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Topic: Does anyone care about our Yoouth: 15-24 unemployed by the end of 2011 will be 74.6 million, a rate of 12.6%. Although this number sits lower than the 12.7% of 2010, the ILO has suggested that since 2010 many young people have given up looking for work and dropped out of the labour market all together. In the month running up to this publication, youth unemployment in Britain rose further and punctured into the million – breaking all records. The repercussions of this significant statistic could be momentous. Fingers of blame are most likely to be pointed back and forth at Westminster with politicians going round and round in circles to attempt to find some sort of answer. One thing that is certain from all of this is that if we fail to utilise the talent, ambition and energy of our younger generations then the problem is going to grow and inevitably affect us all in the long run. The Prince’s Trust’s director of communications, Paul Brown commented on youth unemployment in the summer of 2011, “Youth unemployment is like a dripping tap, costing tens of millions of pounds a week through benefits and lost productivity. And, just like a dripping tap, if we don’t do something to fix it, it’s likely to get much worse.” Research conducted by the TUC showed that long-term unemployment can have devastating long lasting effects. Those who were out of work for over a year in 1980’s were more likely to be struggling with the current economic crises as opposed to those that had made it through the 80’s economically sound. The report also showed that those who had made it through the crises in employment now earned more than those who struggled for employment.Germany’s rate of youth unemployment sits at 8.9%, the lowest across the European Union, this could well be down to an excellent and well managed vocational training system that is designed to tool their youth with employable skills across a variety of roles. As the British economy struggles with youth unemployment, many are turning their gaze to what other countries are doing to learn and eventually find an answer to this seemingly endless problem. The current government seems to have grasped the importance of work-based learning in order to develop young people with the right skills and as a result have injected more money into the apprenticeship scheme in order to encourage firms to take them up. Although this is currently having little impact – there are only 11 apprentices for every 1,000 employees in the UK, compared to 40 in Germany, where there is no state funding for apprenticeships. So why are employers not taking up these opportunities? A recent survey conducted by the British Chambers of Commerce highlighted on why this could be – even with a lack of workplace skills, many employers felt the scheme wasn’t relevant to their sector and therefore not the answer. Across Europe, in Austria for example, there are more than 250 apprenticeship trades, ranging from car mechanics to clerks to hairdressers with employers getting a significant input into the design of the course, its content and overall, making sure the skills that are needed are developed. From a student point of view these apprenticeships can evolve into degree programs, increasing the appeal of the system and, in some cases, earning a wage whilst learning.In contrast to this the UK seemingly has far less opportunities for apprentices. The website for UK apprentices states they plan to have over 30,000 19-24 year olds taking up apprenticeships by 2013 – equating to 3.2% of those currently unemployed. Other approaches that have been put in place such as intern roles and work experience to help graduates are at times seen as little more than hiring free labour for a three to six month period, with many feeling like companies have a revolving door of interns, often leaving graduates in the same boat in which they started. March 2011 saw the Private Equity Foundation release its Manifesto for Action for young people who are NEET. The report compiled with sources ranging from local authorities to think tanks to central government. The manifesto proposes recommendations for system wide change in tackling the problem surrounding leadership, investment, delivery and best practice. The ten recommendations of the Private Equity Foundation Manifesto for Action report: • Create better coordination – a ‘NEET taskforce’ could coordinate policy • Focus on prevention – resources allocated according to likelihood of being NEET • Publish transparent information on performance – objective comparisons of results drives improved delivery • Increase investment on NEET – longer-term financing for proven interventions • Reform Commissioning – increase collaboration between local authorities and ser vice providers, create standard processes to reduce red tape • Grow the best provision – increase networked commissioning and business support for the best providers • Foster better links to employment – make it easier for employers to engage with young people • Support case management approach for those most at risk – this will help them to navigate the variety of support services they need • Improve information on local provision – create clear measures of success locally • Increase knowledge of what works – establish an anonymous database on the effectiveness of interventions What next? Shaks Ghosh, PEF chief executive says, “young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are facing a tough jobs market at a time of reduced support services. This issue will continue to be nobody’s priority unless we act together.”It is time to start to make the necessary changes to facilitate our youth, and ultimately the future of our country – starting with leadership. A NEET taskforce with a leading role co-ordinating policy could be a strong starting point. Alongside this we should strive to prevent a young person becoming a NEET, give them the necessary help to find a job or the option of suited education as early as possible. With regular independent audits and a transparent operating system, objectives and results could be easily monitored. Of course there is the constant need for investment, a key element of the problem initially. The voluntary sector needs to have the full support going forward. There needs to be an understanding of the financing options available to tackle the current NEET crises.Finally, and most importantly, there has to be more communication between local authorities and those providing a service. Whether it be an apprenticeship, intern role or education, each party needs to ask the right questions of the other, each party needs to understand exactly what they can do to benefit the growth of the a person. There needs to be plan, action and engagement from all parties, otherwise we’ll all suffer in years to come.…; Added by Andrew Boyle at 6:35am on January 3, 2012

Blog Post: A Hiring Tale...Is It Time For a Change?: Recently a company that I know well went through an interesting hiring adventure. Their story is typical and companies of all types experience these same particulars every day. You’d think that…; Added by K.C. at 11:16pm on September 29, 2010

Blog Post: How to Stop Worrying and Love Your Career

Cross-posted from The…

Added by Dan Smolen at 12:46pm on August 30, 2011

Topic: A Story That Needs to be Told - Part II: for the entire region as the office that raised the most money for United Way), traveled extensively and became certified as a trainer then traveled to train managers and contract people to be ready in the event of a pending strike due to a year long negotiation between management and the union. She was married to her high school sweetheart, a marriage that was unraveling as many very young marriages do exacerbated in part by the fact that her boss insisted that if she were unable to travel it would put her job at risk albeit none of the other 6 managers were asked to travel. During these two years she was called in for the following reasons: 1. She had lost weight , down from 190 lbs to a slim 160. She was told that the boss lady was not going to have her prancing around in high heels. She looked nice after having lost weight but she was attracting the wrong kind of attention wearing high heels. So she started wearing flats. 2. Albeit her teams were delivering the top sales numbers she was being too nice to them. It was not a personality contest. Just because everybody liked her she had to understand that these people would throw her under the bus at the drop of a hat so quit being so nice. 3. She was being secretive because she did not discuss her personal life with the other managers and her boss so she was not being part of the team and refused to sit in the break room for several hours a day with the other managers. 4. She was causing problems for other managers because their team members were coming to her with questions when they were unable to find their managers because as the reps put it, “the breakfast club” was in session in the manager’s break room. She was not to help people who were not on her team they were to be told that they would have to wait and ask their manager when they were available. 5. Two different male reps were called into the boss’s office and asked if they were having an affair with her. She wasn’t having any affairs, she was in the middle of a divorce that she had filed in Nov. of 2009. She had told no one at the office. 6. She was accused of being 3 to 5 minutes late on several occasions and lying about it. A check of the security key card records showed that in fact she had been late once for a total of four minutes when the weather was extremely bad and streets icy. When she explained that she was unable to get there because the school and daycare had opened a few minutes late due to icy weather she was told by this lovely lady that her kids were not the problem of the company and she would be written up for being late if it happened again and would show a pattern of lateness. 7. It had been reported that she had been seen in the car with an Hispanic man who was not her husband. It had been her uncle who was in town for the holidays and had picked her up for lunch albeit he was not Hispanic. This sparked another witch hunt with her boss asking other employees in the hall if they ever saw her outside of work. People started coming to my candidate asking her why this nutty woman was obsessed with what she was doing outside of work. 8. She was told that she was making the other managers look bad because if there were disagreements among the reps as to how something should be done she was going to the written policies and printing them out for her reps who then showed reps on other teams the written policy thus proving that the other manager was wrong so to quit printing them out. 9. She was called in and told that it had been reported that her facebook page was unprofessional and had pictures on it that were taken in the office which was against the code of professional conduct as no pictures of anything in the office were allowed to go outside. The pictures on her facebook page were one of her with her two little boys in front of a fireplace and one of her in a car wearing sunglasses that was just a head shot. Rather than make an issue of it she took her facebook page down and cancelled her facebook account after the profile being up for about three weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Just after Thanksgiving her boss's sister-in-law who also worked in the same office came to this young lady and told her to watch her back. Over Thanksgiving dinner the boss had made the comment to her sister and her sister-in-law that this young woman thought she was going someplace with the company but..she wasn't. The sister-in-law told the young woman that she didn't know why but the boss was out to get her, she thought it was jealousy and the fact that the boss had not been able to break her and make her quit. When she came to my office in tears asking for advice about what she should do I suggested to her that it might be time to look for another job as it appeared to me that for some reason , nutzella did not like her and was obviously on a quest to either make her quit or find a reason to fire her. My candidate indicated that she loved the company and loved her job, was very close to being the only manager with a college degree and wanted to try and hang on until she could finish her degree and/or transfer out to another job within the company. She was trying to get her divorce over with, move from an apartment into a home that she wanted to buy then be in a position to apply for other jobs within the company. Ok, my suggestion was that she take steps to apply for other positions within the company and might try letting her boss know that she was getting a divorce as perhaps my candidate might be stressed with a divorce going on and two small children in the mix. Let her boss know that if she seemed secretive it was because she didn’t want to bring her personal problems into the office but to explain to the boss that nobody was having any affairs, neither she nor her ex. He was not happy about the divorce because she was the bread winner in the family and he was throwing a serious fit that he might have to pay child support so if there were some strange gossip filtering into the office in this small a town it could certainly be the soon to be ex doing what soon to be ex’s do when they realize they are going to have to support themselves and pay child support. Well, in hindsight what I thought and she agreed might be good advice and perhaps stop some of the craziness and witch hunting simply started a whole new chapter and sent the gossip mongering lunatic into full tilt boogie. Stand by for Part III It brings new meaning to sexual harassment , retaliation, discrimination, bullying and every other obnoxious thing a boss can do to an empl…; Added by Sandra McCartt at 12:47pm on June 11, 2011

Blog Post: Building a Social Media Recruiting Strategy - Full Time!: Added by Stacy Van Meter at 4:58pm on August 20, 2010

Blog Post: Am I Too Ethical To Be A Recruiter?: Well now, it's been a couple of years and my recruiting life is going along pretty good. Exceeding my numbers, gaining exclusive clients, having fun and thinking this is the best job and the best…; Added by Cora Mae Lengeman at 12:01pm on October 29, 2011

Blog Post: Candidates are the future of recruitment. And you won't have any.: For as long as I remember (and in recruitment, that is a very, very long time) getting good candidates has always been about getting…; Added by Greg Savage at 7:04am on September 15, 2014

Blog Post: ERE/SourceCon Anaheim 2016: One Attendee's Perspective: ERE's SourceCon Anaheim was a stellar event. I arrived on a Tuesday Sept 20 -…; Added by Mike Rasmussen at 11:28pm on September 23, 2016