Employer links the best way to career success, say young people
03rd May 2012
Posted by Richard McKenna
Building better links between employers and young people could be the key to promoting their inclusion in the workplace, a new study suggests.
Research by City & Guilds has found that the vast majority of young people want better access to employers to help bridge the gap between education and work.
Almost nine in ten (88 per cent) 16-18 year olds polled as part of the study said that a visit to an employer was extremely useful to them and their career prospects.
Despite this, only a quarter (26 per cent) of learners has been given the opportunity to experience a place of work.
The researchers claim that although experience placements are becoming more common, the often irrelevant and poor quality placements being offered in schools are not equipping young people for meaningful employment.
This contributes to the fact that only 33 per cent 14 to 18-year-olds consider work experience to be necessary when it comes to getting their dream job, the study suggests.
"We believe more needs to be done to ensure young people get the advice and experience they deserve and we believe we are ideally placed to help realise this goal," said Chris Jones, chief executive of City & Guilds.
The organisation has now called for the creation of an All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) to get to grips with the root causes of youth unemployment.
"Our research has gone some way towards identifying the gaps between education and employment; now we have to plan how we are going to close those gaps and stop our young people from slipping through the system," said Mr Jones.
"We are calling for an APPG to bring together key stakeholders across education, business and the Government to tackle this problem -working together, to get young people working."
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