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A Step In The Right Direction
It was once famously said that some things in life – like paying taxes and death – are inevitable. And leaving education trying to find employment is something that young people everywhere have to face. But despite a large amount of research that has been undertaken on young people in the job market, relatively little is known about what happens once young people start their first job. A team of researchers from Leeds Metropolitan University looked into this aspect. The survey focused on 30 people and 39 employers and addressed a range of issues in relation to recruitment, employment, and particularly young people in the workplace.
It is clear from the interviews with young people that, for the vast majority, the idea of a “job for life” no longer exists. While some had clear career ambitions, the majority appeared to be unclear on what they wanted to do. One consequence of this is that many young people saw their early work experiences as temporary – a “stop-gap” until their ideas on what they wanted to do had developed, or simply a way of earning money to pursue other ambitions such as travel.
This tendency has also been noted by many employers and is particularly disappointing to smaller businesses looking for long-term loyalty in their staff. However, some employers – for example in areas such as financial services and call centers – had adjusted to the new situation, and appeared to accept that they cannot expect young people to be loyal and see a long-term future with one employer.
Like a number of other studies, the findings confirm that employers tend to focus on “softer” skills and behavioral qualities in the recruitment process, with a less prominent role played by formal qualifications. The opinions of this sample of young people were remarkably consistent with those of the employers. Most of the young people seemed to have understood the message that formal qualifications are often a necessary but not sufficient condition for obtaining the types of jobs which they hope to do in the future. They recognized that skills like communication, team-working, organization, and customer service are all important. There was evidence that many young people had clearly worked on developing such skills.
Where there does appear to be a significant difference of opinion between the views of young people and employers related to the extent to which young people actually possess the necessary “employability” skills. By and large, the young people interviewed were confident in their ability to demonstrate these skills and qualities. Employers, on the whole, were much less positive about this, often feeling that educational institutions were focusing too strongly on academic skills and qualifications, at the expense of employability.
Another area where employers' and young peoples' views differed is in relation to Information Technology (IT) skills. When asked about the things they value most about young recruits, many employers mentioned their ability with computers. On the other hand, few young people mentioned this explicitly. The probable explanation is that young people simply take their IT skills for granted, often not realizing how valuable they might be to some employers. Encouraging young people to be more positive about this aspect might help some to improve the way they are viewed by potential employers.
In terms of the orientations provided for their young recruits, the results of this study confirmed both expectations and the findings of earlier research – that employers vary widely in the nature of the training they provide. Differences included the length of time the orientations ran, how formal the training was, what topics were covered, and how often training occurred. The reaction of most young people to the orientation they had experienced was positive, or at least neutral. There is clearly a tension between the need for new recruits to become good at their jobs, and their understandable desire to get involved as quickly as possible.
From the point of view of the employer, much depended upon the nature of the job, the type of employer (particularly size and sector), and the frequency with which they recruit young people. In general, the more regularly young people were recruited and the larger the employer, the more formal the orientation process.
In uncertain economic times, it seems that young people more than ever are having to do all they can to find employment.