Learning
UK’s future workforce failed by careers advice Charlie Taylor focuses on some of the flaws in careers advice and the non-appearance of the government’s ‘comprehensive careers strategy’ A careers advice report published by Debut, the awardwinning student and graduate careers app, has revealed that more than three in every five people aged 16-25 in the UK (67%) think they have been failed by the government’s careers advice framework, with 46 percent of all respondents claiming not to have received any advice before making important educational choices such as A-levels and degrees, and almost a quarter (22%) claiming that their careers advice made them make the wrong career decisions. The report, which is based on a study of 500 UK-based people aged 16-25, has revealed shocking findings around the shortfall in quality careers advice in schools, resulting in 79 percent of people aged 16-25 feeling unsure about what they should do, and when, to secure the best career for them. Out of those who claim to have received careers advice at school (54%), only 32 percent said that the advice they received was helpful and had positively impacted their education and career choices. 39% of 16-25s who did receive careers advice didn’t trust that it was relevant and up-to-date, and 22 percent of them said that it had made them make the wrong educational choices which had impacted negatively on their career.
Lack of trust and relevance
From the groups of students that did receive careers advice, 35 percent say that they trusted that the careers advice they received at school was relevant and up-to-date, but 26 percent completely disagreed. 67 percent of all respondents said that they think the government is failing at providing an effective careers advice framework in schools.
What needs to change?
The majority of 16-25s (76%) say that they would have found it useful to seek careers advice from a recent graduate or someone in the early stages of their career. Taking into consideration that 92 percent of this age group agree that the concept of a career has changed since their parents’ generation, it is clear that reforms are required. Charlie Taylor, Founder and CEO of Debut, comments on the issues the report has revealed. “The reality around career evolution appears yet to be addressed by careers advice in the UK. Gone are the days when a career was for life. We asked 16-25-year olds how many job roles they expect to have and the most common answer was three to four. We know that
well over half of 16-25s would not be happy staying in one job for their entire life (58%). Career mobility is positive today, and the ability to transfer skills from one sector to another is incredibly important for innovation, but careers advice today seems to disregard cross-sector pollination.” The report findings prompted Charlie Taylor to send an open letter to the Secretary of State for Education, Justine Greening, asking why the Government’s ‘comprehensive careers strategy’ as promised back in January 2017, is now almost a year late. The open letter also lists the following suggestions for positive change, based on the report findings.
Out of touch advisors
Those responsible for careers advice are often at a mid to late stage of their own career, and their own higher education/ early careers experience is no longer relevant to what students experience today. A reverse-mentoring scheme for careers advisors who could be teamed up with third year students or recent graduates would be effective.
Putting the future workforce at the core
The Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC) board members are also at the mid to late stage of their careers, understandably so, as they have valuable industry experience. However, this means that there is no representation for the needs of young people. Inviting a new, younger member to the CEC board would be effective.
Make it relevant
Considering that 92 percent of 16-25s think that the concept of a career has changed since their parents’ generation, it is unclear why careers advice hasn’t progressed at the same rate.
Practical tools
Advice is great, but practical tools are important too. Out of the thousands of students I speak to each year, the one thing that they always ask about is the career timeline. This means that before today no-one has advised them on when to create a CV, when to apply for work experience, when to apply for internships. A simple timeline would make a major impact.
Innovation and future-gazing
The World Economic Forum estimates that 65 per cent of children today will end up in careers that don’t even exist yet. We need someone within the Careers and Enterprise
Spring 2018
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