Youthful choices

Despite the emergence of newer industries, the more altruistic sectors of education and healthcare hold the most appeal for more than a quarter of today’s younger generation.

Sampling 1447 adults aged 45-65 and 1025 adults aged 16-25, the latest research from City & Guilds explores the career choices of the UK’s school and college leavers.Entitled The Aspiration Index, 26% of the survey’s respondents who said they had an ideal career in mind chose a future in the healthcare or education industries.

According to the survey, almost two-thirds (62%) of people under the age of 25 have a clear idea of their dream job. Of this group, nearly half (48%) are currently studying to follow their career aspirations, and approximately a quarter (24%) are already working in or towards their job of choice.

Many younger respondents admitted to temporarily shelving their career ambitions or being discouraged by what they see as a saturated market in their chosen area. Nearly one in three (30%) believes work experience is the best way to land their dream job, with another quarter (26%) believing the right skills and qualifications will open the door for them.
The latter would appear to be backed up by the experiences of the older survey respondents (aged 45-65) with an ideal job in mind. Twenty five per cent said they believed having the right qualifications or experiences would have given them the leg up they needed to get into their ideal profession.

Commenting on the research, Managing Director of City & Guilds, Dick Winterton, said: ‘Our research shows that the majority of young people know which career they want to pursue. Top of the list are healthcare and education – which is good news for the UK’s public services.’

Winterton believes that the popularity of these traditional sectors may be surprising, considering the number of new industries that have emerged over the last century. ‘But careers in healthcare and education equip people with transferable skills that are in global demand. This offers young people the chance to use their skills while broadening their horizons through travel,’ he said. ‘What’s more, the Government has been heavily campaigning to get more recruits into healthcare and education services over the last few years.’

The Aspiration Index highlights that over a third (38%) of those surveyed had no clear idea of their future career plans, which raises concerns in an economy struggling with skills shortages and staff retention issues.

link to aspiration pages