This year employees, with the permission of their employers, are being asked to go to secondary schools to talk about their jobs and career history. It’s expected that this will help young people get a real insight into what their careers entail.
This ‘Inspiring the Future’ campaign is designed to address the “skills mismatch” between careers and young people, and inspire students to pursue careers they would otherwise not have thought of. Volunteers around the UK are visiting a local school once a year to spend an hour talking to young people about their career pathways.
In a world of difficult career choices, confusing job titles and career changes, students are increasingly unsure about their career pathway, and knowing what job is right for them.
Nick Chambers, director of the charity behind the campaign, Education and Employers Taskforce, said young people were bombarded with “distorting influences” from the media that to be a success in life you have to be a footballer or a pop star.
“Take a look at what young people aspire to be; its vets, actors and pop stars. A lot of the career paths young people see are the careers they see in popular TV programmes”. There are few role models in other career paths” he said.