I.T. sector is booming

The number of IT companies in the UK rose by 15,000 last year to 321,000 in 2014, as the boom in ‘app’ and ‘FinTech’ companies’ drives business creation. The contribution of the ‘app economy’ to the UK is estimated at £4bn and is expected to rise to £31 billion by 2025. The ‘app economy’ is centred around London’s ‘Silicon Roundabout’, who host many household names and influential start-ups, including King Digital, creators of Candy Crush, which recently announced quarterly revenues of $496 million.

More Apprenticeships available

There has been a 28% year on year increase in the numbers of new Apprenticeship opportunities posted online on the Apprenticeship vacancies website Apprenticeships.gov. There was a strong rise in the number of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths) Apprenticeships, with vacancies for Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies and Information and Communication Technology rising by 23%. The greatest number of vacancies were for Business, Administration and Law Apprenticeships (18,940), whilst Health, Public Services and Care Apprenticeships saw the biggest rise, with an increase of 50%.  [ source: GTAssociates ]

Technology blamed for applicants' poor interview skills

Antony Jenkins, chief executive of Barclays, has said that many youngsters turn up for interviews lacking basic social skills, and that, “There is the danger that we will have a lost generation of youngsters if we do not help them develop the skills they will need for the new world of work. These include analytical and financial abilities, but also, and this is crucial, they include people skills. It seems basic stuff: how to shake someone’s hand, look them in the eye and hold your shoulders back.” He called on parents, teachers and bosses to help youngsters gain the social confidence they need to compete in the global jobs market, saying, “In the workplaces of the future collaboration will be very important. The question of how to teach this generation to be successful is very important.”

He said that the amount of time teenagers spent looking at laptop and smartphone screens was partly to blame for their lack of social confidence, saying, “A lot of interaction for them now is on social media. It’s a very effective form of communication but it’s a two-dimensional form of communication.” He said that he had learnt how to engage with people when he was still a schoolboy by working on Saturdays. “I used to work in a corner shop and a petrol station when I was the age these kids are now. I learnt about serving customers and taking money and the importance of showing up on time.” However, he said that such jobs were much more difficult to find today. According to the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, the percentage of teens combining part-time jobs with school/college has dropped from 40% in the 1990s to 20% in 2012.

Find Apprenticeships locally

There are plenty of websites offering a fast route to finding an Apprenticeship and here's one more to add to the growing list: CareerMap is quick and simple to use. You enter your postcode and it generates a map showing the locations of the nearest Apprenticeship opportunities, colour-coded by type. By clicking on each icon, you can get more details of the Apprenticeship with a quick link to making an application. You'll need an up to date CV which you can attach electronically.

Go Dutch!

There are 300 degree courses taught in English in the Netherlands. They are taught at Research Universities (RU) or Universities of Applied Science (UAS). RU cover more traditional academic areas and take three years, while UAS cover more vocational areas and usually take four years, including an internship. There are also university colleges, which are small campus institutions linked to an RU who and only offer Liberal Arts and Sciences. Most Dutch universities do not offer accommodation, except for university colleges. The tuition cost is around £1500 and EU students can apply for a government loan. Useful websites include: studyinholland.nl; studyfinder.nl; duo.nl and grantfinder.nl.

Graduate vs. Apprenticeship earnings

A study by the ‘Million Jobs Campaign’ has looked into the earnings of graduates and compared them to Apprentices. It found that 39% of graduates have lifetime earnings below that of the average Higher Level Apprentice, rising to 46% for graduates from post 1992 universities. For some degrees, such as Media Studies, the figure was over 70%. However, a poll of 500 school leavers commissioned for the study found that only 6% said they were planning to do an Apprenticeship and more than half said they had no interest in Apprenticeships. The study was commissioned by Pera Training, a large provider of manufacturing Apprenticeships.  [ source: GTAssociates ]

Graduate jobs on the increase

The number of graduate vacancies is predicted to rise by 11.9% this year, according to a survey of 200 employers by the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR). They also found that many companies plan to offer more school leaver jobs, up from 54.7% in 2013 to 72.7%. Charlie Ball, head of HE intelligence at Prospects, said, “This year’s graduates can be confident that there are more opportunities available and that they can expect better job prospects than the previous cohort as the economy strengthens. However, they should remember that they will, as always, need to put the effort into finding these positions, make considered applications and seek careers advice from their university”.

Stephen Isherwood, Chief Executive of the AGR, said that “tensions persist” in the graduate jobs market, as 1,400 additional jobs could have been offered last year, if employers had found enough candidates with “the right mix of skills”. The AGR survey found that 44.8% of employers reported unfilled vacancies in 2013/2014, with the largest proportion occurring in the IT and telecoms sector, where 11.8% of graduate vacancies remained unfilled. Some employers cited lack of technical and professional skills as the key reasons for the unfilled positions, others point to a rising number of graduates backing out of offers. Mr Isherwood said: "Difficulties in attracting the right talent with the right mix of skills in the right location are on the increase, not since 2008 has the problem been so pronounced."  [ source GTAssociates ]