Britain’s youth are being forced to consult with technology for careers advice, with only one in three having access to human career advisers, a new study has found. The findings highlight a growing access gap for students from a lower socio-economic background – one which professional services firm BDO is calling on the government to solve with the return of mandatory career guidance to education.
In a vacuum in which access to public service and health advice have been cut back, UK consumers are increasingly turning to AI for support with decision-making. A poll from IBM suggested convenience and speed were the most important factors in this – meaning that even though the majority of consumers are still not confident in reaching decisions based on AI input alone, 74% said it now played some role in their decision-making, ranging from the generation of personalised suggestions, to making household financial selections on their behalf.
Young people are increasingly exposed to a specific part of this trend: following more than 14 years of cuts and austerity across the public sector, many educational facilities no longer offer easy access to careers advice. As a result, a new study has shown that just one in three have or have had access to a dedicated careers adviser at school or college, making young people reliant on more informal career advice.
The Young Minds survey of 2,000 young people aged 18–25 was carried with the help of accountancy and business advisory firm BDO. And the researchers found that once again, AI tools were being sought for career guidance, alongside online searches and social media platforms. These now make up the most influential factors on the career decisions for 62% of 18-25 year olds – but this may be impacting the way individuals look for work, and even hindering their prospects in the future.
Work experience remains important, with opportunities to build relationships with local employers ranking as the single most important factor in shaping early career decisions. However, 41% of those from intermediate or higher socio-economic backgrounds – with more access to human careers advice – ranked this higher than 29% from more disadvantaged backgrounds, indicating a possible ‘access gap’ in business connections and work experience opportunities.
While more than two fifths of respondents believe access to their chosen career is equal, they say this is only the case if a person has relevant work experience. Given such access appears uneven, work experience becomes a gateway to opportunity for some but a significant barrier for others, allowing more well-connected students to more easily convert connections into paid opportunities.
In addition, those from a lower SEB are less likely to have taken part in structured career preparation such as CV workshops and mock interviews – at 41%. This compares to 49% of their peers from more advantaged backgrounds. In relative terms, young people from a higher SEB are around 20% more likely to access this kind of formal careers support, says BDO.
While last year, the government outlined its vision of a guarantee of two weeks’ worth of work experience between Years 7-11 of school, but this remains guidance only. To ensure equal coverage of this programme, BDO recommends making it a statutory entitlement. This initiative could be supported by the introduction of an online employer-school matching platform, which automatically matches schools with employers based on postcode, sector and capacity for placements.
Louise Sayers, head of people and culture at BDO, commented, “There is appetite from young people to take part in high quality and relevant work experience… We believe education providers should provide essential and mandated dedicated careers guidance for all young people, but they’ll need government funding and support to do that. Improving social mobility should be a priority therefore the focus should be on those from lower socio-economic backgrounds or living in areas of high social deprivation to ensure equal access to a meaningful career.”
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