Employers wary of young graduates

Nationally, there were 24,640 in the 18 to 24 years age group on Job Seeker support benefits at the end of September. Photo / Thinkstock

Young people on the benefit are on the rise in Hawke's Bay because employers have become wary of hiring graduates, says Hawke's Bay Young Professionals president Dan Browne.

In Hawke's Bay, 1217 young people aged 18 to 24 were on Job Seeker support benefits as of September 30, Ministry of Social Development figures show. This was 121 more than in June, but only a few more than the same time a year ago.

In 2012, Hastings District Council started Youth Futures with the goal of 100 per cent employment of 16 to 24 year olds by connecting them with employers and helping them transition to education and training.

Mr Browne said employers had become wary of hiring young people.

"There is a massive gap between employer expectations and what young people are trained to be. The base skills employers are wanting and are looking for aren't actually being trained into these kids."

"There's a fear around hiring young people because there's a perception that they're lazy, they make a lot of mistakes and could cost the company money."

And some young people were leaving tertiary institutions "expecting to go straight to the top, without realising they need to go up the ranks".

Nationally, there were 24,640 in the 18 to 24 years age group on Job Seeker support benefits at the end of September. This was almost 300 more than in June, but 133 fewer than a year ago.

Dale Williams, former chair of the Mayors Taskforce for Jobs - a nationwide network of mayors dedicated to getting young people into education and jobs - said youth employment was an issue of our time.

"Communities all around the world are realising that, as their older people retire, there's just not the numbers of young people coming through to take those jobs, so the race is on," he said.

"At the moment there's no shortage of young people in communities and there's no shortage of jobs but there is a big gap between employers' expectations for entry level staff and young people's ability to match those expectations.

"It's nobody's fault, it's just a historical gap that needs to be closed."

Mr Williams, a former mayor of Otorohanga, said money was not an issue.

"Youth employment is probably the greatest opportunity that communities have to really create their own point of difference. All it takes is a small group of people who understand education, training and employment to close the gaps."

Governments were not the best bodies to solve the issue, Mr Williams said.

"If you're serious about breaking inter-generational patterns around employment, training and education, it can't be done in one, two or three years.

"Every government does their best but the reality is, they're too remote and too bureaucratic.

"What works in local communities are creative and flexible initiatives that are owned and driven by local people."