Concern over employability the result of new requirements that organizations make of workers. It is known, however, that the understanding of this concept is somewhat diverse and controversial. In this context, the present article seeks to understand how employability has emerged and gained force in two fields - the academic and the business. Thus, a qualitative study was conducted with professionals and Human Resource academics in Belo Horizonte-MG, together with an analysis of secondary data in academic rather than business publications. The collected data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively on the basis of the techniques of bibliometric analysis and content analysis. The findings of the study indicate that in both groups - business and academic - the two conceptions of employability, highlighted in the business-individual theory, which that considers employability as the capacity of the adaptation of man power when facing the new requirements of the world of work and organizations, and the critical-social one, which treats employability as a speech that transfers the responsibility for the job from society and the State to the worker himself were the first to emerge. Thus, the article shows a reflection, seeking to indicate to society that the neoliberal speech concerning employability does not itself bring a guarantee of jobs, and that the unceasing search for knowledge (human capital) does not always guarantee equivalent opportunities in the world of the work.
employability; human capital; labour market
