Collective leadership for high-quality careers support

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Recruiters take action to support #futuretalent

The foreword to the Sutton Trust report ‘Advancing Ambitions’ highlights the positive impacts of high-quality career guidance in schools and colleges: improved attendance, better GCSE results and wiser university choices. But it also offers another more straightforward reason why we should have a high standard of career guidance in every school and college: not doing so places non-privileged young people at an even greater disadvantage in their ability to access the best opportunities.

Access to education and career opportunities for all young people and improving social mobility are well known objectives in business and public policy. The challenges too are well known, with stakeholders across the education, skills and business communities actively involved in a wide range of initiatives to address the issues we have with helping all young people make better, more informed choices about their futures. Ahead of Professions Week (10-16 November 2014) this article reflects on employer involvement in careers support for young people and how essential a partnership approach is to securing #futuretalent for the UK’s competitiveness.

Already in 2010 the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) convened a Youth Employment Taskforce led by Baroness Prosser OBE in light of employer concerns about youth unemployment. With a brief to consider what policy makers, employers and educators could do to help to get more young people into work at the height of the recession, the Taskforce recognised the important role that recruiters have to play given their understanding of the jobs market.

The REC’s Youth Employment Charter provides a focal point to support its members who want to do more to help the next generation of talent. Four years on since its launch, REC members have helped over 20,000 young people. The four case examples below show what some recruiters are doing to develop the #futuretalent our economy needs.

Pertemps

  • Developed a dedicated programme called ‘Rising Stars’ to provide young people with experience in many different aspects of the business, with the desired outcome of creating tomorrow’s outstanding recruitment consultants.
  • Visited schools, colleges and universities to offer one-to-one advice or host recruitment events to help young people with the knowledge for trying to find work.

Firebird Training Ltd

  • Worked actively with young people to offer personal coaching.
  • Recruited interns and work experience students into the business on a regular basis.
  • A division of the company (www.inspiredyouths.co.uk) runs programmes in schools to help young people find employment or set up their own business.

SEL Resourcing

  • Worked with the National Apprenticeship Service and the RICS to identify apprenticeships available in Surveying.
  • Worked with the Chartered Surveyor Training Trust (CSTT) to identify whether the current apprenticeship framework is suitable for the surveying industry.
  • Partnered with CSTT to establish relationships with local schools to develop apprenticeships in the process engineering sectors.

The Plus Team

  • Provided seminars to over 600 young people, primarily aimed at the NEET group to share insider tips and techniques to help them secure work quickly.
  • Supported Welfare to Work providers at events. Topics cover on-line CV applications, how the recruitment parsing software works or how to prepare people to deliver successful interviews, including understanding the CBI score system.

 

Recruiters clearly have a role to play in helping young people understand the job search process. The challenge for recruiters and the careers sector, schools and colleges is ensuring that these many positive actions are embedded as part of a well-planned careers programme in schools and colleges.

The reality is that addressing youth unemployment and smoothing the education to employment transition for young people at a level of scale that is needed can only be achieved where all the actors involved understand the need for partnership working, recognise their distinctive and complementary contributions and ensure greater co-ordination of effort at a local level within a ‘national organising framework’. Hence the Careers Alliance has established a #futuretalent campaign to affirm that working together within a well-planned careers programme, employers and career professionals can provide far more effective help to young people than either could do on their own.

We must act now as the bald truth is beyond comprehension – if the levels of youth unemployment remain unchanged over the next decade, it is estimated that the net cost to the Treasury will be approximately £28 billion (Source: Acevo).

We invite employers and industry bodies to join the Careers Alliance #futuretalent campaign to ensure we achieve a significant step-change in how we prepare young people for the world of work.

 

Notes:

  1. The #futuretalent campaign by the Careers Alliance is supported by over 50 large employers, professional bodies, Sector Skills Councils, and education organisations, including:
  • Atkins, Capgemini, Deloitte, National Grid, Siemens, Wates;
  • the Sutton Trust, the ACCA, the Bar Council, the Chartered Management Institute, the ICAEW;
  • the EEF (the manufacturers organisation), the BVCA, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Federation for Industry Sector Skills & Standards, Creative & Cultural Skills;
  • ManPowerGroup and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation amongst many others.
  1. The full list of #futuretalent supporters can be found here.
  2. The REC is the professional body for the UK’s £26 billion recruitment industry. With over 3,500 recruitment businesses in membership, it represents 80% of the industry by turnover. The REC aims to promote the positive contribution that high quality recruitment can make to UK plc.
  3. More information on the REC’s Youth Employment Taskforce and more case examples of how recruiters are helping young people can be found here.
  4. Professions Week is organised by Access to the Professions, a network of 19 professional bodies – the REC is one of the member organisations. Professions Week aims to increase awareness of the range and variety of potential employment options the professions have to offer young people, and encourages likeminded organisations to recruit people from a diverse range of disciplines and backgrounds.
  5. The list of professional bodies that are members of Access to the Professions includes: AAT, ACCA, ATT, CII, CIOT, Cilex, CIMA, CIPA, CIPD, CIPP, CIPS, CISI, CMI, IAB, ICAEW, IfL, ILM, PARN, REC.

 


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What about jobs for the next generation?

BN13A CoverNever mind youth unemployment now, what about the next generation?

A new report on youth unemployment titled ‘Precarious Futures’ by the UKCES confirms our concerns about labour market opportunities for future generations. TUC Secretary General, Frances O’Grady said recently that job prospects for many young people have deteriorated alarmingly.

Although improving, we know that only one in four employers offer work experience placements to young people in education and just 15% of employers have or offer apprenticeships to young people.

Structural changes in the labour market mean that young people are competing with older and more experienced workers, who have been forced to trade down for the lower and mid level jobs that young people would normally take.

The Careers Alliance has launched a #futuretalent campaign backed by over 50 employers, professional bodies and education organisations, including Atkins, Capgemini, Deloitte, National Grid, Siemens, Wates, the ACCA, the Bar Council, the Chartered Management Institute, the ICAEW, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Federation for Industry Sector Skills & Standards, Creative & Cultural Skills, and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation amongst many others.

It is not enough for employers to just offer more work opportunities for young people now. The Royal Academy of Engineering’s report on “Jobs and Growth” forecasts that the UK economy will require 830,000 professional scientists, engineers and technologists over the next decade alone. There is a long term skills issue that must be addressed by bringing education and training and the labour market closer together.

This is why employers and the Careers Alliance are calling for collaborative action between professional careers advisers, employers and schools and colleges in providing careers advice and guidance to young people by:

  1. Highlighting the importance of careers education and guidance in schools and colleges.
  2. Framing employer contributions as part of professionally managed careers programmes and not as ad hoc initiatives.
  3. Affirming that, working together within a planned careers programme, employers and career professionals can provide far more effective help to young people than either could do on their own.

 

The #futuretalent campaign challenges current Government policies by highlighting the importance of collaborative action in career guidance. This contrasts with the Government’s latest Statutory Guidance to schools which has emphasised contributions from employers and people in jobs to inspire and motivate young people in schools and colleges about the world of work, but makes little reference to the role of careers advisers, nor explains how such links between employers and schools and colleges can best be brokered.

The Careers Alliance, which is made up of more than twenty of the country’s largest skills and education organisations, reports that the inputs from employers and careers advisers need to be integrated into well-planned careers programmes in schools.

Commenting on the campaign, Dame Ruth Silver, Chair of the Careers Alliance, said: ‘There remains a disconnect between education and the world of work. Our joint call with employers shows that collaborative action is the best solution; employers say they can’t do it all on their own. Employers endorse this call by the Careers Alliance for partnership working to get careers guidance in schools and colleges right.’

Toby Peyton-Jones, Director of Human Resources at Siemens plc said: ‘Siemens would like to fully endorse the call for collaborative action by the Careers Sector Stakeholders Alliance by adding our support for driving structured and sustained collaboration between schools and employers in preparing young people for the world of work.’

Steve Holliday, CEO at National Grid said: ‘We know employers can play a more active role educating school children about the world of work. We would like to add our support to the Careers Alliance statement about improving the links between employers, schools and career advisory services to lead to better informed young people considering their career options.’

 

CSSA BN13A Employer Support for CSSA Statement

What of jobs for the next generation? CSSA #futuretalent campaign Press Release 23-06-14


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CSSA Briefing Note 13A

Employers say partnership working the only way to get careers guidance in schools and colleges right

BN13A CoverA joint statement by the Careers Alliance is published today with the support of a wide range of employers and sector bodies, including Atkins, Capgemini, Deloitte, National Grid, Siemens, Wates, the ACCA, the Bar Council, the Chartered Management Institute, the ICAEW, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Federation for Industry Sector Skills & Standards, Creative & Cultural Skills, and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation amongst many others.

It calls for collaborative action between professional careers advisers, employers and schools and colleges in providing careers advice and guidance to young people by:

  1. Highlighting the importance of careers education and guidance in schools and colleges.
  2. Framing employer contributions as part of professionally managed careers programmes and not as ad hoc initiatives.
  3. Affirming that, working together within a planned careers programme, employers and career professionals can provide far more effective help to young people than either could do on their own.

Employers, professional bodies and Sector Skills Councils have challenged Government policies by supporting the Careers Alliance statement. This contrasts with the Government’s latest Statutory Guidance to schools which has emphasised contributions from employers and people in jobs to inspire and motivate young people in schools and colleges about the world of work, but makes little reference to the role of careers advisers, nor explains how such links between employers and schools and colleges can best be brokered.

Getting the balance right beyond inspiration
Commenting on the campaign, Dame Ruth Silver, Chair of the Careers Alliance, said: ‘There remains a disconnect between education and the world of work. Our joint call with employers shows that collaborative action is the best solution; employers say they can’t do it all on their own. Employers endorse this call by the Careers Alliance for partnership working to get careers guidance in schools and colleges right.’

Professor Tony Watts, a leading international expert on career guidance said: ‘If employer contributions are to be effective, they require logistical support, curriculum space, and receptive schools and young people. They also need to be an integral part of well-planned careers programmes.’

Commenting on the Careers Alliance statement, Dr Tessa Stone, CEO of Brightside and Chair of the Bridge Group, said: ‘The employers we work with are actively engaged in working with schools and colleges. They value the role of professional careers advisers in managing careers education and guidance programmes within schools which incorporate and support the contributions of employers and people at work, so enhancing their value and ensuring their effectiveness.’

The Careers Alliance report concludes that employers (and people at work) and careers advisers both have distinctive and complementary contributions to make to the career development and career planning of young people. Working together, within a planned programme of careers education and guidance, they can provide far more effective help to young people than either could do on their own.

CSSA BN13A Employer Support for CSSA Statement


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CSSA Thinkpiece 2

High-quality Career Guidance for Enhancing Social Mobility:
a submission to the Milburn Review of Social Mobility and Child Poverty

Thinkpiece2 CoverThe Coalition Government’s strategy on social mobility recognises the value and contribution of careers education and guidance. Aside from a role for government, it states that “we can all make a difference to raising aspirations and helping people to make informed choices about jobs and careers”.

This submission sets out our concerns about the role of careers education, information, advice and guidance in improving social mobility. It summarises the key issues facing the careers sector in England, the role of careers professionals in helping people make informed choices, and the impact this has on the pathways and routes that are open to them. Social mobility needs to translate into opportunities for young people and adults, and resonates with the need to invest in technical and higher-level skills and to ensure pathways for lifelong learning and enhanced career adaptability8. For the purposes of brevity, however, the note focuses mainly on interventions for young people.

Thinkpiece 2 Social Mobility and CEIAG


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CSSA Thinkpiece 1

Key issues for career IAG provision in the Education Bill

Thinkpiece1 CoverDuring the debate on the Education Bill in 2011 there was much discussion about the provisions on careers education, IAG and work-related learning. This short Thinkpiece captures some of the issues:

  • assuring the quality of CEAIG provision;
  • securing face-to-face guidance;
  • transitions to employment;
  • accountability for schools;
  • appropriate resourcing for CEIAG

Thinkpiece 1 Education Bill Objectives


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CSSA Briefing Note 8

The Government’s proposed new arrangements for careers education and guidance: what will they mean for employers?

BN8 CoverEmployers have a strong interest in the quality of careers education and guidance in schools. The better-prepared young people are in terms of their career decision-making, the more work-ready they are likely to be. Employers have much to contribute to the quality of careers education and guidance programmes in schools, through providing work experience, talks, mentoring etc. Many employers work with schools and with career guidance professionals to help young people understand the world of work. Much is being done to harness such contributions. But employers recognise that the scope and effectiveness of such contributions is significantly dependent on the existence, accessibility, quality and extent of careers education and guidance programmes in schools. A recent report produced by Deloitte for the Education and Employers Taskforce has emphasised the role that employers play in schools, but that more must be done.

We need to better harness the partnership working between employers,
schools and careers advisers to shape government policy on careers education, information, advice and guidance.

Briefing Note 8 Employer Engagement