Exclusive first look
The voice of students and young people
Three-quarters of young people surveyed by UCAS said they had no fixed future employer in mind, so graduate recruiters and students can only benefit from early contact, writes Rachel Johnson, UCAS Media’s Head of Employer Engagement, exclusively for Graduate Recruiter.
N
early 4,000 16-25 year olds told UCAS Media’s Annual Careers Survey about their
experience of careers engagement, with more than half saying they wanted more opportunity to meet employers.
Across all ages, only 45% felt they had had enough contact with potential recruiters. While exposure for 16-20 year olds has risen by 18% from last year, 21-25 year olds were 3% less likely than in 2015 to have met with employers.1
Young people told us they wanted: • clear information about what jobs involve, and promotions (career path is the dominant factor)
• to meet employers as early as year 10 • more in-school events with employers, to ask what they expect in terms of qualifications and grades
• work experience for year 10 and 11s
Three out of four 16-25 year olds surveyed did not have a particular employer in
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mind, although 55% of 16 year olds said they already had a specific career ambition. Work experience correlates highly with the choice of a specific employer.
It all suggests that employers should establish a relationship earlier if they want to influence career choices – and convince students to choose them. I think there is massive scope for agile and forward- looking companies to increase their targeted engagement with young people and build their brands as magnet employers.
It is a win-win, not least for young people who might be receiving careers advice from parents whose experience of the graduate job market could be decades in the past, and focussed on the household names.
Given the competition for young people, there’s never been a better time, or a more important one, to be an early bird recruiter. We know that the 18-year-old population will decline each year, until 2020. Like universities, employers who want to
future-proof their businesses should take action now by getting to grips with the wider range of qualifications and pathways now on offer to young people.
It is no surprise that 84% of our survey respondents felt that university was a great investment in their future, but 42% also told us they think the same about apprenticeships.2
However, our recent Progression Pathways work shows that apprenticeships and pathways from vocational qualifications are not generally well understood by young people, parents or teachers.
UCAS is helping to address this by offering students information and advice about qualifications and career opportunities in partnership with universities, careers advisers and employers, and we also help potential employers connect with students through direct and targeted messaging during their UCAS journey.
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