THEMES: • The challenges of tackling youth unemployment. • The CIPD’s Learning to work programme which aims to: (a) increase employer engagement with young people at school and college in order to improve their employability and (b) make organisations/the labour market more youth friendly to build more access routes into work for young people. • The business case for employing young people. • Latest CIPD research and guidance on recruitment practices and young people. • CIPD Steps ahead mentoring programme. SPEAKER: Ben Wilmott, CIPD, Head of Public Policy, leads the CIPD’s Public Policy team. The team works to inform and shape debate, government policy and legislation in order to enable higher performance at work and better pathways into work for those seeking employment. His particular research and policy areas of interest include: employment relations; employee engagement and wellbeing; absence and stress management; and leadership and management capability. Ben joined the CIPD in 2003. He started his career in regional journalism and prior to joining the CIPD was news editor and employment law editor at Personnel Today magazine.

1. Tackling youth unemployment;
developing tomorrow’s workforce
Ben Willmott
Head of Public Policy

2. Learning to Work campaign
Overall aim:
• Shift in employer investment in young people
So that employers:
• Help prepare young people
• Make labour market / jobs more youth friendly

3. The background to Learning to
work?
• Regular commentary on state of the labour market
• Post financial crisis rising levels of youth unemployment
• Structural problem impacting on youth employment – it was
running at 9-10% even before the 2008 financial crisis
• Cross party emphasis on improving quality of vocational
education and training to provide alternative routes into work
• Public debate frequently focused on young people’s lack of
employability skills and work ethic
• Rising university tuition fees

4. The background to Learning
to work
• Internships guide (2009)
• Gateways to the profession code of practice on
internships (2010)
• Steps ahead mentoring initiative (2010)
• Work experience guide building on existing links with
Jobcentre Plus (2011)
• Apprenticeship guide (2011)
• Joint research with UKCES into employability of young
people identifies (2011) and with IPPR, TUC into youth
employment in Europe

5. Learning to work
Three strands:
• Building the business case for greater employer
investment in young people
• Developing a package of activities and options to
encourage and support more employers to invest in
young people through greater engagement with
schools and colleges and by making organisations
more youth friendly
• Raising awareness

6. Is there a business case?
Learning to Work Survey:
• More than 7 out of 10 employers think there is a
business case for employing young people
• 7 out of 10 employer they have a role to play in
tackling youth unemployment (71%)
• 91 % are satisfied with their young recruits
• Those that believe there is a business case, more
likely to recruit a young person
• Need to bridge the perception to reality gap

7. What is the business case?
1. Growing talent and workforce planning
2. Young people’s unique skills, attitudes and motivation
3. Workforce diversity
4. Employer brand
5. Cost-effectiveness

8. How do employers invest in young
people?
• Adopt an explicit commitment to invest in young
people (link to business strategy)
• Offer access routes, in particular for non-graduates
(apprenticeships, school leaver programmes)
• Get buy-in from line managers
• Management/support – developing “work readiness”
• Start early – engagement with education

9. Young people & recruitment
practices
What?
• A guide /research report and outputs for employers
and young people – collaboration with key
stakeholders
Content:
• Young people’s experiences of recruitment
• HR’s view on the recruitment of young people (what’s
the issue, what needs to change)
• How current recruitment practise can act as a barrier /
disadvantage young people

10. Young people & recruitment
• How recruitment practices need to be adapted – share
best practice and new ideas
• Social media / technology / communication
• How to recruit from a diverse background / social
mobility
• Apprenticeships (job adverts and applications)
collaboration with NAS
• Working with JCP

11. Emerging issues:
• What do employers want (apart from experience and relevant skills)
Tailored application forms or CV’s
Importance of that “first impression!”
Research on potential employers
Interview preparation
Passion, drive, commitment for the role – personality!
• What do we see young jobseekers struggling with:
All of the above
Recruitment processes
“marketing” themselves
Little understanding of what jobs are available in different
sectors

12. Employers are from Mars;
young people are from Venus
Recommendations for employers:
• Make the business case for recruiting young people to line
managers and colleagues.
• Adapt your expectations of young people so that you are
realistic about how work-ready they
• Think about the roles and access routes for young people
into your organisation.
• Take action to attract from a wider pool of young people.
• Ensure your recruitment processes are youth friendly and
transparent.
• Conduct interviews that get the best out of young people.
• Provide feedback where possible.

13. Working with the Education and
Employers Taskforce
Inspiring the future programme
• Inspiring the Future is a free service across England
with volunteers from all sectors and professions going
into state secondary schools and colleges to talk about
their jobs and sectors.
• CIPD working with EET and the National
Apprenticeship Service to develop an HR Inspiring the
future programme.
• This will enable HR professionals to volunteer to go
into their local schools to help young people become
more work ready. To find out more about this low
commitment opportunity please
email inspiring@cipd.co.uk

14. Steps ahead mentoring
• Established 2010
• Partnership with Jobcentre Plus
• 400 Job Centres involved
• 1,500 mentors recruited
• 1,200 young people signed up
• To date more than 200 young people have progressed
from mentoring programme into employment
• Positive feedback from JCP, mentors and young
people
• Ambition to expand across UK