Why finding a job should be a career move for school leavers

It is understandable given the pressure of examinations and the joys of a teenage social life that thinking seriously about the future is something which passes by many young people.

But in these days of growing job insecurity and changing career patterns, many experts contend that careers advice is not an area we can afford to ignore.

Dr Grant Crow, founder of independent careers advice service MyTalentPlace says: "The bottom line is it is going to be really hard to get a job.

"But we find a lot of young people are not prepared at all until they see this big yawning chasm right in front of their face."

According to UK wide research commissioned by his organisation, 57 per cent of school leavers classed the careers advice they received as "poor".

More than two thirds said they found careers advice "of little help", while 65 per cent said they were "ill prepared" for the world of work.

And 87 per cent who were not in work said they were not in jobs recommended by career professionals.

The company, founded by Dr Crow, offers one on one career guidance to young people - with different packages for those who do have an idea of what they want to do in life and those who don't.

Using web-based tuition, the company also offers interview training to help young people get a step ahead in what is a tight job market.

Dr Crow says young people who had completed the online courses often changed their plans for higher education or started to look at a completely different career choices.

"I think where we are getting it wrong it that careers advice is seen as something that happens to a student. The student is generally a fairly passive participant in the process."

Tanya de Grunwald, author and founder of the website Graduate Fog – which focuses on jobs and careers issues for college leavers agrees that thinking seriously about work choices is something many young people leave too late.

"What I do know is that by the time they come to me most people are completely unprepared and don't know what they want to do," she says.

"One of the reasons I started this was because I felt at Uni that the careers advice wasn't working for me or for my friends at all.

"Careers advisers are nice people who are doing as good a job as they can – but the way they have always done it isn't working any more. Careers advisers tend to be like librarians or keepers of information.

"They are not factoring in the massive changes in the way people work."

In her experience careers advice often misses out growing areas such as green technology and social networking – while focusing on more traditional jobs. She also believes it is important for young people to face up to the realities of today's working world.

"People taking responsibility for themselves is very important. But it is also good to understand that you don't have to get it right first time," she says.

"Your first job doesn't have to be the one. I say there is no such thing as a career mistake. Trying something out and finding it is not for you is not a mistake."

Dave McQueen, founder of Magnificent Minds, a company that specialises in motivational careers advice for teenagers believes the important thing is to get young people to think about what they have to offer. "The thing is not to get students to think of their future in terms of jobs – but in terms of what talents and skills they have," he says. "We do a lot of work around confidence building and presentational skills. I also do a lot of motivational speaking. We ask students what kind of things they want to get out of life – then ask them to go away and think about how they can get them."

Vivienne Brown, head of education and qualifications at Skills Development Scotland and a former president of the Institute for Career Guidance said Scottish schools were very fortunate to be served by trained careers advisers – whereas in England the work of offering career and employment guidance is the responsibility of teachers as part of the curriculum.

"We have 500 careers advisers up and down the country," she says. "They are usually university graduates qualified in career guidance. We draw our staff from a wide variety of backgrounds."

Skills Development Scotland has been praised for a pilot project that introduces primary age children to the idea of thinking about work and careers. But Ms Brown acknowledges the role of the careers adviser needs to be flexible.

"The nature of work is changing and the nature of learning is changing," she says. "A friend of mine has a daughter who went to school for the first time this year. I was thinking she might still be in work in 60 years time. If you think about the amount work has changed in the past 60 years it gives you an idea of the sort of challenge we face."

Earlier this year, Chris Humphries, chief executive of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) said Scotland had the potential to become "world class" in terms of career development and skills.

However, he said the service was not taking full advantage of websites such as YouTube or Facebook, that, "bring dry, factual information to life by enriching it through personal experience, peer group advice, mentoring and support groups".

He adds: "Our message is simple: people get more advice and information to help them choose a television than a career. How do you go about finding out what jobs there are in the world, what people do in them and what programmes are available to get them?"

In its report Towards Ambition 2020 commissioned by the Scottish Government and published earlier this year UKCES lays out exactly what is at stake.

"Scotland's future prospects – its route out of recession, its chances of a successful recovery, and sustainable economic progress thereafter – depend on the industries, businesses and jobs it is able to create, and on having the skilled workforce it needs to do those jobs well. There is little that is more important than equipping ourselves with the skills we need, for the jobs we need, for the successful businesses of tomorrow."