‘What does it take to be employable here?’ Intercultural negotiating of employability among international students in the UK

This article examines how international students from Global South countries negotiate employability in the UK through language, identity work, and intercultural adaptation. Drawing on qualitative interviews with students from six countries, it explores how they navigate high-stakes career contexts by recalibrating self-presentation, language use, and strategic timing. The findings identify four trajectories: linguistic recalibration, hybridised self-presentation, temporal misalignment, and policy-responsive adaptation. The article highlights both student agency and structural constraints, showing how language and power shape visibility, legitimacy, and opportunity in transnational higher education.