According to the results of a new study by a website that highlights career and education options for those not wanting to attend university, more than half of young Britons are worried they won’t be able to find a job when they leave education, whilst 9% are worried that they’ll need to emigrate in order to find a career for them.
The team behind www.notgoingtouni.co.uk commissioned the independent research team at Explain the Market to conduct the survey, as part of ongoing research into the attitudes that young Britons have towards leaving education and entering the workplace. Over 500 young British adults were quizzed about what they plan to do following education and where they got their further education or careers information from.
Initially all respondents were asked ‘Do you know what you want to do when you leave education?’ to which the most common responses were revealed as ‘I have a few ideas’ (36%), ‘I pretty much know’ (21%) and ‘I have a clear plan’ (16%). However, a further 11% stated they had ‘no clue’ and 5% were planning to simply ‘hope’ for the best.
All respondents were then asked ‘How do you find out about career options?’ and were told to state all of those which applied to them. The results showed that the top ways young people find out about potential career options are ‘online/careers websites’ (76%), ‘talking to friends’ (38%) and ‘work experience’ (34%).
All respondents were then asked what their top worries and concerns were with regards to getting a job / finding a career. When provided with a list of possible responses and told to select all that applied to them, the top five worries were as follows:
1. Not being able to get a job after I've finished education – 56%
2. I'm worried that if I make the wrong decision I could end up doing something as a job that I hate - 48%
3. I'm worried that I may end up doing low paid work that doesn't give me enough money to live off - 41%
4. I don't know what options are best for me - degree, apprenticeship, or find a job - 36%
5. I'm worried that I may end up doing a job that doesn't train me, or help me develop new skills - 29%
According to the poll, a further 9% admitted that they were worried they would have to look to emigrate in the future in order to find the right job/career for them, whilst 13% admitted that they weren’t worried about their job prospects at all.
A comprehensive 50-page Results Day Guide, which is free to download, use and reproduce, has been created by notgoingtouni.co.uk and is available via http://www.notgoingtouni.co.uk/advice/results-day-guide-2016-574
Sharon Walpole, CEO of notgoingtouni.co.uk, commented:
“It’s completely understandable that young people are worried about finding a job, or finding the right job, and whether or not it will pay well – these are all perfectly logical thoughts to have. But we’re shocked and a little saddened that so many young people are worrying about whether or not they’ll be able to get a career within the country that they grew up in. Of course they will, assuming they work hard for it and try their best. We want to dispel myths like this. Obviously if they want to go and work abroad that’s different, but we want them to know that they don’t have to up and leave, alongside many other things they don’t have to do, such as go to university. The times are changing and what was considered the norm ten or twenty years ago isn’t necessarily the norm anymore. It’s important for young Britons to educate themselves on what’s available, and not rely on others to go out and get the opportunities for them, which is why we launch or annual guide.”
