by Andrew Turner
In today’s market it is becoming increasingly difficult for young people to get their first job. From personal experience after my Masters, and that of my friends on the course, more often than not applicants for positions receive no response at all rather than an interview. In fact in a recent survey only “23% of employers had recruited a young person to their first job.” This is a tiny portion of their workforce and leaves many young people unemployed, and often with a student debt hanging over them.
Employers seem to have the opinion that the lack of job experience prevents young people from being work-ready. Yet this prejudice is preventing young people from gaining this experience, and more so forcing them to take unpaid work placements in an attempt to break in to industry. In this instance employers are not only breaking the law; according to Balanced Accounting “Unpaid internships are actually illegal - even if both parties consider the arrangement to be voluntary, national minimum wage rules apply”, but are also exploiting the young workforce by exchanging their work for CV’s which are full of 2 to 4 weeks at various different companies. Whilst this shows the commitment of the candidate when they apply for a job, if every candidate has this how can it work as a differential? Plus, how much on the job experience can truly be gained from these roles? For obvious reasons often no real responsibilities are given and much of the work is menial. Due to this the experience is far removed from actual work, the pressures of deadlines and the experience of working as an equal member of a team.
Having just started here at Nelson Croom, in my first role since completion of my Masters, I am lucky that I have found a company who were willing to give a young candidate a chance. Many of my friends are not so lucky and are struggling to find more than placements which cover their travel expenses. Not only is it discouraging and scary for them but it is a strong contrast to statistics released this week that “84% of employers recruiting new graduates found them to be well prepared.”
With this statistic in mind I can’t help but think that employers should take the chance and offer on the job learning to help develop young professionals. More and more jobs are demanding some form of CPD and are benefitting from it. Perhaps if it was accepted across the board as something used to continually cultivate new and existing talent then employers wouldn’t see young people as such a risk. Rather they would be seen as people who it would be possible to achieve the maximum output from, for a longer period of time. It is not only young staff who benefit from CPD, but perhaps it can be used to extinguish the uneasiness many seem to associate with employing people to their first position.
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