by Andrew Turner

In today’s market it is becoming increasingly difficult for young people to get their first job.  From personal experience after my Masters, and that of my friends on the course, more often than not applicants for positions receive no response at all rather than an interview. In fact in a recent survey only “23% of employers had recruited a young person to their first job.”  This is a tiny portion of their workforce and leaves many young people unemployed, and often with a student debt hanging over them.

Employers seem to have the opinion that the lack of job experience prevents young people from being work-ready.  Yet this prejudice is preventing young people from gaining this experience, and more so forcing them to take unpaid work placements in an attempt to break in to industry.  In this instance employers are not only breaking the law; according to Balanced Accounting “Unpaid internships are actually illegal - even if both parties consider the arrangement to be voluntary, national minimum wage rules apply”, but are also exploiting the young workforce by exchanging their work for CV’s which are full of 2 to 4 weeks at various different companies.  Whilst this shows the commitment of the candidate when they apply for a job, if every candidate has this how can it work as a differential?  Plus, how much on the job experience can truly be gained from these roles?  For obvious reasons often no real responsibilities are given and much of the work is menial.  Due to this the experience is far removed from actual work, the pressures of deadlines and the experience of working as an equal member of a team.

Having just started here at Nelson Croom, in my first role since completion of my Masters, I am lucky that I have found a company who were willing to give a young candidate a chance.  Many of my friends are not so lucky and are struggling to find more than placements which cover their travel expenses.  Not only is it discouraging and scary for them but it is a strong contrast to statistics released this week that “84% of employers recruiting new graduates found them to be well prepared.”

With this statistic in mind I can’t help but think that employers should take the chance and offer on the job learning to help develop young professionals.  More and more jobs are demanding some form of CPD and are benefitting from it.  Perhaps if it was accepted across the board as something used to continually cultivate new and existing talent then employers wouldn’t see young people as such a risk.  Rather they would be seen as people who it would be possible to achieve the maximum output from, for a longer period of time.  It is not only young staff who benefit from CPD, but perhaps it can be used to extinguish the uneasiness many seem to associate with employing people to their first position.

by Rachel Bruce

Peter Howson has written a third technical course for us for our Accounting and Finance Portfolio.  Buying a Business follows in the footsteps of Due Diligence in Mergers and Acquisitions, and Selling a Business.

• plan carefully and strategically for their acquisition

• understand what they need to know about the market, the target company, and the deal

• understand the due diligence process, what it’s for and how to conduct it effectively

• create a plan for effective integration of the acquired business

by Rachel Bruce

We have launched a new course this week in both our Accounting and Finance Portfolio, and our Professional Development Portfolio.  Promoting your Professional Practice, written by Drayton Bird enables a learner to:

• Assess their current marketing activities, and decide what other types of promotion will work best for their business

• Think about what aspects of their business differentiates them from their competitors

• Target potential clients, and retain their existing clients

• Build and develop a targeted marketing database

• Maximise their return on investment

I’m pretty excited about this new launch as it is a really practical course written by an extremely knowledgeable marketeer who has great tone of voice, a wealth of experience to draw upon, and a straightforward approach to helping people promote their practice, so I’m sure it will prove successful in both of our portfolios.

by Andrew Turner

After reading Jacqui’s thoughts on verrucas last week I begun to think about the way the general public are ‘taught’ about issues concerning things such as health through legislation.  Being a non smoker I was very interested to see how regulations to place warnings on cigarette packets would affect smokers.  Are warnings with words or images an education as to the health hazards which smoking present?  I was always doubtful, mainly as most smokers I knew were already aware of the dangers and so a warning in a large font or with a horrific picture was unlikely to discourage them.

Now I am at Nelson Croom I see that it isn’t the message that is ineffective but the way it is put across. On the side of a cigarette package surely what we’re trying to do is change people’s attitude to smoking?  And, at Nelson Croom, we’d say that you don’t change attitudes by either giving more information or by just shouting louder at people. People need to engage, experience, and consider if they are to decide to change their behaviour. Yet for some reason those charged with getting these messages across seem to ignore this. 

I saw this also in a recent article on addiction to prescription medicine.  Last month the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) called for warnings to be placed on the front of some over the counter painkillers.  This will be coupled with stronger warnings inside on the instruction leaflets. Is this likely to have an affect?  I am not saying there isn’t a problem to be addressed, rather is this the way to do it?

Personally I tend to just take two tablets of any over the counter medication believing that is the right dose, and depending on the strength of it, avoid alcohol.  This being the case I would not see the strong message inside the box at all and would view the warning on the front, as most smokers do with those on cigarette packs, with an initial shock that I slowly become accustomed too. 

How many people read the instructions for medication or similar products?  We all know Jacqui doesn’t for Bazooka and I believe it is a similar case for all.  For this reason I find it hard to believe that government bodies persist in an approach of educating people on dangers around them in this method.  I have no answers as to a better one but have a feeling one could be found that could be slightly more effective if they merely looked at how teachers, schools and learning providers across the board are shifting their views on the topic.