Can we talk about NEETs?

[MrsBennetsPoorNervesAreBack]

Sorry if there's a thread already and I've missed it. But I want to talk about NEETs.

Apparently, we are potentially going to have 1.25million young people not in employment, education or training by the early 2030s. This is quite an alarming number, and it feels like we're failing an entire generation - both the NEETs themselves, who don't seem to have very much going on in their lives that might give them a sense of satisfaction or achievement, but also their working peers who will presumably end up having to support them via the tax system.

I really don't want this to be a thread with lots of judgement or criticism of these young people - it seems to me that we must have failed them somehow as a society. I also want to steer clear of party politics if we can. But I really want to understand why we have so many young people in this position right now.

Does anyone have a child in this situation who would be willing to share why they find themselves in this position? What are the barriers to them studying or getting at least a part time job? Are they happy with how things are right now? Are they trying to change their situation? What do they actually do all day? Are they surrounded by friends who are in the same position? What do they do about money? And what do you feel about the whole situation as a parent?

If anyone is willing to share, I really hope we can avoid a pile-on in which the young people and/or their parents are subjected to a character assassination. I would like an honest and frank exchange of views and experiences because I do genuinely want to understand the root causes of this issue, but if it descends into blame and fingerpointing, then the whole conversation will get derailed.

For full disclosure, I do have a dc in the middle of the 16-24 age group, but neither she nor any of her friends fall into this category.

Their recruiting process doesn’t seem to work though , does it? You can’t say people don’t want to work when you discard 97.5% of applicants for whatever reason.

I think given how the jobcentre sets minimum numbers of applications per week it's going to be hard to move away from a scattergun approach to applying for jobs.

I think it’s standard to discard generic applications, which have no relationship to the post advertised. I have always assumed everyone did this, I’m not an employer but I wouldn’t interview someone who hadn’t bothered to write an individual application ,

Once again. Schools have counsellors, mentors, art therapists, pastoral workers, welfare staff - but students have to be in school to access these services.

You don’t know that.
It’s perfectly likely it was a misunderstanding.

I am talking generally about a lot of youngsters. Ask anyone in top companies, how graduates have changed over the last 10 years.
We see it in schools. It’s becoming impossible to manage. Schools are struggling and support staff are leaving.

My step-daughter, she’s a lazy cow who can’t be bothered to work and it’s easier on benefits. She’s openly admitted that. 22 and never worked a day in her life. Whereas my son, went from Saturday jobs in sixth form to a full time job at a major car manufacturer. My step-son (same parentage as my stepdaughter) is shaping up to be the same as my own son so it’s not that I’m some wicked stepmother, I just can’t stand laziness.

Should have said, those invited to interview don’t turn up.

Sure, but then you can’t complain no one is applying/showing up for the job. That’s my issue with that situation. Both statements can’t be true at once.

Most school have fuck all now, including glues , pens and printer ink.

There is the question about why employers should employ the unemployable at great expense with the employee having a range of rights. There is a centre in our local town for long term school refusers are given free art classes etc. In order to allow them to get into local colleges and employment without any formal qualifications. Are we eating employers you must be taking on these young people despite education and even prioritising their employment over those with qualifications given some NMW jobs are now being done by graduates.

some would say 'why bother with school' if employers are going to be obliged to give access to a full range of jobs and careers to those that do not have qualifications or the bare minimum.

perhaps there has to be the prospect of minimal standard of living on benefits or poor quality career prospects to act as an incentive for some to engage with school and not penalise those who do attend school and will perhaps be in competition with those that can't be bothered?

Sorry for the typos.....

Young people are using ai because they’ve been told that recruiters use ai to filter applications so they’re trying to combat that.

The actual report says the difference between NEETs of old and NEETs now is that many now have decent GCSEs and there is a subset that have A levels and degrees.

There is so much generalisation , half informed, on this thread.

I suspect about three posters have read the actual report - or even a potted summary.

I think CVs need to go. 'Safer recruitment' in quite a lot of settings and sectors doesn't use CVs. They use specific application forms and questions instead.

Err no they all don’t. And many conditions are beyond the remit of all those and require the correct professional help at the right time.

This isn’t what the report is saying. Have you actually read it?

I also feel there are some kids that are more vocationally aligned than academically and wouldn't it men for for those children to be identified early in the education system so that they gain practical skills at an early age with direct relevance to employment so that employers training burden was reduced?

We.teach Macbeth and quadratic equations to children who are simply not interested or engaged within our comprehensive system when that time could be used having some sort of early induction into work based subjects or enhancement of Englaish and Maths relevant immediately to most jobs.

an acceptance that not everyone can aspire to middle class professional jobs may be a bigger pill to swallow for some but isn't there an economic reality behind this?

I've got mixed feelings about the AI sift. On the one hand I don't like AI.

On the other hand it was really frustrating seeing a job, say just before going to work, going ok that looks a good fit but I'll wait until I'm back and spend time doing a good application. Then I'd get back and the job would have closed due to sufficient applications. I learnt I was better off just cobbling something together in 5 minutes and getting it in quickly because at least then it would be read. If AI genuinely allows a larger amount of applications to be "looked at" that's fairer.

I think that if employers normalise anything whether it's a first come first served approach or the use of something like AI then it's inevitably going to also become normalised amongst job seekers.

You are a real charmer.
Are you one of those parents who makes our lives hell at school?
have you ever wondered why youngsters are like they are, when parents are so mean?

Er - yes they do.
i organise all of the above in a large comprehensive.
And it comes out of our dwindling budget.

Well.. have you read the report?

Like the other poster I’m just speaking from experience of setting up a whole day of interviews only for 2/3 of them not to turn up. Then if offered the job they disappear. If they start they only last a day or two.

Some of these people are on benefits (we know because they come via the job centre referral). Lots aren’t. Sometimes we know that because in a small town we know their granny or their kid was in the same class as ours. Or they tell us in the interview that they still live with their parents.

We’re not a massive company that can review its HR Recruitment procedures. We’re a tiny company who finds it really hard to get reliable workers prepared to turn up and work. There has been a huge change in people in the 20 years we’ve been doing it.

It might sound like an unpleasant little myth to you but for us it’s a reality that a lot of people don’t want to work.

some do, we’ve had youngsters walk up the drive asking for a job and we’ve created a Saturday role for them as if we come across someone prepared to work we can normally find some!

I have worked in education my whole working life.Last I heard contesting inaccuracy and asking a pertinent, calm question based on evidence shown(and rather derogatory, unpleasant posts) is not indicative of being mean.

And this!