Today young people are struggling to find work with employers receiving as many as 120 applications per job compared with 50 to 55 applications in 2008. With nearly a million young jobless, and 18% of 16 to 24 year olds, not in education, employment or training, the need for support for young people entering the job market has never been greater.

 

Over the years, a range of government departments and voluntary and community sector providers are funding initiatives that help to raise aspirations and tackle attitudinal barriers.

 

Prospects is the largest provider of information, advice and guidance to young people to help them with employment and training choices, and also offers opportunities for young people to raise their aspirations and gain an understanding of careers which are often difficult to enter.

 

Prospects in the City provides specialist vocational opportunities for young people. to gain direct insight into the multitude of careers in the City of London and  more recently is offering a similar service in Leeds.  Prospects in the City provides young people with the inside knowledge they need to succeed in an increasingly competitive market.  Motivating, informing and raising aspirations through interactive walks, seminars, briefings and experience of work placements; students gain real experience, so their CVs illustrate their suitability for advertised vacancies.  

 

With a 130 per cent rise in applications over the past two years, Prospects in the City offers bespoke vocationally orientated events which allow young people and educational professionals to obtain insider knowledge and standout in a crowd.   Working with an elite range of employers, including Bloomberg’s, Lloyds, the London Metal Exchange, the Inns of Courts, Ogilvy and other creative and media organisations, Prospects in the City gives young people unique access into the inner workings of City based jobs.  The service also includes events and experience days for traditionally hard to enter professions including law, medicine, accountancy and creative industries.

 

The effects of the downtown are illustrated by the response to a recently advertised position for a ‘Box Office Assistant’ at the National Theatre, which received 350 applicants, of these 120 applicants had the relevant qualifications and experience. Twenty candidates were selected for interview, all were equally strong and deemed suitable for the position. However, the young person offered the post had been on a backstage tour of the National Theatre, as part of a ‘Media Walk’ run by ‘Prospects in the City’ which set them apart from other applicants.