The headline results from our latest youth employment accessibility research, sponsored by Workvine, are out!

This research is an external assessment of the job section on company websites, which was designed and is delivered by young people.

We identified that the biggest barrier to employment for young people is the job application process with 80% of young people reviewing a companies website before applying regardless of where they first see a job advertised.

Young people have a criteria and expectations online and you will see from the research results that many companies are falling short.

This latest research supports us in our work within the Work.Live.Leicestershire (WiLL) project. We have added a further 150 companies to our original dataset which now totals 400 companies assessed to date. We have also researched new industry sectors including care, retail and hospitality.

Download the highlights report

The headline results tell us that despite the tightening employment market, companies are still not creating entry-level roles or opportunities for young people. There is still a significant number (15%) of companies that have a job section on their website that is not fit for purpose. And finally, there is still a big opportunity for companies to promote themselves as an employer.

What’s next?

The full research report will be out shortly, which will include comparisons between industry sectors. We will be delivering a webinar and training event to reveal the results and to share some insights so businesses can take advantage of the opportunities the results present. See our events page here.

Acknowledgement

A big thank you to our sponsor, Workvine, and the two young peer researchers who completed this assessment, Peter Colley, and Liam Tarry.