Steps to Help Young People s Careers

A few weeks ago, there was an interesting discussion by the EY (part of Ernst & Young Global Limited)'s panellists, about young people's opportunties:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acgXNOcj-z0&index=14&list=PL4JSMaUVcSC3U15b7zOTKOyhb-WaEeOC3

And putting the panellists' advice together, I would say that what they have said, confirms the following steps, which could be taken to help young people's careers.

• Young people need mentors, whether they are planning to be apprentices, or students alike. They need someone who is experienced and wise, to listen to what they want, and then point them in the right direction.
• Business start ups are a great way to create opportunities, both for young entrepreneurs, and for NEET's (young people not in education or training), who are looking for careers. I have believed this for a long time: and the social marketing agency mentioned in the clip above is a perfect example, which is great to see.
• Apprenticeships are clearly the best way to combine learning with hands on industry experience, and they should be fully supported in all aspects of higher education.
• Young people should be allowed to take part in the process for creating opportunities for themselves. Youth Parliaments in politics are one example, and likewise, we need more local young entrepreneur networks, and direct feedback from youth committees, to shape apprenticeships, so that young people are able to get the best out of them.

All young people deserve opportunity, and these steps can go a long way to help the opportunities of students, apprentices, and NEETs alike. 

Centralised Tests Save Time

While job hunting, I have noticed that a number of employment agencies and prospective employers, require the same standard tests to be taken, to assess candidates' skills. These include such subjects as Word Processing, Excel skills, numeracy and literacy tests. But although all of these tests are perfectly reasonable, it seems inefficient, to ask candidates to repeat the same tests, again and again, for every agency or employer that they go to.

And so, I would like to propose a measure that will streamline recruitment processes, and save the candidates valuable time in the process: centralised tests. Like a standard certificate qualification, a candidate would simply go into a central database, (such as Outlook online), take the test, and the results of the test would be stored on that database. A cloud platform run by Google or Microsoft would be a perfect place for such test results to be stored; as agencies from around the world, would have access to them.

Candidates would, of course, be able to log on, for refresher tests, every few months, or perhaps annually; so that any new skills were added to their 'profile' in this way. But very much like the info on LinkedIn, employers would be able to access and read prospective candidates' info, without having to ask them to take the same standard tests again.

So a 'certificate' in Word Processing, Excel skills; numeracy and literacy, could save both candidates and employers vital time; and make recruitment as a whole, more efficient.

The Lessons of STEM

STEM has taught us an important lesson.

Right now, we have a huge drive in the UK to recruit more professionals for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics: or STEM for short. It is heartening to see this take shape, and I have no doubt that it will give thousands of young people their shot at these industries:

https://www.stem.org.uk/about-us

But while I admire the work of the STEM projects, it is still sad to think, that we have had this skills 'shortage' in the first place. This did not have to be. Because there are as many future engineers, mathematicians, technologists and future scientists in our schools: my dad was one of them.

As he told me, when he studied back in the 1960's, engineering was considered a 'manual' profession, and was therefore not given the same priority as others. Engineers were not seen the same way as doctors, and lawyers: even though they had to give as much attention to detail, in their work. This lack of support has continued over the years, and has left a skills gap. Young would be engineers, mathematicians, technologists and scientists alike, have not given the training, because their education was not funded properly.

And now the chickens have come home to roost.

Lack of talent is not the issue. We have an abundance of talented young people in our country. In every interview I have gone for in the past few months, dozens of talented people have been there, and prospective employers have admitted that they have had to have candidates in all week: there are that many talented applicants.

No, the issue is that these young people have not been given the training they need, for the careers they deserve. And as a result, my recruiter colleagues have had to fast track candidates from abroad to fill the 'gap'.

The lesson we should learn from STEM, is that today's students must be trained for all professions, and they must be given the resources they need to do so. Young candidates are as good today as they have ever been: it is our education and training, that needs to serve them better.

Student-Alumni Networks - Making them Specific

Student-Alumni networking is perhaps the most important way to create job opportunities for higher education. But while there are many impressive Alumni networks at Universities around the world, there is one measure I would like to propose, to help the process.

Most of the Universities I know of, in the UK, (including my own), usually have one main Alumni network, for Alumni from all schools of the university. There is then usually one main student network - on the University's Facebook or LinkedIn page, where students of all schools may network with one another.

The advantage that these networks have, is of course, that they are universal. Students and Alumni from all professions, may meet to share ideas, connections, and attend events. There are many great benefits to this co-operative way of thinking. Yet at the same time, I believe we are missing another important aspect of student-Alumni networking: the need to network within a profession. That is why there is a specific kind of networking I would like to propose, for the universities' Alumni officers to try. My proposal is this.

As well as our main networks, I believe that each School should set up a specialised student-Alumni network, in house, for both its students and Alumni to use. For example, Engineering students and Alumni could have a closed, specific in house LinkedIn group exclusively for them. This network would also have direct links with online engineering networks, to which the University was affiliated. The same could be done for the Medical School; the Science School and so on for each profession. (Students and Alumni of multiple disciplines would of course have access to each of their Schools' networks.)

The students and Alumni of these networks would have a special knowledge transferring arrangement with one another. The Alumni would offer them key connections and industry specific info; and in turn, the students would offer the Alumni their innovations, for projects of the Alumni's choosing. (Much of this is done currently, as part of Knowledge Transfer projects within the Alumni's businesses; but these separate projects could be brought together within one LinkedIn network, or similar social media platform.) They could also coordinate mentoring-internships from these networks.

I believe that by concentrating on the professions themselves, we can amplify the networking process, and increase knowledge transfer, to help developments within each industry. Our social media is sophisticated enough. Let's take the next step.