Liam's Blog Experience key for Grads
Experience key for Grads
2012 promises to be an exciting year for east London with the Olympic and Paralympic Games never more imminent. However, reading the headlines in the press it also promises to be a challenging one for many of the young people that we work with.
A recent report by High Fliers Research found that graduates without work experience, stand little chance of securing a job this year despite a rise in vacancies.
More than half of the recruiters surveyed said that graduates who have no previous work experience are unlikely to make it through their selection process and have little or no chance of securing a job offer for their graduate programmes. This statistic is stark when you think that an extra 5,000 new graduates will leave university this summer compared with five years ago.
ELBA recognises the barriers that the graduates face in trying to find meaningful work. We have been running our Career Capital (formerly ETON) programme for the last four years, to equip undergraduates from London Metropolitan University, Queen Mary’s University of London and the University of East London with key employability skills. The sessions are run by business volunteers from our companies, providing a unique and invaluable insight into the corporate world.
Over 300 undergraduates have come through the programme and many have gone on to gain internships or jobs with corporates thanks to the skills and contacts they have gained. Alongside Career Capital, we also support all three universities with business mentors for their undergraduates, providing them with invaluable advice on study skills and future careers in their industry of choice.
We know that there is a real appetite amongst our member companies to support young people coming out of university but we always need new companies to come on board to help us plough forward. We want every young person in east London from primary school age to graduate to be given a fair chance. We look forward to more companies joining us in 2012 to make this vision a reality.
