Research Findings & Discussion

The good news is that employers want to hire young people. They are looking for the vitality, excitement and energy youth bring to the workplace. Youth are equally interested in connecting with employers, finding a career path not just a job. There is an all-around commitment to better integrate priority youth into the workforce. The solution however is not as simple as putting one group in touch with another.

The barriers youth face in finding and successfully keeping a job are numerous. These difficulties can be especially great when typical challenges also include criminal records or a lack of education.  Not surprisingly, many employers and youth struggle to find the right opportunity, or hire the right employee.

Connection to Information & Opportunities

Both employers and youth expressed their frustration with having to visit multiple sites, information sources and resource centers to access information, learn about programs or services, and explore funding opportunities. Youth and employers are looking for a way to reach the right information quickly and easily. The solution is a tool that makes the information accessible, easy to navigate, clears up the confusion and reduces wasted effort and time.

Where are the jobs?” “Where are the youth that want jobs?”

These questions were voiced time and again by youth ready to take on employment or looking to grow professionally, and by employers with positions to fill. For youth,  connecting to jobs is challenging. Because there are many websites and career centers to visit, it can be very confusing and difficult to navigate! Remote rural youth, young adults with literacy issues, and those unwilling or unable to walk into a job centre are just a few of the groups that have difficulty connecting.

Employers face their own set of challenges. Business has difficulty connecting with youth, communicating the benefits and opportunities in their workplaces, and developing and promoting their youth friendly workplaces. Job posting language can be too corporate to attract youth with the focus being on hard skills and education rather than on soft skills and the workplace environment. Posting jobs and reviewing prospective candidates takes time, effort and homework. Placing a job posting with one service provider is limiting; however, posting online can result in too many responses from unsuitable candidates. Small and medium sized businesses in particular face challenges of limited human resource personnel dedicated to talent search and recruitment. Employers find the whole prospect daunting. 

Access Through Service Providers

Right now the best way to reach priority youth is through service providers and job developers. They help youth develop employment and life skills, make sure job seekers are matched with the right career and development opportunities, and provide support along the way. Priority youth know that talking with a case worker at a local agency can put them in touch with jobs and the training they need to be successful. Service providers and job developers are the supporting relationships as well as the bridge between priority youth and employers.

How youth connect with employment and development opportunities can be enhanced with increased outreach and collaboration. What happens afterward is specific to culture, background and community. Community service providers are still the best connection point for engaging youth and providing development opportunities, as well as for connecting with employers in their respective areas.

Service Provider Communication & Collaboration

Early on, it was clear that the current youth development system is a process that works, is dependable, and is the preferred conduit for both priority youth and employers who rely on the relationships they have with employment counsellors and job developers. However, everyone said that the system needs to be more collaborative to coordinate service delivery in Greater Halifax. It needs to be simple and easy to make connections between youth and the best service provider without the complications of misunderstanding program funding or eligibility requirements.

Collaboration between service providers is currently unstructured and based mostly on personal relationships. Information is soiled, and relationships with clients and employers are guarded. Everyone said there is a need for integrated communications between service providers, and between service providers and employers.

The idea of collaborating through a one-stop shop format was enormously supported. This approach would make it easier to share information, coordinate service delivery, collaborate, and increase community awareness of core services and programs available to all stakeholders.  

Hiring for Soft Skills 

Although youth said employers will not hire them without experience, employers were adamant that they hire for quality, dependability and other soft skills rather than focusing only on job specific skills or responsibilities. With the exception of highly technical industries, most employers believe job specific skills, or hard skills, can be taught on the job. Across the board, young people admitted that they lack important soft skills such as punctuality, time management, manners, hygiene, work ethic etc., making the connection to the right service provider and available development programs that much more important.

Growing Awareness & Promoting Youth-friendly Workplaces 

On the part of employers, it seems that businesses can do more to develop and promote their youth friendly workplaces, and better communicate wages and career and development opportunities.

Research shows that employers can build relationships with youth by creating  awareness about jobs and career pathways, and by offering opportunities like mentoring and internships. Educating youth about an industry or local business, including workplace culture and environment, is an important part of the learning curve as they develop their employability skills.

Complimenting young people’s learning are similar efforts on behalf of employers to realize the complexities of priority youth lifestyles and barriers. Also, increased awareness about the various local service provider agencies can be enhanced as it's now limited to those organizations where an employer partnership already exists. Increased awareness opens up access to youth employment expertise, experience, and resources for local businesses.  

Hiring Employable Youth 

Most employers said they want to connect with priority youth after they've completed employability training to develop the soft skills mentioned earlier. Service providers agreed that launching young people too early in their development only leads to failed placements, disillusioned employers and disheartened priority youth. So while youth strongly advocated for an inclusive framework that connects everyone with job opportunities regardless of their training and development histories, service providers and employers asked for access to employable youth and a system to recognize development.

The job connection point must distinguish youth that have participated in training, or shown the initiative to develop employable skills, while not excluding youth who have developed outside of formal programs. Badges or certificates earned through skill assessments, demonstrated ability, or registered program completion, can recognize formal and informal skill development.  

Ongoing Support 

Through stakeholder comments and research, we learned that the critical piece to successfully connecting youth with employers is ongoing care and support after the client/job match is made. All too often, programs or job matching is seen as the end of a cycle or the final achievement in an action plan.

Long-term support from six months to two years was the recommended time frame for continued contact with a service provider or job developer. Engaging in workshops for job retention, counseling and site visits provide support in the face of new challenges, rising situations and new learning or job opportunities. Employers also revealed that ongoing support is critical to their successful retention of priority youth. They'd like to have a contact person, a guide on how to support priority youth in the workplace, and even phone calls or visits to sustain relationships with service providers. Employers also expressed interest in educating their staff on inclusive workplace cultures and diverse staffing structures.