Supporting people from less advantaged backgrounds in choosing future careers
Supporting people from less advantaged backgrounds in choosing future careers
Choosing a professional career path can be a long and difficult process for anyone, but for people from a lower socio-economic background (SEB) it can be even more challenging.
Young people from lower SEBs are less likely to have friends and family working in professional careers and able to provide informal information and advice. As a consequence, people from lower SEBs may be less likely to consider such careers. And if they do, then not having the useful network of contacts open to their more privileged peers is likely to make it more difficult for them to access work experience, and more difficult to progress, once in a professional role. All of these factors combine so that graduates from lower SEBs are likely to earn less and be promoted more slowly.
Sector-specific research
Bridge Group research into access and progression in different sectors has shown how the percentages of lower SEB employees, especially at more senior levels, are significantly less.
Click on the image below to read more about each sector-specific research project using the links in the PDF version.
Outreach schemes
Outreach schemes can help young people to make informed decisions about future careers. Such schemes might include work experience, placements and similar, mentoring programmes, talks and workshops, mock interviews, careers courses, free site visits, and paid internships.
The Bridge Group has previously found that outreach and work experience has generally been a valuable source of information for young people. It is worth mentioning, however, that some research we have undertaken has shown that work experience can give an inaccurate impression of graduate-entry jobs, and this is a research theme which we wish to pursue further.
It is also worth noting that outreach programmes should take place alongside a range of other initiatives. For example, employers should also offer a clear roadmap of how to progress to salaried employment, preferably via a range of routes: perhaps via apprenticeships, paid internships and paid longer-term work placements. And if employers have not already adjusted their recruitment processes to make them more transparent and impartial, then they should address this as a matter of urgency. See for example our recommendations for the Civil Service Fast Stream.
Examples of outreach schemes
In the section below, we highlight a small selection of schemes for young people from lower SEBs. We include here some organisations or schemes that the Bridge Group has worked with, or that have been independently recognised.
The Aspiring Professionals Programme is run by the Social Mobility Foundation. The participants are students who face structural barriers to accessing opportunities in education and work because of where they grew up, went to school or the occupation of their parents or guardians. The programme allows them to gain new skills, networks and opportunities to help them access and develop in the top universities and high-status professions.
The programme is free of charge, with some minimum grade requirements, and supports students from Year 12, lower sixth or S5 through to their first graduate job. The programme includes support from a volunteer mentor, skills sessions and career workshops, support with university visits and applications, and internships with employers. It operates across a range of sectors.
Find out more about the Aspiring Professionals Programme.
The Sutton Trust’s Pathways programmes offer work experience, employability skills sessions, and university and apprenticeship application support. The programme operates a number of different pathways, namely: Banking & Finance; Consulting; Engineering; Law; Medicine; and, Veterinary Medicine.
Eligibility depends on fulfilling various criteria, whereby the more criteria a student meets, the more likely they are to secure a place.
Find out more about the Pathways programmes at the Sutton Trust.
Access Accountancy exists to ensure that everyone has an equal chance of accessing, and progressing within, the accountancy profession based on merit, not background. As part of the scheme, a number of employers have signed up and committed to offering work experience placements where students can explore what the day-to-day life of an accountant is like, while also gaining new skills and new experiences, as well as networking and team working opportunities.
The programme is for students in state schools and colleges in year 10, 11, 12 or 13 (the exact year required will depend on the firm). Students must also fulfil one of the criteria categorising them as being from a lower socio-economic background.
Find out more about Access Accountancy.
Read the Bridge Group report, which evaluates the impact of Access Accountancy work experience.
Uptree is a free professional networking platform, aimed at students aged between 16 and 21, designed to help young people get started in the world of work. It focuses its outreach on schools with high numbers of young people from low-income communities, offering apprenticeship opportunities, careers events, online courses that help with CV preparation and job applications, as well as work experience and networking events.
Clifford Chance runs an award-winning, two-year development programme for year 12 or equivalent students called Clifford Chance ACCESS. The programme culminates in the opportunity to secure a place on their ACCESS SPARK programme and ultimately a Training Contract. The programmes include virtual work experience placements, access to dedicated mentors and tutors, the 5-day Access Experience programme (where a young person can experience five different companies), coaching, networking events, and preparation for university. Applicants must meet at least two of the qualifying criteria listed on the website, designed to increase access to the profession.
Find out more about ACCESS and ACCESS SPARK.
Award-winning social mobility charity, UpReach, supports undergraduates from lower SEBs to access and sustain top graduate jobs. Working in close partnership with leading employers and universities, UpReach delivers a programme of 1-to-1 coaching to eligible undergraduates. Its intensive programmes of career support involve 15 different interventions, such as skills workshops, mock interviews, mentoring and career courses. It currently provides support to 3,000 students from across the UK.
UpReach offers university students help to prepare job applications, gain work experience and networking opportunities, and become more employable through its skills workshops. It also offers sixth form or college students a headstart for exploring options via the Aspire programme.
Conclusion
Outreach can provide valuable support for those from lower SEBs through helping expose the students to a different range of people, jobs and career options than they would otherwise have had access to. The schemes use different ways of identifying less advantaged young people, and work by reducing some of the barriers that exist through economic disadvantage. They operate across the whole lifecycle of the student, from as early as year 10 to postgraduates, and can take place online, face-to-face or through a hybrid set-up.
As many of the linked Bridge Group research reports demonstrate, it is important to evaluate and use the data to understand the degree to which young people have gained experience and information from the outreach schemes, that they could not have got from friends, family, school or elsewhere. In particular, which aspects of the scheme have been most useful to the young person in helping make informed choices about their future.
To support further Bridge Group research to find out how accurate work experience is, and how well it prepares young people for the workplace, please click on the button below.