A major new OECD report released today (Tue 20 May) reveals a growing global crisis: young people are increasingly uncertain about their careers, and there’s a significant misalignment between their aspirations and jobs.
In the UK, this mismatch is evident for all to see:
- 980,000 young people are Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) – the highest in over a decade
- Career ambitions have barely changed in 25 years
- Reliance on recruitment from overseas to fill essential skills gaps
- High-growth sectors like ICT, renewables and health are struggling to recruit
- Disadvantaged students are least likely to know about these and growing opportunities
The result? Young people are preparing for a world that actually doesn’t exist – while employers can’t fill critical roles.
Read the OECD State of Global Teenage Career Preparation Report
View Our Response to the OECD Report
OECD
The urgent problem: a broken link between education and work
This what the data shows:
- Students’ aspirations are shaped by who they know, TV and social media – not what the real world actually needs
- Many aspire to just a few jobs they know (primarily fewer than 10 job types for the UK) – doctors, lawyers, sportspeople and actors feature heavily for both boys and girls
- Students from disadvantaged backgrounds are the most affected – being less likely to attend university, having narrower ambition, and lower outcomes
This disconnect has direct consequences, including..
- Wasted potential, by chasing roles that don’t exist
- A skills shortages in vital and growing sectors
- A broken education-to-employment pipeline
the solution
The solution: give young people the chance to meet and talk to people in the world of work
The solution both exists and is simple to implement. And going beyond that, it’s proven to work.
We run a national programme called Inspiring the Future, which is free to schools and brings workplace volunteers into schools to help fix the disconnect – at scale and with impact
What happens when volunteers go into schools:
- Students discover new jobs they’ve never heard of, including those in high-demand sectors
- They meet successful people from different backgrounds – breaking gender, social and ethnic stereotyping
- They engage in meaningful, interactive conversations – building knowledge and confidence
- They link school subjects to real jobs – making school and education feel relevant (and motivating them to work)
the impact
The impact
Students who have four or more career-related encounters are up to 86% less likely to become NEET by age 19 – that’s one amazing statistic and visualised below.
As a result of the interactions, our research shows students are more engaged in learning, show higher confidence, achieve better exam results and have broader ambitions.
Inspiring the Future has delivered over 4.95million meaningful encounters between students and workplace volunteers across 12,500+ schools.
impact
What we offer: a scalable solution
We provide an easy way for schools to engage with volunteers from various careers and levels, and it’s free of charge to schools.
- A simple sign-up for both schools and volunteers
- Over 90,000 engaged volunteers from every sector and level of seniority
- Flexible ways to deliver career inspiration and engagement – in different styles, in person and virtually
- An offer that is reaches (and is tailored to) every age group – primary, secondary and college
get involved
Get involved today
For employers, organisations and professionals
There are various ways you can get involved – large or small – we appreciate you giving what you can, whether it’s your time or money. It could volunteering yourself, or employers enabling staff to volunteer just one hour a year, to funding projects in underprivileged areas, or raising children’s awareness of specific industry sectors.
Find out more about volunteering with Inspiring the Future
See how as an organisation you can have real impact
For schools
Bring career inspiration into your classroom – easily and at no cost to you.
- Benefit from direct access to over 90,000 volunteers across the UK – there’s no red tape to get to them, no pulling in favours from parents or friends any more.
- Diversity of people and sectors to pull on – choose female pilots, roof thatchers, boat builders, West End singers, joiners, scientists and many, many more.
- The flexibility of choosing when and where to run career activities to fit you and your curriculum.
- Access to events that WE organise, both for students and teachers/career leaders
- It’s proven to work – our extensive research (and the direct response we get from young people and teachers) shows it.