Commission for Work report warns against using ‘crude candidate filters’
The National Union of Students (NUS) has called on employers to “rethink their recruitment practices” to ensure that young candidates are not unfairly disadvantaged, as it launched its Commission for Work report.
The report, which examines the labour market conditions for young jobseekers, educational reforms and career guidance, highlights how partners across work, government and education can combine their efforts to tackle youth unemployment.
It draws on evidence from a diverse range of 12 commissioners from expert organisations including the CIPD, the TUC and the British Chamber of Commerce.
Employer recruitment practices were highlighted as a key barrier for young study leavers who wanted to move into work.
“For those leaving further education, a bias towards graduates in the recruitment of many organisations was believed to disadvantage those study leavers who have taken vocational training routes,” the report said. “For graduates, whilst employer surveys suggest that degree classifications are less important than students’ attitudes and aptitudes, some widely used recruitment practices can be highly restrictive.”
The report showed that minimum requirements, such as a 2:1 in the final degree classification or a bias towards ‘preferred institutions’ were still used to filter CVs.
And a number of employers continue to insist candidates take part in one of the companies’ work experience schemes before they are considered for employment, which the report said “can make accessing graduate level opportunities a difficult task for a large proportion of graduates”.
An “over-reliance on ‘spray and pray’ marketing techniques, results in high applicant volumes and requires recruiters to filter them crudely,” the report explained.
NUS also urged employers to consider offering multiple access routes into their organisations for young people, promoting geographical flexibility when advertising opportunities, creating more talent pipeline programmes and offering more opportunities linking student employment with post-study work.
The chief executive of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills Michael Davis said: “Youth unemployment is falling but securing a foothold into a good career is still harder than it was 20 years ago. This is a structural problem that has been around since before the recession, reflecting a long-term decline in entry level jobs in industries that young people traditionally go into, and fewer opportunities to combine earning, learning and to progress.”
Peter Cheese, CIPD chief executive CIPD, said: “Over the past few years we have been encouraged to see so many HR professionals step up their efforts to engage with young people, realising that as employers they cannot sit back and expect to be passive consumers of the education system.
“However, as the recent employment statistics show, youth unemployment is still a key issue which needs to be addressed if UK businesses are to have access to the future talent they need to succeed."
NUS will reconvene the Commission in June, to discuss action around the findings.