Young people want insight into real work from trusted sources, says Grace Lewis
As the annual silly season hit, so came the headlines: ‘Python caught in Florida is chief suspect in mystery of missing cats’ and ‘Hello Kitty blasts into space and is standing by for your messages,’ etc etc.
So when both A-level and GCSE results arrived, we were gently reminded that hundreds of thousands of young people will be entering the labour market this year, some without any idea what they can – let alone want to – do with their shiny new qualifications.
While there has been a concerted effort in recent years from the government, leading UK businesses and training providers to ease young peoples’ transition into work, it seems friends and family remain the most trusted when it comes to giving careers advice.
According to research from LifeSkills, a training programme created with Barclays, 75 per cent of 14 to 25 year olds turn to their family for career inspiration. Similarly, when over 1,500 first year university students were asked by recruitment site targetjobs if someone other than a teacher or a speaker influenced their choice of career, more than half said yes and named a family member.
The old adage of ‘mum knows best’ certainly rings true with me; mine has always been the right side of pushy parent – unlike a couple of nameless families on the Channel 4 series 'Child Genius' – encouraging me to pursue topics that I’m interested in, and have a somewhat vague understanding of.
In this way I’m very lucky, but depressing research brings home the stark truth that one in eight young people are growing up in a workless household. LifeSkills suggest families need to be better equipped to help when their child comes asking.
Rather than directly reaching out to young people, perhaps the answer is to explore the avenues that we know 14 to 25 year olds are using to access their information, like social media, the internet and close relations. So maybe parents could do with some training and support too?
But I suspect young people are not turning to their relatives in search of definitive answers, it is because of the trusted relationship and honest advice a parent or friend can offer.
So as well as upping the anti on careers advice and giving young people greater access to the different training routes available, we should all be amenable to offering honest and real-life advice to the newly qualified people entering the workplace. It’s a civic duty as much as a moral one.
For starters, it is not always easy. You do have to work hard to earn good money; you will have to work with people you don’t always get on with, and if commuting becomes anymore expensive and wages continue to stagnate, we really might face the situation where we cannot afford to travel to work.
There is a silver lining: when life really does get tough, parents, friends and family will always be there to offer their two pennies worth.