Help young people find the career that’s right for them

It’s a big time of year for young people. For many, they will have recently found out about exam results and made choices about their future direction – whether they are staying on at school, going to college or university, finding an apprenticeship, or entering the world of work.

But too often we expect young people to make big, potentially life-changing decisions like these without the knowledge and experience they need. This is particularly true when it comes to taking their first step on the career ladder.

It is, perhaps, no surprise, then, that we are beginning to see a lot more job churn among young people, as they realise that working in a certain sector or for different types of organisations isn’t what they thought it would be. I recently spoke with an early career engineer who was convinced they wanted to work with aircraft engines, but concluded they had a passion for renewables after a placement at an offshore energy company. It could have taken years to come to that conclusion otherwise.

Stewart McKinlay is skills director at National Manufacturing Institute Scotland’s (NMIS) Manufacturing Skills Academy

Work experience is a proven way to help young people make the right choices. Research from the Careers & Enterprise Company found school students felt better prepared for employment with careers education, while Speakers for Schools has demonstrated the importance of work experience in helping people into employment and addressing the UK’s longstanding skills gap.

The latter point is particularly pertinent to Scotland, and its manufacturing sector. According to the latest Scottish Government statistics, 15 per cent of employers are experiencing a skills gap – up from 12 per cent in 2020. Organisations in the manufacturing sector are among the most likely to report an issue with a lack of skills, at 19 per cent.

Earlier experience of the workplace could be a critical part of addressing that issue. Scotland has long had a challenge with retention of skilled workers and so there are thousands of vacancies in manufacturing alone – each of which, analysis suggests, represents around £50,000 of lost GDP per annum.

Yet, every year hundreds of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduates from Scottish universities move elsewhere to take up their first roles. In many cases, that will be a reflection of the quality of the opportunity in other parts of the UK or abroad. But, a big contributor to that is also that they are unaware of the roles and careers on their doorstep, which can at least in part be attributed to the lack of effective links between young people and potential employers. These are the types of connections and experiences we are looking to forge in greater number and quality through a range of initiatives. Our internship programme gave 38 young people work experience this year, compared to 17 in 2023, and our new Pre-Approved Talent Scheme will link great, but unsuccessful, candidates for apprenticeships and graduate roles at large companies with relevant roles at small and medium sized businesses.

With potentially life changing decisions to make young people can use direct knowledge (Picture: Adobe)

The more we can educate school, college, and university leavers and give them the experience they need early in their careers, the better decisions they can make. Not only will that benefit them in their working lives, it could have a significant positive impact on the Scottish economy too.