Learning to Work: Engaging employers in tackling youth unemployment

Learning to Work is an action-focused campaign to tackle the problem of youth unemployment.  The overall aim of the campaign is to achieve a shift in employer engagement with young people, so that they are encouraged both to help young people prepare for the workplace and to make the labour market itself more youth-friendly, by offering a wider range of access routes into organisations and adapting recruitment methods.

• See the new Employee Outlook: Focus on apprenticeships

We see the challenge as involving three key strands:

• Raising awareness and understanding of the role that HR professionals and employers can play in supporting young people in their transition from education to the workplace

• Establishing the business case for employing young people

• Developing a package of actions for employers, to help prepare young people for work

View our reports

• View our survey report Learning to Work which explores employers attitudes to young workers

• View the report The business case for employer investment in young people 

• View the pamphlet Investing in young people: why your business can't afford to miss out

• View the discussion paper Engaging employers in tackling youth unemployment

• View the report Employers are from Mars, young people are from Venus: addressing the young people/jobs mismatch

• View the leaflet Recruiting young people: top tips for employers

Through this campaign, we will draw on the resource of CIPD members, delivering real engagement with young people to boost their future employability and job prospects.  We will build on the work we have already initiated in this area, including:

• Our mentoring programme, Steps Ahead Mentoring, run in conjunction with Jobcentre Plus, in which CIPD members are working with unemployed young people to help improve their job prospects. We intend to roll this scheme out nationally.

• Our contribution to the Government’s professional code of practice for internships, which is largely based on our guidance Internships that work.

• Apprenticeships that work - our guidance for employers on how to develop high-quality apprenticeship schemes, developed in conjunction with UKCES

• Work experience placements that work - our guidance on work experience developed in conjunction with Jobcentre Plus.

• Your CV, Your style, Your job – our guidance for young people on writing CVs, cover letters and giving interview tips