What barriers affect young people gaining employment?

paulwf

One barrier might be that although the average young person might be better trained on paper these days in many cases the basics aren't there...texting, use of slang on Facebook etc and just a general lack of care to standards of English means a lot of young people can't use English to a basic business level.

The minimum wage also cuts out some entry level jobs that were good for gaining experience. That combined with a lot of teens now wanting cars, £35 a month iPhones and a constant social life means being willing to start off in a poorly paid job and working their way up doesn't seem attractive any more...they'd rather work in a mid paid job with no prospects.

Oldernotwiser

Badger_Lady wrote: »

Slightly harshly put, Older, but I agree with the sentiment - GCSEs and A Levels are academic qualifications. Training could be, for example, confidence and presentation..? Something that would enable you to run a debate in an interview room!

Not meant to be harsh; too early in the morning for tact!

Person_one

Surely a dearth in the amount of actual jobs available due to the recession is a factor, meaning that competition is higher for each one.

I'm a 25 year old graduate with 9 years of varied work and volunteering experience and I'm about to start a job that technically only requires a school leaver (Basic GCSE's, no experience necessary). At interview I was told that nearly 200 people had applied, lots of them graduates or otherwise well qualified, lots of them also had years of experience in the field but had lost their better jobs.

So because there are hardly any jobs further up the ladder or in specialised fields, older people are essentially taking the school leavers jobs from them before they have a chance to get a foot in the door!

foreign_correspondent

flutterbyuk25 wrote: »

Many thanks for all the replies so far

Zazen - I already work with young people getting them ready for employment and I need to make a presentation to colleagues about what the barriers are and I just wanted to check that other people thought the same as me and that there wasn't anything missing from the list I've made.

millysmuttleylaugh - thanks for your post and good luck in your job search

x

Surely there is plenty of research to base your presentation on, rather than canvassing the views of people on the internet? The populist view is not always accurate.

I would suggest you consider the perceptions employers have of young people, in addition to the perceptions young people have of themselves. Lack of confidence and lack of aspirations can be a big problem for a lot of young people.

There is also a significant issue of people's background, and socio economic status - for example, not having the financial capital to move house or travel further afield can be a barrier facing poorer kids more than the middle classes, and whether you have social capital is important too.

Gemmy_2

The main thing i found was experience.

No-one wants or needs to give you a chance as nowadays there is so many people going for the same job.

You might have all the education you need for the job but no experience.

It's a downwards spiral really. You get experience by having a job and you can't get a job without experience.

dugdale_2

I'm an 18 - 24 adviser at Jobcentre Plus and see customers with many challenges (not allowed to call them barriers) to securing or retaining employment every day.
In no particular order
* Unrealistic job goals,
* No knowledge of the types of vacancies in the local labour market,
* No knowledge of the qualifications / experience required to enter a particular occupation,
* No knowledge of how to job seek,
* No knowledge of the recruitment process,
* No CV, or if they have a CV one which does not sell them to an employer,
* Unable to sell themselves at an interview,
* Reliant on public transport,
* No family work history therefore content to remain on benefits,
* No self confidence, believe that they will never find work so do not actively job seek,
* Lack of basic literacy / numeracy / conversational skills,
* No self discipline, staying up all night playing computer games therefore being dismissed for poor work attendance.

HTH

SarEl

Person_one wrote: »

Surely a dearth in the amount of actual jobs available due to the recession is a factor, meaning that competition is higher for each one.

I'm a 25 year old graduate with 9 years of varied work and volunteering experience and I'm about to start a job that technically only requires a school leaver (Basic GCSE's, no experience necessary). At interview I was told that nearly 200 people had applied, lots of them graduates or otherwise well qualified, lots of them also had years of experience in the field but had lost their better jobs.

So because there are hardly any jobs further up the ladder or in specialised fields, older people are essentially taking the school leavers jobs from them before they have a chance to get a foot in the door!

Your post made me think of something else! Nothing personal here - but you could add the "cheapening of qualifications". I don't want to get into a row about whether standards are slipping etc. But even before the recession, I had noticed that every other young person had a degree from somewhere - like a third class in media studies from the Bognor Regis University. Now media studies might be a really useful qualification for someone seeking employment in a media field (I have no idea really!) - but it seems to me that there are simply too many "non-degrees" from too many, frankly (ok - I am going to get hammered for saying this I know) fourth rate "universities". With so many graduates flooding the employment market, it doesn't get you a better job - it simply moves the "minimum qualification" goalposts. So what used to get done by someone with GCE's (showing my age there) or A levels is now getting done by someone with a degree. Those who leave education before the degree stage are therefore sitting in the niche previously occupied by those who left before doing GCE's.

I am certainly the last person to say that education is worthless, because I don't believe it ever is. But we are often not comparing "like for like" when we look back to the "old days". The jobs market, and the types of jobs out there, may have changed enormously from the 70's and 80's - but the proportions haven't. There are still as many boring, down at the bottom, dead end jobs as there are high-flying, well-paid, interesting jobs, proportionaly. So a much better educated workforce coming out of education doesn't mean that they will all get into better jobs. It just means that the "bottom layer" are better educated than they were previously.

paulwf

SarEl wrote: »

Your post made me think of something else! Nothing personal here - but you could add the "cheapening of qualifications". I don't want to get into a row about whether standards are slipping etc. But even before the recession, I had noticed that every other young person had a degree from somewhere - like a third class in media studies from the Bognor Regis University. Now media studies might be a really useful qualification for someone seeking employment in a media field (I have no idea really!) - but it seems to me that there are simply too many "non-degrees" from too many, frankly (ok - I am going to get hammered for saying this I know) fourth rate "universities". With so many graduates flooding the employment market, it doesn't get you a better job - it simply moves the "minimum qualification" goalposts. So what used to get done by someone with GCE's (showing my age there) or A levels is now getting done by someone with a degree. Those who leave education before the degree stage are therefore sitting in the niche previously occupied by those who left before doing GCE's.

It's not just the quality of the degree...I can't find exact figures but it looks like there are double the number of graduates every year compared to 20 years ago. The question is are there double the number of graduate level jobs...I'm not sure that there are.

I went to a business day discussing town regeneration and one of the talks mentioned that it is all well and good creating extra colleges and university places in the town but unless skilled jobs are also created it doesn't help the workforce as a whole. I then witnessed this first hand when I visited a city with a university and one of the cafes in town was staffed with graduates, they have no where else to go and if they are taking all the fairly unskilled jobs where are the unskilled and young workers meant to go?

It shows you can't have a "quick fix" for an area by opening a college to churn out graduates or open a supermarket to create 200 unskilled jobs. You need a bit of everything to help an area and its workforce.

bristol_pilot

Gaining a higher education is a bit like attending a football match or concert and standing on your seat to get a better view. If a few people do it, they gain an advantage over the rest. But if almost everyone does it then no-one is any better off and the few remaining seated are in the doo-doo.

millsymuttleylaugh

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

This is a good indication of a couple of barriers to employment; young people who think they know it all and who don't accept advice from people whose job it is to help them.

I don't think I know it all, if I did know it all I'd be in a better position than I am now.

And I was told the training would be vocational, not something like confidence building (which I agree would help me) another qualification in something unrelated is not going to help me get a job anymore so than the qualifications I already have, which believe me, they cover a broad spectrum.

I have no problem accepting advice. I'm a very open minded person. I put this post on here to help the OP not to be criticised and classed as a know it all just because I feel going for some vocational training won't help me.