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This article examines the career opportunities, challenges and trajectories of creative work. As part of the Creative Trident approach to creative workforce measurements, the embedded mode draws attention to creative work as it is undertaken outside of the creative industries. This article further considers and conceptualises the complex careers pathways of creative workers. Firstly, creative workers in non-creative occupations in other industries are discussed to highlight the challenges and barriers to securing creative employment and the balance creative workers establish with other forms of employment. Secondly, students from creative courses going into non-creative occupations in other industries is discussed to highlight challenges students face in making the transition from higher education to creative employment in terms of workforce expectations and the competition amongst graduates. This article critically evaluates assumptions about transitions from education into creative work employment and associated career trajectories

Addressing connections between higher education and ‘industry’ framed by UK government creative industries strategies, this article draws on research with games design students to explore their transition from being a student to being ‘industry‐ready’. The article introduces broader currents within higher education around personal development and possessing the right skills, and addresses how these emerge through collaboration with industry. These transformations are part of a process of ‘becoming’ in which students are presented with a diverse range of ways to prepare themselves. Focusing on how students negotiate aspects of their identity in becoming industry‐ready, the article outlines and compares the influence of ‘celebrity’ designers and industry professionals involved in higher education. Beyond the imparting of information, the article points to the values and ways of being industry professionals present, how these are engaged with by students, and issues around making both games and the self ‘mor...