Skills are a complex problem, but after four years of being engrossed across different sectors into the subject, it appears to me we are in the middle of a perfect storm, so I hope these insights are thought-provoking and inspire you to help, as I believe we all need to do more for our young people.

There are several threads I would like to talk about, the first being the ageing working population, which is a problem not just here but all over the developed world. To put it into perspective the Utility sector in the UK employs 500,000 people, and in the next 10 years, 50% are retiring. If you then factor in the lowest birth rate in the last decade you can see we won’t have the numbers to solve this, which is why immigration is significant, so let us hope the government gets the strategy right, as our economy depends on it.

The financial crash of 2007 has also contributed to the problem as analysis from the CIPD shows that a decade of under-investment in skills has added to the country lagging well behind its competitors on at least four key measures, including literacy and numeracy, learning and development, and digital skills.

Next has been the Government's fixation with University with applications up year on year to the highest ever in 2018. What is also shocking is the dramatic increase in unconditional offers, which according to UCAS has risen to 23% of this year’s cohort! Policymakers attribute the sharp rise to changes made by the government since 2012, especially the lifting of a cap on student numbers at individual institutions and the increase in tuition fees to up to £9,000 a year, giving universities an incentive to recruit as many students as is practical.

Poorly perceived technical education is the next problem, but the Government are introducing a new set of reforms which include the apprenticeship levy in 2017, new T-level qualifications in 2020 along with the Institutes of Technology. These could provide the basis for a radically improved technical education system but for these reforms to work, it will be crucial that all parts of the skills system are working together and that employers and parents alike buy into them.

Uninspiring careers advice compounds the problem further, as does most of the supporting digital resources currently available. We believe employers are vital to solving these issue and a SEMTA report from a couple of years ago supports are conclusions “It’s crucial that employers ensure their own websites are promoted well and offer an upbeat, interesting and exciting vision of what careers looks like”

The problem is employers websites are currently not designed for young people, so only really useful if you are looking for a job now but what we need is to inspire the younger generations to don’t we? So believe employers need to sell the future to young people, along with their purpose and provide a simple overview of why what and how they do what they do, in a language young people will understand. An excellent example of this is a Formula 1 or Premiership Football team as most people know 700>1000 people are employed but what do they all do? And where is that information? We believe the same applies to any business, so without a simple digital resource, all the school outreach isn’t going to be as effective as they could be would you agree?

Technology and what Generation Z (those born between 2005-15) expect from it is the next issue, as the world changed following the launch of the iPhone in 2007 and now it’s a mobile and video first world to them and it's their No 1 channel.

Great user experience is also essential, driven by the Unicorn companies like Apple Spotify, Instagram Snapchat etc. so any resource needs to reflect this shift which most don’t right now.

Finally, the difficulty for schools in engaging with companies and vice versa needs solving, so that all stakeholders can connect locally with ease. 

In summary, the perfect storm is here, and 21st-century technology could really help so we would welcome the chance to discuss further with any interested parties.