Employer and employee perceptions of the skills and abilities needed by college graduates in a changing workplace were examined through semistructured, in-depth interviews with a sample of 84 strategic managers, 84 college graduates, and 35 nongraduate employees in 91 organizations across England and Scotland that represented a mix of organization sizes and sectors. The interviews focused on the following topics: changes in work organizations (downsizing, delayering, and reduction of full-time staff); flexibility, empowerment, and transformation; changes in graduate careers and implications of flexibility; recruitment policy and practices; attributes of graduates; benefits of a degree; work placements; links between higher education and employers; and training and lifelong learning. It was discovered that most organizations have undergone significant change in the past decade and most are developing structures and practices to enhance their flexibility for further change. Most respondents expected continual change, and employers expressed a need for adaptable workers capable of serving as transformative agents. The emergence of flexible organizations, growth of symbolic-analytic services, and the movement of college graduates into nontraditional job has changed college graduates' career patterns. (The bibliography contains 107 references. Appended are details about the respondents and criteria for defining the size of organizations.) (MN)