HR Magazine

Most school leavers are not employable

• 14-08-2008 6:24 PM

  hrmagazine.co.uk Joined on 05-08-2008 Posts 701	Most school leavers are not employable Reply Contact The education system is not equipping school leavers with the skills to succeed at work. Read: Most school leavers are not employable.

• 14-08-2008 6:24 PM

  In reply to

  Trisha Goring Joined on 14-08-2008 Posts 5	RE: Most school leavers are not employable Reply Contact With so little discipline in both home and school, it is hardly surprising that school leavers don't fit into the work regime - under 25s in general are far less reliable in the workplace and have no concept of suitable dress or behaviour.

• 20-08-2008 11:55 AM

  In reply to

  Gill Wilmot Joined on 20-08-2008 Posts 1

  RE: Most school leavers are not employable Reply Contact I think Trisha's comments are a bit harsh. No-one starts out knowing exactly how to behave at work, as with everything, it is down to experience. What we are really looking for is potential One thing we have found is that using personality profiling can be really useful in sorting out those candidates who will fit in with our workplace and those who may not be so suited. There are lots of different questionnaires on the market but we have found "Identity" very straight-forward to use and interpret. Try it for yourself at www.identityquestionnaire.com

• 20-08-2008 4:09 PM

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  Chris Crossley Joined on 20-08-2008 Posts 1

  Re: RE: Most school leavers are not employable Reply Contact It is a shame to think that there are people who think the way that Trisha do.  For a start, talking about under 25s "in general" is ridiculous.  Does she mean school leavers, university leavers or just 'young people' in general?  I would love to know how many under 25s Trisha has worked with as it can't be many.  It is statements like this that only reinforce the negative attitude towards young people here in the UK.   As an 'general' under 25 myself, I consider myself to be reliable, well behaved and have a good idea about suitable work attire.  Granted, I am a university graduate but as I am being tarnished with Trisha's under 25 brush, I feel compelled to disagree with her.  I would also say that my brother, an 18 year old who has just received his A-levels would also have a good idea of how to dress and behave at work.  He is also very reliable and has had work experience. Gil is 100% right, it is experience of working that makes the difference.  For school leavers to become 'employable' it is going to take employers to take a chance on them and train them up.  Whether someone is 16, 18, 25 or 50 - if they have never worked, how are they ever going to be employable?  It is the employers who need to change and offer school leavers training schemes and time to develop.  It is very hard for shcool leavers nowadays with every job adbvertisement saying 'experience required' and this needs to change.

• 18-11-2008 9:13 AM

  In reply to

  Michael Madelin Joined on 06-10-2008 Posts 3

  Re: RE: Most school leavers are not employable Reply Contact I completely agree with Chris. I am a university student myself and have experienced first-hand the common stereotype that simply because I am barely into my twenties I cannot be taken seriously in the workplace, and must be void of any relevant job experience. This being the case, I decided to undertake an internship within an HR department in my first year, and a placement year in my third year of study. I will therefore leave university at 22 having worked for 18 months within a large organisation. I only hope that this will allow me to get a 'foot in the door' and show that many young, relatively inexperienced workers have the willingness to learn and the drive to succeed.

• 06-12-2008 10:10 PM

  In reply to

  Natalie Lancaster Joined on 24-11-2008 Posts 2

  RE: Most school leavers are not employable Reply Contact I think the eloquent responses of Gil, Chris and Michael, who are themselves self-confessed 'under-25-year-olds', amply demonstrate the wealth of young talent we have in this country! Tarring all with one brush is never a true picture. However, there ARE issues at point here. There is a case for saying that there is increasing child poverty in this country, and a growing underclass \(shown best perhaps by the unveiling of the lives of those surrounding the Shannon Matthews case). There is also a case for saying that mothers from all parts of society spend more time working and much less time with their children than their forebears did - whether due to the single parent situations, or state encouragement for them to be out at work. In both these growing demographics, report after report tells us that child-care and discipline at home suffer. That employers therefore find young people arriving in their employ to be the victims of such circumstances is inevitable. This is a growing problem because the two demographics causing the problem are growing - and that is where government should focus it's attention if it wants to improve the employability of young people.

• 29-01-2009 9:56 PM

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  Alexandra Joined on 29-01-2009 Posts 21

  RE: Most school leavers are not employable Reply Contact Well if over 50s and school leavers are unemployable what does that leave!!! My kids all had weekend jobs or evening work, 2 are still Uni students and work part-time. A few years ago younger people could have a job evening or weekends when at school, this better prepared them for full-time employment and gave them more independance financially and responsibility. Now they can't work till they're 16 years old and are dependant on their parents longer for everything with little or no experience in a working environment when they leave school.

• 21-07-2009 7:39 AM

  In reply to

  Oscar Hernandes Joined on 21-07-2009 California Posts 4

  Re: Most school leavers are not employable Reply Contact  School leavers may not be the best employees but we can't say that they are not employable. If employers will ignore the youth, they will suffer themselves as they are the new talent and a requirement for longer lasting business. I believe istead of basing hiring decision on whether the person is school leaver or experienced or whether he is 18 or 25, it's more safe and better to bas decisions on basis of talent. Assess talent before you hire. To see what recruiters are using these dayshttp://www.hirelabs.com/ :

  Filed under: talent management, Human Resources Solutions

• 18-02-2010 9:38 PM

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  Angus McDonald Joined on 18-02-2010 Posts 1

  Re: Most school leavers are not employable Reply Contact Maybe. But as other contributors have noted, we place too much emphasis on expecting that young people know what they want to do and know themselves sufficiently when leaving education. Is the education system to blame?  In part it is.  Look at our competency profiles of whatever else we use and look at how the attributes and knowledge valued in the education system matches these.  All too often the gap is obvious.  But organisations also need to be far more flexible in their thinking.  Most people who have a stake in recruitment will be long past their formal education, and all too easily forget what it is like to be a school-leaver.  We need to be more flexible in recognizing strengths and potential.  Many young people have huge amounts to offer organisations, but organisations need to be flexible enough to work with people who are still have much to learn and are growing and changing rapidly.  Angus www.realisepotential.com

• 20-02-2010 2:10 PM

  In reply to

  Claire St Louis Joined on 20-02-2010 Posts 3

  Re: Most school leavers are not employable Reply Contact In a recent job, we focussed on employing people without qualifications. The criteria was an ability to turn up to work and apply themselves to the tasks of an electrical warehouse. We were inundated by 16 year old boys from a diverse background. I was truely staggered at the low levels of literacy and numeracy present within these lads. They wrote and spoke in text speak and heaven forbid you asked them to add up some simple numbers. Whilst we knew that a recruitment programme like this would be a challenge, it is fair to say that the first six months of employment were focussed on basic 'first job' skills and we had to adapt our training schedules accordingly. There was about a 30% drop off rate of those that simply couldn't or wouldn't turn up regularly. However there were 70% who learnt these basic work skills and have really developed themselves as skilled and hardworking employees.  It really showed me that we make so many assumptions about education and are very quick to blame, but really its in our interests as employers to invest and the majority will prove us right!  Claire www.libbeyhr.co.uk

• 26-03-2010 1:08 PM

  In reply to

  Tom Conner Joined on 24-09-2009 London Posts 3

  Re: Most school leavers are not employable Reply Contact This is a really interesting debate. I worry that our education system does not provide our children with enough commercial awareness or IT literacy. In this respect the system is very old fashioned and could do with a serious face lift. I think that education makes more sense (and is easier to learn) when it is put in a commercial perspective. For example, Sir Richard Branson did not understand maths until it was put in a business context. Looking to the future I think that everything will revolve around IT. In this light it should be tought as much as maths and English. School leavers would have a nice advantage if they had a higher level of computer literacy than their boss! Director at Drewberry Group Insurance.

• 31-03-2010 4:53 PM

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  P COPPING Joined on 07-04-2009 Posts 10

  Re: Most school leavers are not employable Reply Contact  Congratulations to Claire who shows if you have the vacancies, employing NEEts does work. Looking though the recent studies (one from OFSTED is the most recent) shows some localities are succeeding in getting young people into jobs. However often these studies do not engage employers no doubt because the latter will tend rehearse 'the failure of the education system.' etc The agency responsible for helping young people (13-19) into work (among other their other problems) is Connexions. Maybe HR people who can provide employment  (and training) but need some learning in the organisation and skills needed could discuss it with them. I stress should this not be  do-gooding at all, but a sound business proposition. Its now over 100 year since Winston Churchill proposed that compulsory schooling and training should extend to 18, ninety year since Parliament legislated for it, and four years since the current government proposed it yet again.