'I feel that I could go anywhere now, anywhere in the world…’ – mobility and agency in graduate career paths

This paper will draw on an ongoing research project which explores the interrelation of career and migration pathways of higher education students from the UK island communities of Orkney and Shetland. Considering the role of mobility in career development, the paper will demonstrate that students classically define their own mobility in terms of their own agency, and where they lack mobility it is perceived primarily as a lack of confidence. However, the paper will explore the narratives of the young people to deconstruct the notion of agency in terms of mobility, demonstrating how a range of structural factors impact on the lived experiences of students’ mobility. The importance of critical perspectives on career development which recognise that student’s self-portrayal of migration choice and migration confidence may conceal wider structural inequalities is identified.