State of the Nation report: youth joblessness ‘a toxic legacy’

THOUSANDS of young Scots face a bleak future of poverty, joblessness and poor health, a new State of the Nation report has warned.

The number of Scots aged under 25 who are out of work has doubled to 90,000 since 2008, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation said.

The report also found that a boy born in the most deprived 10 per cent of Scotland would have a life expectancy of just 68.

That is eight years younger than the national average, and 14 years below boys born in the least deprived parts of the country.

The foundation urged Scottish ministers to take action to help the nation’s poorest.

Julia Unwin, chief executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said: “The Scottish Government has powers to do a lot now. They don’t need to wait for constitutional change.

“Routes into work, childcare, training are all things they can affect now. It’s a fiendishly difficult time. We face a decade of destitution unless governments increase what they are doing dramatically.”

She warned high levels of youth unemployment would create a toxic legacy for future generations. “That’s a shocking indictment that we will be paying for for decades,” she said.

The report also highlighted the rise in part-time employment, from 70,000 in 2008, when the economic crisis hit, to 120,000 now.

Health inequalities “are not only stark, but growing”, the report warns. Rates of mortality for heart disease are twice as high in deprived areas, at 100 per 100,000 under-75s, compared with the national average. Cancer mortality rates are 50 per cent higher in poorer areas, at 200 per 100,000.

It is not all bad news, however. Over the past decade, the proportion claiming unemployment benefit in Scotland has fallen from 17 to 15 per cent. Despite still having the highest proportion of claimants at 22 per cent, Glasgow has seen the biggest fall.

However, the bulk of that decrease came between 2002 and 2007, with many areas seeing a slight rise since then.

Scotland’s child poverty rate has dropped 10 per cent in a decade, and is now lower than England and Wales, while pensioner poverty has almost halved. This continued to fall in recent years, with 220,000 children and 120,000 pensioners living in poverty, after housing costs in 2010-11, the most recent figures.

Anne Houston, chief executive of the charity Children 1st, said: “While the figures around child poverty are hopeful, the wider statistics on unemployment for under-25s and life expectancy really are quite stark.

“These issues are likely to be exacerbated by the impending [Westminster] welfare reforms. However, the Scottish Government needs to continue to look at areas where they have authority to see how the pressure on families in Scotland can be ameliorated.”

Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser, convener of Holyrood’s economy committee, added: “We have huge challenges on health inequalities in Scotland, and more needs to be done to get key messages through.

“Youth unemployment remains a concern, but across the UK things are beginning to look up.”

The Scottish Government insisted Westminster benefit cuts were the biggest threat when it came to poverty and inequality.

A spokesman said: “It is clear the impact of the cuts will extend across Scottish society, with vulnerable groups, women and working families all likely to suffer.”

Source: 21 January 2013, Scotsman.com by Gareth Rose

http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/state-of-the-nation-report-youth-joblessness-a-toxic-legacy-1-2748586

Graduates without work experience will be left out in the cold

Many soon-to-be graduates will be left without a job due to lack of work experience, new research suggests. High Fliers’ The Graduate Market in 2013report, released today, declares that of all entry level vacancies available for 2013, over a third will go to those who have already completed internships or work experience for the company.

The toughest fields to get into without having experience are banking and law, it has been revealed. This may well be, but what happens when these internships are so fiercely competitive that they are practically impossible to come across?

In the legal profession, university students have the option to apply to take part in a vacation scheme: a two or three week paid work experience that provides insight – and contacts – in a law firm. However, Jack Denton, co-founder of the research website AllAboutCareers.com, estimates that for approximately 3,150 places on the schemes nationwide, there are more than 12,000 applicants.

Three thousand schemes might seem like a generous amount, but when one considers that most students who secure one work placement also manage to achieve at least one more in another firm, these get swallowed up very quickly by a fairly select bunch.

As former Labour minster Alan Milburn pointed out in his 2009 report, Fair Access to the Professions, law is one of the “most socially exclusive” fields to work in, and firms’ “closed shop mentality” means that connections, and ‘who you know’, is often prioritised above talent. It is unfortunate that this attitude isn’t limited to the legal profession.

So what other options are available to those who haven’t managed to secure this ever-important addition to their CV?

With most core Universities offering hundreds of societies which welcome the participation of anybody and everybody, there is no excuse for not getting involved. It is not, either, impossible to go one step further and assume a volunteer role in the committees of these societies. Invaluable budgeting experience could be gained in the role as treasurer, for example, organisational skills for social secretaries and management skills for presidents.

Students need to make the most of opportunities that are there for them,  before it is too late and all that can be done to beef up the CV is to work tirelessly for free in the hope that one pitiful employer might eventually hire you for, you know, real money.

Or, following Adam Pacitti’s recent example, entry level aspirators could make their own opportunities. This 24-year-old Portsmouth University graduate spent his last £500 on a Camden billboard begging employers to ‘Employ Adam’. Inspired, huh? He is looking for a job in the creative field of television production, so let’s hope someone takes a punt on him soon and ends the unemployed misery of at least one former student.

But it’s not all bad news for the next generation to leave university. The outlook is good for the 2013 graduate job market, with an expected increase of 2.7 per cent. Perhaps that will go some way to reduce the approximate 50 per cent of graduates from last year who are under- or unemployed.

Source: 14 January 2013, New Statesman by Catriona Harvey-Jenner

http://www.newstatesman.com/economics-blog/2013/01/graduates-without-work-experience-will-be-left-out-cold

Students want universities' help for working life

The vast majority of students want universities to help their transition into employment.

This is according to the Great Expectations survey, published today (Thursday 17 January) by GTI Media Research, part of graduate careers specialists Group GTI. More than 2,300 undergraduates from 125 different universities were surveyed for five weeks at the end of 2012.

The vast majority (97%) of the students surveyed fully expect their university to help them develop employability skills. While over a third think their university is mostly responsible for preparing them for the working world.

The survey also found that greater numbers of undergraduates are using their university career service compared to six years ago. The 36% of respondents who had not used the service either said they did not have enough time to or they had not got around to it. Six years ago, the most common reason was that they could not find it.  

While students favour the heavy use of email and internet communication by university careers services, they think social media is poorly utilised.

Chris Phillips, Information and Research Director at GTI Media, says: “With the cost of higher education rocketing and the economy suffering, it’s more important than ever to examine how well universities and the ‘university experience’ prepare students for life after graduation.

“Almost all students surveyed said that developing employability skills was their No.1 aim. The careers service has a big role to play in helping the university give students multiple opportunities to improve the skills needed in a competitive job market.”

Source: 17 January 2013, Ask Grapevine HR

http://www2.askgrapevine.com/news/hr/article/2013-01-17-students-want-universities-help-for-working-life/

SMEs given more support to offer apprenticeships

Small and medium sized businesses will receive more support to offer apprenticeships after the Government today announced plans to enable increased access to funding. Employers will also receive a new level of support from the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS).

Government confirmed an extension of the Apprenticeship Grant for employers of 16-24 year olds to March 2014. The £1,500 grant is available to help businesses with fewer than 1,000 employees take on an apprentice.

The grant funding was initially only available during the 2012/13 financial year, but it has been extended following a positive response from employers. The level of funding available under the grant has also been increased, so eligible employers can claim the grant for up to ten apprentices.

Business secretary, Vince Cable said: "I know it can be a big decision for busy, small companies to take on an apprentice. Employers may be concerned about the time recruitment and training will take, and anxious about how it will work. So the £1,500 grant is a token to acknowledge this and thank employers.

"I hope many more people will take us up on our cash incentive to grow their business, and train up the workforce of the future."

David Way, chief executive of the NAS, said: "We know that many businesses believe Apprenticeships deliver the skills needed for growth so we are delighted AGE 16-24 has been positively received by employers for helping them to do just that.

"Apprenticeships come with a guarantee of quality, giving young people a job with training, and are proven to deliver a significant return on investment, so this really is a win-win initiative for employers."

Way added: "There has never been a better time to recruit an apprentice, so I hope more organisations will look at how they can benefit from this grant over the coming 12 months and reap the rewards of a more motivated, skilled and qualified workforce."

To further support businesses, the NAS has announced a minimum level of support employers can expect from the Service. A new service standard offers an end-to-end commitment by NAS to responsiveness during initial call handling, to analysing need, referral to providers and an after-service follow up review from their dedicated team.

Providers who receive referrals as part of the service from the NAS will by implication also be signing up to the minimum expectations especially in terms of responding promptly to the referred employers, posting information to the apprenticeship vacancies system and in terms of ongoing support that will be monitored by NAS.

Source: 9 January 2013, HR Magazine by Tom Newcombe

http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/hro/news/1075889/smes-support-offer-apprenticeships

Getting on the career ladder in 2013

If you want to make the most of the new year impetus and get onto the career ladder in 2013, here are some tips to help you on your way.

Before you start, know what and why

The single most important preparation for job-search success is to clarify what you're looking for, what you offer and why this particular job role and industry are right for you.

Complete the following statement: "By 2016, I want to be earning my living by doing X. I will be good at it because Y and it is the right job for me because Z."

It really doesn't matter if over the next 12-18 months you change your mind; just adjust your career plans accordingly. The benefit of clarity now is that you have an objective for your search and will be able to prioritise your efforts on the most suitable jobs for you.

Don't start researching vacancies until you are clear about what you want and need from the job that will launch your career, even if you're studying a vocational degree and looking into a specific profession. Consider issues such as: your definition of job satisfaction, location, training opportunities, salary, personal interests, your current skill level and what you definitely don't want to do. If you can't describe for yourself what interests you in the world of work, you won't be able to articulate that to a recruiter or potential employer.

Quality above quantity

Remember, this says "above", it doesn't say "not". Don't be panicked by the economic news into applying for everything and anything. Your health and grades will suffer if you overstretch yourself. Start with your long-term vision and focus your efforts on the right jobs for you. Certainly you'll have to work hard (successful applications usually take days of work), but you'll be working on the right areas.

Differentiate yourself

You've already demonstrated that you're capable of learning and undertaking new tasks – university and school proved that. What potential employers are interested in is what makes you tick? How are you unique and do you describe your unique potential?

Even if you're heading for a technical role that applies your degree, your competencies, such as leadership, problem-solving or collaboration, are still important. In your applications, include examples where you demonstrated these core behaviours, for instance, through volunteering, holiday jobs, work placements or study.

Get organised

Successful applicants are never surprised by deadlines and can always find their notes when required to deliver at a phone interview. Complete applications well within deadlines to give yourself review time; it's astonishing how many people deliver material that has not been proofread, with an hour to go until the deadline.

Try buddying up with someone targeting a different industry and help each other critique applications. Always review any interview or assessment centre immediately afterwards too: take some notes on what went well, what went less well and what you'll learn for your next application. You'll see your interviewing skills and confidence grow as you get more experience. For example, one of my coachees last year decided to dress up for every phone interview. She had all her notes ready on the desk and felt confident in her interview suit. It might sound silly but it put her in the frame of mind for success.

Spread your net wide

While still applying point one, be creative in your jobseeking. SMEs are offering far more graduate entry career development nowadays. Look across the market to see if roles outside the milkround could work for you.

Source: 8 January 2013, The Guardian by Sian Case - a job-search coach and author of Nail That Job, the complete guide for the less–experienced jobseeker.

http://careers.guardian.co.uk/getting-on-career-ladder-2013

Rethink required on graduate training

It’s 25 years, almost to the day, since I started at the Financial Times. “One tip,” confided a more experienced colleague, early on: “Don’t stay more than five years, or you’ll be here for ever.”

The miracle, however, is not that I’m still here but that the graduate training programme is – alongside much larger versions operated by bigger companies, from Accenture to Zurich Insurance.

Such programmes face many threats, however. Companies face accusations that they hire graduate trainees as cheap labour. But the opposite risk worries boardrooms more: that such programmes are a costly investment in all-too-mobile assets. According to one more recent FT trainee, his contemporaries in other schemes regard their apprenticeship with “utter cynicism”, as a way of gaining the imprimatur of, say, a Big Four accountancy firm, before moving on to something trendier. Those who do stay risk becoming the most insular followers of a restrictive management culture – a charge laid against the BBC in a recent review of the missteps that eventually triggered the departure of the broadcaster’s director-general George Entwistle, himself a BBC lifer and former graduate trainee.

When companies are shedding experienced employees, some chief executives may feel it is perverse to go on sucking in ingénues, who think they know everything but in fact can’t locate the stationery cupboard, let alone the corporate strategy. Demand for jobs far exceeds supply and popular employers can use technological tools to attract and screen the best candidates, including proven experts. So why bother applying the cumbersome filter of an official scheme and wasting time and money on a formal training process for novices?

The continuity of some schemes has indeed fluctuated through the financial crisis. In 2009, in the middle of a redundancy programme, UK telecoms company BT suspended some of its campus recruitment to concentrate instead on redeployment of trained staff to the few vacancies available. Goldman Sachs won’t run a formal two-year programme for would-be analysts in investment banking and investment management from this year; it has opted instead to employ college graduates full time on permanent contracts. (The FT took a break from its scheme in 2012, having hired more graduates than usual in previous years, and restarts this year.)

But graduate recruitment and training should be a priority, even in a downturn. It may be unfeasible to expect career-long loyalty from the latest intake, but employers’ investment in graduates will be repaid later. A few may go on to lead the company – as the current chief executives of Munich Re and Barclays have, among others. The rest, even if they leave, could form a diaspora of sympathetic customers and suppliers. There is a reason big graduate recruiters such as Procter & Gamble and McKinsey cultivate alumni networks.

Meanwhile, what looks like inexperience should be read as fresh thinking. Younger staff may hold the key to technological change and innovation. Phil Clarke, chief executive of Tesco (and another former trainee), has a 25-year-old staff member in his office, to provide him with a youthful perspective.

It is, however, no longer realistic to expect these advantages to spring from traditional programmes of general management training – what Gordon Chesterman, director of Cambridge university’s career service calls “Cook’s tours” of different departments. In line with the more specialised nature of business, companies are seeking out recruits with affinity for specialist areas and tailoring programmes to attract promising candidates who have, in Mr Chesterman’s words, been “learning about logistics from the age of 12”. Universities also find companies are fishing for younger candidates, hooking students who have proved themselves on company internships before their final year.

One further element is essential. Companies that wish to attract and retain skilled staff must now apply the same flexible thinking and close attention they focus on recent graduates to employees entering the last quarter-century of their careers. I’ll be surprised if I’m still working here in my 70s, despite my colleague’s 1988 forecast. But I’ll almost certainly be working somewhere and I hope some future employer will be as committed to training me in my 50s and 60s – and I as committed to being trained – as the FT was when I joined it, aged 23.

Source: 7 January 2013, Financial Times by Andrew Hill

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/b6fded90-4ab2-11e2-9650-00144feab49a.html#axzz2HNiF0pcE

Pearson to close apprenticeship unit putting 500 jobs at risk

The media and education group, which also owns publisher Penguin Books, said that changes to the way apprenticeship schemes are funded had had a “radical” impact on demand for the courses offered by Pearson in Practice, which are tailored to specific industries and each last between three months and a year.

Around 5,000 apprentices signed up to the schemes will be farmed out to other providers, and around 500 staff, largely based in Nottingham, Manchester and Banbury, have been put into consultation over their jobs.

Pearson paid £95m for Pearson in Practice, then called Melorio, but is expected to take a £120m hit from the closure of the business.

John Fallon, who took over as chief executive of Pearson at the start of this year, said: “We very much regret the decision to plan for closure but we believe we have explored and exhausted all alternatives.”

The company said in October that it would put Pearson in Practice under review because of the changes to the industry.

For a long time, companies hiring apprentices were effectively forced to use third-party providers like Pearson in Practice in order to secure Government funding. However, they are now allowed to bid for funding for an apprenticeship scheme and use that money to pay a third-party company to provide the training, or organise the training themselves.

The change in policy was introduced in a pilot scheme last year and is expected to be formalised shortly.

Pearson is in talks with further education colleges to take on some of Pearson in Practice’s assets, as well as its students.

Separately, Pearson has denied a report in the South China Morning Post that the company has started sounding out potential buyers in China to buy the Financial Times.

Speculation that the group will sell the newspaper has stepped up a gear since Mr Fallon’s predecessor, Dame Marjorie Scardino, announced last year that she would be stepping down.

The group has been clear that it wants to focus on its fast-growing education business, but the Financial Times muddies the waters for investors.

The newspaper is thought to be worth around £1bn, but could go for as much as double that as a trophy asset, despite its falling readership.

Source: 7 January 2013, The Telegraph by Katherine Rushton, Media, Telecoms and Technology Editor

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/9785531/Pearson-to-close-apprenticeship-unit-putting-500-jobs-at-risk.html

Britain's qualification spiral is beginning to unravel

Is our long love affair with education coming to an end? In a post-Christmas announcement that went largely unreported, Matthew Hancock, the skills minister, said non-graduates will be able to qualify, through apprenticeships, as lawyers, accountants, and chartered engineers. It marks a rare reversal of a century-old trend: for longer and longer periods of full-time education to be required from anyone aspiring to a professional career (defined in the broadest sense to include occupations such as journalism, publishing and management consultancy that aren't, strictly speaking, professions). It has been called "the diploma disease" or "the qualification spiral".

We take it as axiomatic that the longer you stay in school and university, the better you'll do in life. Sixty years ago you could still enter most professional jobs – in law, management, finance, the civil service, engineering, surveying, nursing, midwifery, and so on – with the equivalent of five GCSEs at grade A* to C, sometimes less. Since then, employers and professional bodies have, by stages, raised the requirements: to one A-level, then two A-levels, then a degree. Now, increasingly, postgraduate study is needed before a young person starts work.

Education is regarded as an unmitigated good, of benefit to society, the economy and the individual. More means better, we think. In many respects, that is true: if we are a more tolerant, more inclusive society than we were 50 years ago, that is largely because most of us are better educated. But we should look more closely at how the demand for ever higher pre-career qualifications has affected professional and managerial competence, the educational experience and, above all, social mobility.

Take, first the demand for higher general qualifications: the batch of GCSEs and A-levels or a degree without which most employers won't look at a job application. These credentials carry little or no information about knowledge and skills that may be of relevance to a particular career. They are sifting devices, allowing employers to exclude those they perceive as unintelligent or lazy. They create, in students, an instrumental attitude to education. Subjects are studied and examinations taken, not because of enthusiasm for history, chemistry or German literature, but because they are required if the student is to progress.

Moreover, because children from affluent homes do better academically, the requirements stop many from poor homes getting even a foothold in a professional or managerial career. The paths that once took 16 year-old school-leavers from shopfloor to boardroom or from copyboy to newspaper editor are blocked. Journalists and broadcasters born in 1958 typically grew up in families where income was only 5.5% above average, against 42.4% above average for those born in 1970. That is the most dramatic example of a pattern evident across nearly all professions. Look no further than the rise of what Americans call "credentialism" for an explanation. Examination-based credentials – introduced to guarantee that merit, not birth or social connection, determined who got the top jobs – now act as barriers to social mobility. Solutions usually focus on giving disadvantaged children a better shot at acquiring qualifications. Almost nobody considers how the qualifications themselves may be at fault.

As more employers and professions aspired to "graduate entry" status, universities developed degree courses – in business, accountancy, sports management, nursing, journalism, for instance – that purport to cover knowledge and skills directly relevant to careers. They allow students to lop a year or two off the period of full-time education before they actually start earning.

But if such courses are to escape the "Mickey Mouse" category, they must maximise academic content and marginalise mundane practical skills. A "vocational" course's academic acceptability is in inverse proportion to the extent to which it teaches anything necessary for doing a job. The most quoted example is nursing, the shortcomings of which are highlighted again this week in a report on patient deaths at the Mid-Staffordshire hospital trust. As Ilora Findlay, professor of palliative medicine at Cardiff University, has put it, "a nurse can graduate without being able ... to apply the scientific basis of illness to real patients or respecting the importance of hands-on care". Textbooks take priority over bedpans.

We have reached a situation where, for many, full-time education does not end and work begin until their mid-20s. We then accept people as competent doctors, accountants, engineers, and so on, for the next 40 years. Does this make any sense in a fast-changing world? Why do we cram so much education into the first third of the average lifespan, and offer so little of it in the remaining two thirds? Why do we make it difficult for people to attempt a mid-life switch or simply take a break, whether to put right a mistaken career choice or to alleviate boredom? Given our approach to education and training, is it surprising that so many institutions – from banks to hospitals – seem beset by disasters, exposing incompetence at all levels?

Some careers, such as medicine, may always require long periods of initial training. But in most, we may get higher levels of professional competence and job satisfaction – alongside increased social mobility and an even better educated society – if we swapped a few years of initial full-time education for more apprentice-style training, and followed that with short periods of full-time education at seven-yearly intervals throughout life. Hancock's announcement is only a tiny step in that direction, but a welcome one nonetheless.

Source: 8 January 2013, The Guardian by Peter Wilby

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/08/qualification-spiral-is-unravelling