Human
resources development, education and training contribute significantly to
promoting the interests of young people, enterprises, and society. Employers
can contribute to youth employment by ensuring that what young people learn
actually boosts, among other things, their employability. Education and
training should cultivate in them the skills that employers need to compete
locally and internationally.
Employability
encompasses the skills, knowledge and competencies that enhance a young
person’s ability to gain and retain a job, progress at work and cope with
change, secure another job if she/he so wishes or has been laid off, and enter
more easily into the labour market at different periods of the life cycle. Young
people are most employable when they have broad-based education and training,
basic and portable skills, including core skills such as teamwork, problem
solving, knowledge of information and communication technologies, and
communication and language skills.
Employers
can also support youth employment by engaging young people in apprenticeship
and internship programmes that provide a valuable introduction to the world of
work and have high potential to develop the vocational and technical skills of
the young. Such experiences can be usefully combined with traditional,
school-based educational programmes and can smooth the school-to-work
transition.
One
of the many initiatives that employers can undertake to promote the
employability of young people is to become involved in initiatives related to
their career guidance. This can include visiting individual schools for career
days and providing information about specific occupations to school graduates. Other
measures include taking part in recruitment fairs and inviting groups of young
people to the work place.
Employers
can also forge strategic linkages with career counsellors thereby creating a
mutual flow of information, as well as a shared understanding of priorities. They
can advise school and vocational counsellors on available careers, and current
and predicted skills requirements to ensure that young people can be guided
into priority areas, for example by emphasizing the development of ICT
skills.
An
important problem faced by young people when searching for a job is their lack
of understanding of the labour market as well as the lack of work experience. There
are numerous ways employers can help young people to gain valuable knowledge
and experience. Companies can provide young people with internships to
familiarize them with the world of work and at the same time assess if the
young person could be a candidate for future recruitment.
José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs
Executive Director, Employment Sector, ILO
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