By Lizzie Crowley, Skills Policy Adviser at the CIPD

National Careers Week (4–9 March) aims to underscore the importance of quality careers education in schools and colleges across the UK. Careers guidance is crucial for young people as transitioning from education into the labour market can be a daunting prospect. Ensuring they are equipped with the right skills, knowledge and experience to succeed in today’s fast changing world has never been more important.

What then are the skills employers are looking for? Increasingly, recruitment is being built on behaviour and strengths, with employers attracted to broader ‘employability’ skills. Employers do this with the expectation that prospective employees will then have to train for the more job-specific skills that their organisation needs. These ‘employability’ skills include communication, literacy and numeracy, attitude, resilience and collaboration, in addition to digital skills, project management, financial understanding and critical thinking. It is important that young people looking to enter the labour market can demonstrate these kinds of skills.

The lack of a common language and framework on how to describe and develop these skills is proving an obstacle for employers and educators. Given the significant number of stakeholders involved (ranging from schools, training providers, qualification bodies, government agencies, employers and recruitment agencies), this is not a straightforward fix. At the CIPD, we have brought together Enabling Enterprise, The Gatsby Foundation, the Careers and Enterprise Company and BITC to launch the Essential Skills Taskforce. The group aims to achieve a recognised and broad employability framework – agreed and acted upon by both employers and education providers. 

So what role can HR professionals play?

HR professionals can have an enormous impact on the employability of young people. With the knowledge and insight obtained from an HR career, practitioners can support young people in several ways to successfully transition from education to the workplace:

• By becoming an Enterprise Adviser: Senior business volunteers are matched with a school or college to provide local labour market insight and advice on how to connect to other local employers. CIPD members interested in volunteering can register their interest at cipdenterpriseadvisers.co.uk.
• Acknowledging and promoting the business benefits of providing advice and support to young people entering the workforce.
• Ensuring quality and beneficial work experience and volunteering opportunities which offer effective insight into your industry.
• Using your knowledge and experience to help young people prepare for the recruitment process. This could be through assisting with CV writing, interview techniques and job searching.
• Reviewing your recruitment process to ensure that it is accessible and as youth friendly as possible.
• Contact local schools and colleges to help bridge the gap between education and business – allowing your organisation to reach new talent pools.