News
EFA Launches Series of Young People Think Tank Events
19 January 2011
What is the future for young people in the workplace?
The Employers Forum on Age (EFA) has launched a series of roundtable discussions about ‘The future of young people in the workplace' to explore the issues facing young people as they begin their careers, including access to funding and training, and employer experiences in recruitment.
The first roundtable event, focused on graduates, was attended by many senior businesses, including representatives from BT, HSBC, McDonald's, Michael Page and Santander as well as some recent graduates who offered their perspective.
The event highlighted that the recession and new university fees have resulted in many companies re-evaluating their graduate recruitment policies and in particular considering new options to recruit wider talent. Key topics covered in the discussion included:
Are new solutions the key to getting talent?
Many large employers are finding there is no one solution to finding the right graduate recruits and companies have to come up with their own innovative solutions alongside traditional graduate recruitment.
Traditional ‘graduate recruitment' is declining and many employers are now favouring a ‘2-way relationship' with candidates such as.
- Paying graduate fees and sponsoring school leavers to get degrees - businesses want to ‘get to the talent early'
- Internships at companies like Michael Page are evolving to become more formal arrangements with clear employment objectives
- Companies such as BT have apprenticeships
- McDonald's workplace degrees have been a great success and other companies are now considering similar options
How to measure employability?
The current market is more competitive than ever for graduates and employability remains key. It was noted that commercial awareness was one of the most important things for graduates to develop. The debate focussed on who should take responsibility for helping graduates with this development.
Whilst some universities are beginning to add modules to the curriculum to address this issue, companies are realising that they also need to engage more with students at an earlier age to educate them further about the challenges they will face.
Companies such as BT are moving away from traditional selection processes such as psychometric tests in favour of assessing ‘real life skills' such as decision making, situational awareness and leadership capability.
Denise Keating, Chief Executive, Employers Forum on Age commented: "The wide ranging and diverse debate at this first event highlighted that companies have already woken up to realise that their traditional recruitment policies may not work for them going forward and they need to broaden their approach and sharpen their strategy if they want to select the best workers from the next generation."
DeeDee Doke, Recruiter magazine commented:
"Whilst factors such as tuition hikes and the economy can put a negative spin on future prospects for young people entering the workforce and employers alike, it is exciting that UK employers are getting creative about how they engage with their potential recruits. They are exploring intriguing alternatives to the ‘one size fits all' graduate recruitment solutions, which could ultimately improve their ability to bring in the right and the most motivated talent for their organization"
The next event The Future of young people in the workplace: Internships, will take place on 10th March 2011. Contact the EFA for more information.