Employers' recruitment of young people: issues in depth

This in-depth report focuses on employers’ recruitment of school leavers and other young people who have not been to university, based on research by IRS and a literature review.

On this page:
Introduction and background
The business case
Employers’ demand for young recruits
There are many different job opportunities available to young people
Many young people work while studying
Jobs where young people represent the main source of recruits
Most employers interested in hiring young people shun positive action
The reasons why employers want to recruit young people
Apprenticeships: introduction
Apprenticeships: the scale of current schemes
Employer involvement in apprenticeships is widespread
How employers recruit their apprentices
Most employers’ apprenticeships are free from major problems
Low-skilled young workers’ right to paid release
Young employees’ pay
Internet and work experience are best recruitment methods
Recruiters use mainstream and targeted attraction methods
The recruitment message
The best time to recruit young people
Attitude, potential and motivation are key selection criteria
Assessment and selection usually takes account of a wide range of factors
Employers are fairly satisfied with most basic skills of young workers
Taking action to address these problems: supervision and training
Taking action to address these problems: attendance and other measures
Age discrimination affects young and old alike
Age discrimination: employers’ counter-measures
Our research
Table 1: The jobs for which employers tend to recruit young people
Table 2: The single best method of informing young people about employers’ vacancies
Table 3: Methods used to inform young people about employers’ vacancies
Table 4: The single most effective selection factor or criterion
Table 5: The factors used by employers when selecting young people
Table 6: Proportion of employers agreeing young people’s attributes are worse than those of older groups
Table 7: Measures to avoid age discrimination when recruiting young people
Additional resources
Employers’ recruitment of young people: key issues.