational fit in labour market discrimination. Qualitative project based on interviews with external recruitment consultants. Funder: City, University of London
2) The marketisation of Higher Education (HE)
a) Developing a critical analysis of assumptions placed regarding work and the labour market in HE policy discourse supporting marketisation. Qualitative document analysis.
Tholen, G. (2022) Modern Work and the Marketisation of Higher Education. Bristol: Policy Press.
b) Analysis of the role of neoliberalism in the marketisation of HE. Literature-based research. To be published in 2023 by Palgrave Macmillan
3) The global patterns of occupational change, particularly the hollowing out thesis, and the impact of AI technologies.
Quantitative analysis of secondary data. This is part of an international research programme on reimagining jobs, skills and education for a digital age (2019-2023).
https://digitalfuturesofwork.com/
Teaching
SG1027 Researching Society: Qualitative Methods (UG-Y1)
SG2021 Understanding Social Change (UG-Y2)
SG3073 Education, skills and the Job Market (UG-Y3)
Research
Research interests
The graduate labour market
Skills
Careers
Recruitment and selection
Higher Education
Unemployment scarring
Social closure
Occupations and professions
Occupational change
Social stratification
Educational inequalities
Publications
Publications by category
Books (3)
- Tholen, G. (2022). Modern work and the marketisation of higher education. ISBN 978-1-4473-5528-1.
- Tholen, G. (2017). Graduate Work. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-874448-1.
- Tholen, G. (2014). The Changing Nature of the Graduate Labour Market. Palgrave Macmillan UK. ISBN 978-1-349-50237-0.
Chapters (3)
- Tholen, (2017). Higher Education and the Myths of Graduate Employability. In Waller, R., Ingram, N. and Ward, M.R.M. (Eds.), Higher Education and Social Inequalities Getting In, Getting on and Getting Out London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-21288-6.
- (2012). The Global Auction Model, Skill Bias Theory and graduate incomes: Reflections on methodology. In Educating for the Knowledge Economy? (pp. 55–77). Routledge.
- Brown, P., Lauder, H., Ashton, D. and Tholen, G. (2006). Towards a High-Skilled, Low-Waged Economy? A Review of Global Trends in Education, Employment and the Labour Market. In Porter, S. and Cambell, M. (Eds.), Skills and Economic Performance (pp. 55–90). London: Caspian Publishing.
Journal articles (19)
Professional activities
Editorial activity (2)
- Work, Employment and Society, editorial board member.
- British Journal of Sociology of Education, editorial board member.