Gatsby Benchmarks
1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8
Prescod, careers consultant and senior lecturer, applauds
this approach, reiterating that coping with frequent
career changes is key to success in the 21st century. He
agrees that most young people will have a series of “mini
careers” and different jobs rather than one long career.
“Receiving good careers advice early on will help
students prepare for this understanding that they won’t
be in the same job, but that they will need to think
differently; that their value is not in the job they have but
the skills they have. It will help build resilience,” he says.
To fortify this resilience, he suggests careers leaders
encourage students to build a ‘brag file’ where they
record times when they are praised for their work or for
doing well in sports, events, conversations or volunteering.
Particularly with those who don’t feel strong
academically, career leaders can boost their students’
self-esteem by stressing the many sought-after,
transferable skills that can be learned inside and outside
of school, but aren’t related to grades.
They can also explain that, today, networking and
getting out into the world making connections with
people, is key to recruitment. For these reasons, Cole
encourages young people to volunteer, get a part-time
job and spend a day with their family members or
friends at work.
“The biggest challenge is that young people don’t
know what they don’t know,” she points out. “They’ve
just been in a classroom. How are they supposed to know
what is out there in the world of work? I try and get them
to have as many employee encounters as possible.
Schools are very pressed, but giving students half a day
to visit somebody in a workspace can change
perspectives and impact positively on both their decision
making and mental health.”
Helen Pullan, founder of Safe Opportunities,
wholeheartedly agrees. Her service works with young
people in crisis, often disengaged from school, giving
them an experience of work can lift self-esteem. Often
students come to her initially with their heads hanging
down, not looking at her in the eye and barely able to
have a conversation.
“But good work experiences can definitely boost their
mental health,” she says. “After a few successful weeks
in work they report back and tell me they can do the job
well. They look me in the eye. They can feel proud and
start to really engage with me. So, while their experience
of the school system might have been negative, their
work experience can be positive.”
If you’re unemployed for
six months as a teenager,
there are some long-term
impacts on earning potential
and on health
36 // EMPLOYABILITY
WELLBEING
Injecting a dose of realism
Recruitment consultants echo the need to emphasise
the breadth of careers and changeability of the jobs
market. However, Vicki Richardson, recruitment manager
at Theo James Recruitment, also suggests underlining
the many ways to get to a final career ‘destination’ too.
“It’s equally important to highlight the various
pathways that are now available to young adults,” she
says. “These days, you don’t have to have a university
degree to be successful, there is a range of courses,
job-shadowing schemes and apprenticeships that could
be perfect for the individual.”
She also offers up some advice, which she believes,
if not heeded, can negatively impact mental health.“Be
careful not to build up students’ hopes, only for them to
be dashed, potentially. It can be tough to get a foot on
the career ladder with little or no experience, so it’s best
to be honest about what they should expect when job
hunting,” she says.
“Warn them that they may have to apply for a veritable
number of roles. Explain that it will take dedication and
a strong will to get where they want to be, but if they
keep their goal in sight and stay focused, it will be worth
it in the end.”
It’s unhelpful, too, to perpetuate the ‘X-Factor myth’
that a young person can be anything they want to be
as – clearly – this isn’t the case. Not all budding young
footballers are going to play for Manchester City.
However, rather than dismissing this dream out of
hand, career leaders can encourage young people to
think laterally around a job. For instance, an interest in
football could also be channelled into sports journalism,