But should it really be delivered as young as 7?

The strategy doesn’t really say how it will be delivered to primary school pupils but I bet there will be plenty of info on how to become an astronaut or cowboy!

The report does seriously bring up the fact that we need radical change in the delivery of IAG and that it should be available and actively taught at a younger age. One thing I’m still trying to get my head around in that quote is “the transition from primary to secondary school…” and why this means 7 year-olds. Surely it would be more practical at a slightly older age when pupils are actually transitioning from primary to secondary, say 10/11?

This would fit in with the Government’s 14-19 programmes (i.e. the diploma) and allow young people to start thinking about how their choices may affect their future at a time they are more mature (than a 7 year-old).

What is vital though and is quite rightly flagged up is the need to allow young people to have fair access to their aspirations including HE, apprenticeships or higher level qualifications.

We’ve all been there and so have you if the following looks familiar…

I am a hardworking, enthusiastic, motivated, good communicator who works well in a team…

In fact, in my opinion that’s why looking at someone else’s CV is not the best way forward. By all means take the basics & format from it, but don’t copy…and seriously – don’t use Microsoft Word’s synonyms tool else you might end up saying something you don’t mean. Using the word ‘aroused’ instead of ‘motivated’ will most probably go down like a ton of bricks (depending on the recruiter of course – and the job!).

Imagine how many other people are going to be writing something along the same lines as above. Anyone can write it, but it takes someone to say it.

What to use instead

To overcome this classic CV mistake there is a simple solution. Back each point up with an example. You and the other Joe Bloggs applying for the job might both be ‘good communicators’ but only you have the proof of the pudding. When did you communicate well in a scenario? It could be at work, at home, during a leisure activity; anywhere.

Here’s how to re-write it…

I have used my strong communication skills to overcome pressured situations, for instance in my post as customer sales advisor in a call-centre environment I was frequently called upon to handle heated complaints.

Not only does this sentence elaborate on the fact you’re a good communicator, it also provides an example that will stand to set you apart from every other ‘good communicator’ out there. It also brings your work experience to life in a manner that a recruiter can relate to in their business.

More CV mistakes to follow!

So I arrived at Radio 1 towers, cup of tea in-hand and I’m waiting in reception when I hear two voices I recognise; Chris Moyles & Aled Jones (who by the way didn’t go to university!). I didn’t know what to do; should I speak to them? Should I corner them for quotes for the website? Should I ask them about their views on what we could be doing to reduce NEET rates? Well anyway by the time I thought of what I would do (smile & say hello, by the way) it was too late and they were gone…

Eventually I was escorted up by Newsbeats’s Jim Reed before being plonked down in a seat in a Dragons’-Den-style setup. The concept was that one-by-one 6 listeners would walk into the room in front of us, introduce themselves and their problems before we gave them some advice on what they could be doing (we had copies of their CVs etc.).

What became apparent was that each of the six people we were presented with had huge potential & talent but they just couldn’t express themselves properly through their CV and perhaps in their presentation. Each CV opened (no joke) with the words “I am a hard-working, enthusiastic individual…”. I don’t know what was so popular about those words precisely but they were always used, but the thing that first struck me was that the employer receiving that CV would be screaming out “WHY?!” – that’s if they hadn’t put it aside already. This inspired me to try and release their potential so much so I think I’m going to have to write another post about it!

Back to the story anyway, and once the panel had finished we all agreed to go out for a coffee to chew the fat together. So we all left the Radio 1 building seeing the light of day again (and also Chris Tarrant’s big face on the side of the LIVING TV building opposite) and headed over to the nearest Pret. I turned on my phone again and was presented with a dozen messages from a random 0207 number. I listened to the message (it must’ve been about 3.20pm) and it was from someone at the good old Beeb saying they wanted me ASAP over at Millbank to join a global panel on BBC World News live!

I leapt into the first cab I could flag down, despite having no cash on me & a tube ticket, and headed over to Millbank to be on live at 4.30. It would’ve been so much easier jumping on the tube…the journey took 40 minutes!

£16 (which I didn’t have) lighter and I arrived at Millbank, headed up to the BBC offices and was ushered into a small room with a big camera and about 10 TVs. And then I went global!

The topic we were debating was on whether we are overeducating people on a global scale; they told me the topic of the debate before I went in, but what they didn’t tell me was that from that little room in the centre of London I was addressing millions of people around the world! Queen’s speach eat your heart out!

Here’s the video…

Click here to view the embedded video.

The schools minister Vernon Coaker has hit back saying “today is a day to celebrate. These are the best ever GCSE results with the biggest ever year-on-year improvement.”

So it all adds fuel to the fire in the argument of  whether the education system should provide young people with the skills they need in the world of work or a more rounded academic knowledge.

I think it’s fair to say the formal education system up until age 16 doesn’t provide much in the way of preparing young people for the challenge of the workplace, at least in my experiences anyway. In fact I even studied GCSE Business Studies and the most practical thing we were ever taught was where not to put a cup of coffee in an office (on top of the computer screen by the way)!

So what’s being done and what should be done?

Well of course we’ve seen the introduction of diplomas last year by the Government aimed to address the gap between education & the workplace, although the take up wasn’t as desired (12,000 take up instead of the 50,000 hoped for in Sept. 2008). But then if the Conservatives get into Parliament at the next election they’ve given no guarantee over the future of the qualification.

So what should be done? For start not to let any young people fall victim to qualification that has an uncertain future…

This isn’t a new problem; I’ve experienced before (pre-recession) as have plenty of other school leavers & graduates I know. The difference now is that there are far more people (older & more experienced people) chasing those same jobs that required experience in the first place. The result is a whole load of young people on the “scrapheap” (to quote the TUC).

Last month the Government & various employers launched the Backing Young Britain campaign along with the Future Jobs Fund offering up 150,000 for long-term youth unemployed, and it’d be interesting to see when these campaigns will have real impact on these figures.

One important lesson I believe we can take from the situation is that schools, colleges & universities must be doing more to engage with employers to offer young the people the vital experience needed to get on in the workplace so we don’t have to face the turning away of young talent on the basis they don’t have enough experience.

Is 2 weeks work experience in Year 10 enough? I’ll let you decide…