Young people are struggling to find employment. Government figures highlight that 16.4% of people aged 16 to 24 are looking for work, with over one million not in employment, education or training (NEET) at all.
This is partly a reflection of the overall labour market. Reed.co.uk figures show that vacancies have fallen to 707,000, the lowest in five years and the fewest for 12 years excluding the pandemic.
In this landscape, many experienced professionals are also looking for work. Combined with the rising cost of hiring, it’s natural that businesses are leaning towards applicants with demonstrable skills and experience to fill roles, or automating them with AI.
However, these short-term gains could lead to longer-term pain. Businesses need to develop a healthy talent pipeline to replace the skills, knowledge, and experience they lose from attrition or retirement. This is why its vital for organisations to continue to provide early careers opportunities.
The cost of a diminished early-talent pipeline
Organisations understand the long-term risks of not having an early-talent pipeline. In a Reed survey of 2,000 UK employers, 74% of respondents believed that a lack of early-career talent could contribute to future leadership shortages. Additionally, 49% agreed that hiring young people helps build future talent pipelines.
Both businesses and professionals will suffer if there continues to be a dearth of entry-level opportunities. Almost every organisational leader began their career at the bottom, gathering the knowledge and experience needed to lead teams. If those opportunities evaporate, there’s no way for young people to follow this path.
“I would argue that thinking about your talent pipeline is a core responsibility of leadership,” warns Petra Wilton, Director of Policy and External Affairs at the Chartered Management Institute.
She added: “You need to be thinking about progression for younger hires. By offering them a career path, you retain your talent and gain a more satisfied, committed workforce. You need to plan ahead to stay ahead in business.”
Failing to provide entry-level opportunities doesn’t just create a long-term leadership vacuum. There are more immediate issues that will arise if you neglect your early-talent pipeline. These include:
Critical role shortages that eventually reduce productivity
Skills shortages and knowledge gaps caused by attrition
Increased costs, competition, and time to hire when recruiting
The greater the number of employers who choose to forego the entry-level pipeline, the more destructive these challenges become, as organisations increasingly fish from the same small pool of talent.
Evolving policy creates opportunities to employ young people
Despite entry-level roles being squeezed, employers say they want to do more. Reed’s survey found that 73% of respondents said that bringing early-career workers into their business is a high priority.
The fact that this figure doesn’t correlate with the number of entry-level roles suggests that businesses are constrained in how many opportunities they can provide. In response to this landscape, the government has developed several initiatives that organisations can harness to increase the number of 16 to 24 year olds they can hire.
The largest is the Youth Guarantee. This contains several measures to improve the number of opportunities for young people, such the Youth Jobs Grant, which offers businesses up to £3,000 for every young person they hire aged 18-24 who has been on universal credit and looking for work for at least six months.
In an interview with Reed, Jacqui Smith, Minister for Skills, discussed how employers can benefit most from many elements of this scheme, as well as outlining how to access support.
One of employers’ key complaints in Reed’s survey was a lack of skills, with 74% of respondents saying that their organisation experienced skills gaps to some or a great extent, while 26% cited gaps in job-ready skills as a barrier to hiring young people.
To address this, the government has launched a support package that provides up to £8,000 for SMEs who hire young apprenticeships. It will also use the National Wealth Fund to expand local apprenticeship services to connect more young people with employers.
If companies need to address skills gaps or want to bring early talent into their organisation, flexi-job apprenticeships can offer a more flexible route. Louise Reed, Director of Future Skills at Reed Talent Solutions explains how the model can help organisations in England access and develop new talent:
“For organisations that don’t know where to start, don’t yet have the infrastructure or confidence to employ apprentices directly, or simply need more flexibility, approved flexi-job apprenticeship agencies, such as Reed, employ the apprentice. The organisation becomes the host employer.”
In the model, the approved apprenticeship agency also organises apprenticeship training and provides the wraparound support. The host employer benefits from the apprentice, who is embedded in their organisation. In Reed’s case, this model includes recruitment, HR and wellbeing support, with Reed also funding the apprenticeship training, helping to reduce the complexity and administrative burden for the employer.
“It gives employers a flexible way to bring in and develop new talent," says Louise. "Ideally, the apprentice stays with the organisation throughout their programme and there’s an opportunity for a permanent role at the end. But if circumstances change, the agency remains the employer, so they can support the apprentice into another placement and enable them to continue their apprenticeship.”
For organisations struggling to find the resources to hire young talent, taking advantage of these initiatives represents an excellent opportunity to build your early-talent pipeline.
Improving hiring accessibility for younger people
Beyond making the most of government support, there are also simple ways in which employers can enhance opportunities for young people.
At present, many entry-level positions are unintentionally skewed in favour of people with previous experience. Several employers have modified their hiring process to account for this.
For example, some businesses rely less on CVs and a list of previous experience, instead seeking to hire on potential based on certain traits. Others have incorporated their own assessments that measure different problem-solving mindsets and using these to match applicants to roles.
Sometimes, building a talent pipeline requires support from others. Developing partnerships with other organisations, ideally locally focused, is an effective way of building a pool of talent.
These collaborations could be with recruitment companies, charities, local and national authorities, and even other employers. If done correctly, these partnerships mean that employers have a greater knowledge of available young people in the area and may even have worked with them in limited ways before hiring them, greatly reducing the risks associated with hiring people with less workplace experience.
Mutual benefits to hiring young people
There are society-wide benefits when more young people can find work. However, employers shouldn’t just see employing people aged 16 to 24 as a charitable endeavour. There are clear, tangible benefits for keeping early-career opportunities open.
There are already employers who have invested in recruiting and training young people to develop their workforces of the future. In Reed’s latest report, ‘The missing generation 2026’, you can discover how the likes of BT, BAE Systems and Evri are ensuring that they have a consistent pipeline of talent.
By downloading the report, you’ll also see that each business uses common approaches that your organisation can adapt within its own workforce planning, no matter its size or which sector it is in.
Read the report now
