Until then it had only been a quiet whisper. One million young people not in education, employment or training! How had that happened? How was it possible that almost one in five young people were struggling and not “disengaged school drop outs”; graduates and A-Level students across the UK were victims of this crisis.
Today, the figures are not quite at the million mark but they are certainly too high. Since 2005, youth unemployment has slowly been creeping up and can be attributed to many different factors; rise in graduates, change in entry-level jobs market, welfare, employability skills, immigration, perceptions of employers, quality of careers, education and, of course, the recession.
The issue now is how we reduce youth unemployment and ensure young people can move from education into employment. Our economy needs a skilled labour force, our employers need to secure their sustainability in future skills and our young people need meaningful employment.
Catch 22
As you would expect, there have been a lot of initiatives and programmes created to reduce youth unemployment, arguably many with little impact. What does work, however, is employer engagement.
The perception that young people lack the skills and attitudes for work is the most commonly reported youth unemployment issue. Employers look to recruits with work experience and good qualifications. The issue then for most young people is that they lack the work experience to gain the work experience – a real ‘Catch 22’.
Where employers are taking the lead in creating meaningful work experience opportunities, engaging with their local schools or creating low-entry and apprenticeship vacancies with a relative recruitment criteria, ie, not demanding experience and higher qualifications than the post requires, we are starting to see some really positive outcomes.
I believe there are a growing number of employers who are ready to support and invest in young people, recognising that they need to invest in their industry’s future workforce, it is also great PR and a good opportunity to develop staff. Young people, when given the opportunity, can also add huge value to an organisation; they have a consumer view of social media and an appetite for creative thinking and social responsibility.
Support
Where the challenge lies is in identifying which employers support young people, or, for an employer, how they might help a young person, school or college and what is good practice.
If you’d like to find out how to help the young people in your community, there are some really easy first steps.
Supporting schools – careers talks, careers fairs, helping with mock interviews, all of these forms of engagement help young people develop an understanding of the world of work, what employers are looking for and how to prepare. They do not have to be too time consuming, a careers talk might take place in an assembly and mock interviews can take place during lunch breaks or after school.
Work experience – a day, week or fortnight, work experience can often be flexible. Young people learn a lot in the short time they are with an employer, whether it is key work skills, expectations of employers or whether they might want a career in that sector. Employers must be careful that they are not using work experience as an opportunity for unpaid labour.
Traineeships and apprenticeships – there are lots of opportunities for employers to help young people into work; traineeships are a short-term scheme to help young people develop skills for work while studying key qualifications such as maths and English. The work experience element might last six weeks to six months, usually on a part-time basis. Apprenticeships have changed dramatically during the past few years and offer real quality and diversity, there is financial support for an employer to take on a young person in an apprenticeship where certain criteria are met.
The hospitality sector is one that has had strong youth employment links for many years – there are many young people who start their career in some form of hospitality or retail. Looking after young people, or even looking at how we recruit and engage them is key to ensuring the sector nurtures the talent it needs and provides opportunities for young people.
About the author:
Laura-Jane Rawlings is a leading voice on youth unemployment in the UK. In 2012, she founded Youth Employment UK CIC, an organisation dedicated to fighting unemployment among young people, which aims to bring together all of the individuals and organisations affected by, or investing in, the issue. In 2010, she established InspireEducation, a careers and employability specialist providing workshops in schools across England.
If you’ve given a young person work experience or are involved in community projects to support local youth unemployment, tell the British Institute of Innkeeping your story. Email: membership1@BII.ORG with a brief explanation and your contact details.
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