Connecting the dots
The role of digital in supporting young people into employment.
YouthNet conducted a three month, collaborative research project with employers, sector colleagues working around employability and young people to explore the role that digital support can play in supporting a young person’s journey to work.
Insights
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I need better career direction that takes into account my personal interests
Young people felt that much of the career support they encounter is insufficient and presents few options outside the traditional routes (accounting, banking, medical etc). They felt that careers advice was not individual enough and that some options especially those in the creative arts or with social purpose were simply not explored. Furthermore they felt that as decisions made at GCSE may affect their choices later on, earlier intervention by careers services was required.(YN Co-creation 2014)
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I have different a perception to employers about the key skills required to be job ready
Young people believe that employers place most value on academic qualifications and work experience when assessing candidates. While this is sometimes the case, the reality is that employers are prepared and often prefer to train young people coming into their organisations. Employers value well rounded applicants and value softer skills like communication, timekeeping, literacy and team-working abilities.(CBI, National STEM centre)
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I can struggle with the face to face engagement that is required to secure a job
Employers value soft skills of communication, teamworking, literacy and timekeeping highly yet little support is available to young people seeking to develop them. Effective communication is vital to ensure a job and it’s one of the key indicators to employers that a young person is ‘job ready’. (National Careers Service 2013, National Apprenticeships Service 2013, UK Commission for Employment & Skills)
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I undervalue my experiences and skills and do not understand how to package them
Young people can be demoralised by “the experience trap” (you need to have skills and experience to get a job yet – seemingly – without a job you can’t develop skill and experience). Young people need help to understand the value of the experience and wider life skills they have already accumulated through life experiences, school activities, volunteering and hobbies and how to package and express these assets to a potential employer. (YN co-creation 2014)
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I can feel overwhelmed by options and need a nudge to get going
Many YP find it difficult to begin a job search – especially when they feel they have little to offer employers, are unsure of where to begin or overwhelmed with options. While young people understand the journey to work is one made of many stages, they report that they would value support to identify and take the first step, particularly through the achievement of smaller attainable goals. (YN Co-creation 2014)
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I enter a radically different employment environment to their parents
In today’s workplace, there are few clear paths to follow or jobs for life. There is an increased emphasis on flexibility in working and movement between industries. There is a focus on entrepreneurism and self-directed employment. As a result young people need to be entrepreneurial in selling their skillset rather than expecting to follow a vocational path. (The Princes Trust, YN Co-creation 2014)
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Friends and peers can be a massive support but also a demotivating factor
Young people look to their peers for direction, as role models and for moral support when job seeking. When friends appear successful, comparisons can be discouraging for those who still searching for employment. However positive examples, proactive networking support and emotional boosts from peer groups can be hugely beneficial. This particularly valuable where these personal connections provide an example of an established, credible path to follow or insight into the workplace. (National Careers Service 2013, National Apprenticeships Service 2013, City & Guilds 2012, YN Co-creation 2014)
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I fear making the wrong move
YP perceive there to be a high level of unemployment and job instability in the UK. As such the choices they make in training courses, apprenticeships and first jobs may permanently define their career direction. They fear that the decisions they make will render them unemployable or worse trap them in a dead end jobs they hate. (National Careers Service 2013, National Apprenticeships Service 2013, YN Co-creation 2014)
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I struggle to understand the available options in the world of work
YP feel it is impossible to get the information they need to make appropriate choices. They feel they haven’t been given the right information to make informed choices about their careers. They have a low awareness of the full range of sectors and opportunities available to them. While there is a huge amount of information available online, little of it feels tailored to a young person’s personal circumstances so it is difficult to know where to begin. (Lifeskills Youth Barometer 2013, National Careers Service 2013, National Apprenticeships Service 2013, YN Co-creation 2014)
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Coping with the time, effort and knock-backs required to find work can be deeply demoralising
Applying for jobs can be a drawn out process involving many applications, non-responses and rejections. Even worse young people feel that the jobs market is so highly competitive that the odds are stacked against them from the start. In order for young people to keep going they need additional emotional support to recognise and normalise their experiences – and most importantly to see that their hard work will pay off. (National Careers Service 2013, National Apprenticeships Service 2013, YN Co-creation)
A model for employability for young people
We propose a model for employability that suggests young people should do the following:
What can YouthNet do to support young people around employability?
Product concept
Product concepts from young people through our co-creation workshops.
Define me
Define me is a website that translates information about young people’s soft skills into language that is understandable to a potential employer. Young people enter information about themselves – their interests, experiences and qualifications – and the application feeds back alternative ways to representing that same information.
What needs does it serve?
Define me is there for young people when they feel that they don’t have much to offer by translating their everyday strengths into something that a potential employer wants to hear. It boosts their confidence by highlighting and recognizing the value and strengths of their existing transferable skills
Goal Guru
Goal Guru is an app that uses push notifications to keep a young person motivated over a particular time period. You can define your personal or career goal and the industry you want to work towards along with a set time period in which you want to achieve your goal. The app contains a database of messages made up of inspiration quotes, practical advice about your industry of choice, career goals and useful tips on getting where you want to go.
What need does it serve?
The app uses a fun and creative interface aims to help young people stay motivated with help from a Guru in their pocket. The app aims to support young people when they don’t know what to do or when they feel people around them are doing much better.
Flipper
Flipper is mobile app that help young people combat the negative language they can use about themselves. The user posts something that’s not gone well or something they feel they struggle with. This appears as a black counter next to their face/icon. Their friends on the app can see the entry by tapping the counter. They then have the chance to ‘flip’ the counter by responding with something positive. Users gain points for each counter they flip (double points if they flip their own). Points are also awarded for submitting something positive – a white counter.
What need does it serve?
Flipper motivates young people by helping them re-programme the way they look at their situation or the set backs they may come across as they seek work.
Challenge me
While in this instance it is less focused on employability, Challenge me is all about helping young people to build networking skills and confidence in face to face interactions. Challenge me is an app or website that ‘challenges you’ by giving the user small, step to step challenges based around a personal profile that identifies their areas of interest.
It will give you alerts of events to attend based on this profile. You can record your achievements with text & images and these are displayed on a graphical timeline. Now and then it will give the user a random challenge such as an unrelated volunteering opportunity. This aims to expand the users knowledge and interests. To keep it engaging, there is an element of gameification where users can improve their status or role but the number of interactions and recorded achievements.
What needs does it serve?
Challenge me is for young people who feels they will benefit from talking to other people and to prompt users to proactively seek networking and face to face opportunities. It aims to increase their confidence and knowledge in career or industry areas.
Jumps
Jumps is about supporting young people to take the next move in the world of work. Young start the app by filling out an assessment form capturing their qualifications, skills and interests as well as their desired career or job. User can also add their preferences for advice about further education, volunteering, or mentoring.
Jumps will then delivered tailored next steps to the user ranked in order of attainability.
For example,
- To set up a Linkedin profile and connect with others,
- To take a look at some volunteering opportunities
- To sign up to recommended courses,
- To go to useful networking events.
Once the user signs up they also get daily or weekly emails encouraging you to keep taking the steps. They can share their experiences with a community of ‘Jumpers’.
What needs does it serve?
Jumps is for young people who are stuck and confused about their next move when it comes to getting into the world of work. It breaks down this daunting journey into small achievable steps.
Own it
Own It is an innovative digital product that helps you visualize and track your journey towards your goals and ambitions. It helps you break down your goal into visual steps represented as a comic strip. You are able to upload photos and commentary to indicate that you have completed a particular step and view the comic strips of others to see how they solved problems and achieve their ambitions.
What need does it serve?
The app aims to help young people by showing them where they are in the journey towards their goals and the steps they can take to achieve them. Our research showed that often young people knew where they wanted to be but didn’t know how to get there, Own It not only allows you to track your progress but also to gain inspiration and tips from the stories of other young people, celebrities and business leaders to gain inspiration.
Projects with young people
YouthNet put young people at the heart of everything we do. To this end, young people were recruited with different demographic backgrounds, from different stages in their employment journey and varying experience of using technology to help us explore employability and how we might create impactful digital support services.
Job Squad
Project Magenta
Related blogs
Workshops
We ran workshops with young people utilizing personas to gain insight into their world and the issues that affected them.
YouthNet would like to give special thanks to our experts and young volunteers
Jignesh Vaghadia – Recruiter, Societe General
Alison Gardner – Head of CSR, Capital One
James Innes – Programme Manager, Skills to Succeed Accenture
Suraj Vadgama – Trustee, Forward Foundation
Keith Rivers – Partner, UK Public Consulting CSC
Iain Dennis – Chief Executive, Eden Brown
Rob Rees – Development Manager, Guardian
Sandeep Bharma – Consultant, Investment Banking, Societe General
Kesah Trowell – Communications Specialist and CSR Lead, Carphone Warehouse
Joseph Mitchell – Associate, DLA Piper
Peter Rutland – Senior Managing Director, CVC Capital Partners
Chrissy Stergios – Senior Account Manager, HARRIMANSTEEL
Michael Murdoch – Founder & Creative Director, The House London Ltd.
Paul Clarke – Brightside, Head of External Affairs
Darshan Sanghrajka – Founder, State of Ambition
Rosa Morgan-Baker – Programme Manager, City Brokerage
Sarah Alonge – Campaigns Co-ordinator, Elevation Network
Glenys Ruan – Programmes Manager, Futureversity
Matt Dronfield – Employee Engagement Manager, London Youth
Jim Harper – Progressions coordinator, Streetleague
Hannah Grant, Kathy Oldridge and Sarah Snoxall – Antennae
Job Squad
Anjeli Shah
Edouard Payne
Faith Jones
Jack Welch
Jokotola Balogun
Juliet Amponsa-Gyasi
Katherine Williams
Lucy Goodwill
Rachel Pardner
Sarah Cadwallader
Project Magenta
Ahdab Nasir
Anjeli Shah
Cambel McLaughlin
Edouard Payne
Juliet Amponsa-Gyasi
Kiran Virdee
Mayran Osman
Paolo Bergamini
Susan Araromi
Thomas Barker
Viktoriya Mancheva