Every HotViews reader must know by now that I have great concern for our young generation – particularly the 1m aged between 16 and 24 not in education, employment or training. That’s one of the reasons for my last 10 years at the Prince’s Trust. But the Trust is there to help only the most disadvantaged. Indeed it touches only perhaps 60,000 in any year.
I also have a passion to get more youngsters interested in technology – not just IT. From the earliest ‘babes in arms’ we should encourage both girls and boys into building things, exploring things, finding out how things work. We need better technology teaching (and teachers) at school – all the way through to higher education. We need more students studying STEM subjects at A level and university.
But that is all pointless if there are no jobs for these youngsters regardless of their qualifications. As I did not go to university myself, I have a lot of interest in apprenticeships. So much emphasis seems to go on the skills shortage at the higher levels. Few seem to understand that engineers with 5-10 years experience don’t suddenly appear straight out of the womb – they need entry-level jobs to give them the experience first!
Over the last couple of years there has been a noticeable change - dare I say it improvement – in acceptance of the need to create such entry-level jobs. Such jobs are required in the UK – not India by the way. I have highlighted many such initiatives by the likes of Fujitsu, Northgate, BT, Autonomy and others. This week I was delighted that Steve Ballmer – CEO of Microsoft– announced a new Get on programme in the UK which will provide 300,000 training opportunities (220,000 using online modules). Microsoft has committed to create 4000 apprenticeships as well as 1000 graduate jobs in its supply chain over the next 3 years. See Daily Telegraph for more details.
I have also used every opportunity to get HM Govt to take job creation into account when awarding public sector contracts. I get the feeling that this message is getting through. Corporates announcing high profile job creation initiatives are becoming more common. If these are being done for good commercial reasons, then ‘so be it’. I’ve always believed that the very best business contract is where both sides get a good deal.
Less youth unemployment, more young people trained in STEM subjects, more entry level jobs in tech in the UK and rewards by way of contracts (both private and public sector) to those companies that assist in this aim. Win-Win!