Challenges Faced By Young People Entering Into The Job Market – Literature Review

Research on Challenges and Issues Faced by Young People when Entering the Job Market

Question:

Literature review: Challenges Faced by Young People Entering in to the Job Market. 

Various research indicates that young people’s expectations when entering the workforce and their degree of knowledge are not usually the same for all of them. This research investigates the challenges and issues that young people face when entering in to the job markets. In doing so, this research will analyse these factors while suggesting some of the areas that can be employed by both potential employers and educators in order to prepare young people for the job market.  This is because there is still little knowledge of the labour market opportunities among young people since most of them rely on primary sources of knowledge like friends and family. This research insist of the need for more awareness of skills needed for them to be able to obtain employment.

Professionalism and youth employment has been widely discussed in most parts of the world, however due to the fact that there is a lack of organisation to support young employment is hindering a nationwide debate on the same (Macguire et al., 2013). Since there is the absence of there, there is a great hindrance in the policy which defines young employment and debate continues to be led by youth workers, academicians and practitioners (Didier, 2014). There is little research done for the discussion on the challenges faced by young people seeking work, it is however clear that there seem to be a strong feeling that the pressure is likely to move forward to professionalization of the self-serving and willingness to shift youth focus and have young people guiding them (Nunn et al., 2014). It is thus important that young people need to be articulated on who they are professionally and what they are looking for when seeking employment (Baur et al., 2013). This is because there is a high level of little awareness among the youth when it comes to expectations of employers. AlsoAdrian (2007),  recounts views of employers on the fact that most young people are always not aware of areas that they exhibit weakness before they enter the job market especially in relation to their lack of soft skills.

This kind of research findings will also go together with studies of young people who have in one way or another experienced paid work and who also have appeared highly aware on the skills and abilities employers seek for and who are able to seek and foster such traits (Cameron, 2004). For example, Baur, et al. (2013), concluded that modern young student workers are able to gain learning experiences with regard to their professional life so as to make them ready to take on their future careers. The authors also added that young people intention for schooling would normally look at constructing the capacity that will enable them to be more reflexive and view themselves and professionals that employers might find value in and consider them as equal employees in various professionals (Baur et al., 2013). This paper this discusses some of the issues found among young when seeking employment and provides ways in which such issues can be avoided. 

Need for Awareness of Professional Skills for Young People Seeking Employment

Even though young people may at times report to be aware of the importance of professional skills or they may feel as if they got them, several literature indicates that they still feel as if they are vulnerable, lacking or unprepared to start working (Cascio & Wynn, 2004). It is evident that young people often report finding the early days of their first job as being very intimidating, anxiety provoking and daunting and would often feel that employers hold a very impracticalprospects of their skills and abilities with regard to their lack of experience. According to Lim, et al., (2016), some young people report difficulties especially when it comes to adjusting their professional life especially with regard to long hours and levels of responsibility that is involved in their job.

Different literature advocate that educators should be able to provide a lot of guidance for young people who are looking for a professional carriers so that they are able to understand and deal with the anxiety which they may experience when they enter work (Macguire et al., 2013). This should also be translated to employers who need to make an effort to socialize young people when they enter workstations for the first time. 

The engagement of young people with workplaces before they can transition to educationafter employment can take another type of part-time work which is combined with study, employer involvement and work experience which should be part of their education system (H.Zhao & Seibert, 2006).  According to Arruñada (2004), engagement of young people in the workplaces before they transition to the post study employment will provide them with a range of benefits. Graffin, et al. (2011), also demonstrates that the soft skills which are called upon to relate to employers will be best developed when someone is on the job. It is also a common practice for employers to seek employees who have some form of work experiences in the chosen field (Gandolf, 2008). When a young person is able to have some form of placement of work before will make them to be able to develop proper skills for employment  and confidence which will also identify with the advantages associated with employment; they will in turn be in a position to avoid culture shock which often come during the time they begin work.

Lim, et al. (2016), affirms that prior engagement is important for them since it improves their post study job prospects which is found though post study job prospects, the designing of their curriculum vitae and also assist them to refine their career decisions and pathways. Other studies in Australia also found that structured engagement which is done through school based placements are of more value to the young people since through this they are able to enhance employability that the part time work which usually provides them with short term experience (Deng et al., 2003). When this is compared with studies in the united kingdom of young people it reveals that the majority of young people who felt that experience at work is one of the most valuable means through which they can build employability before they begin work. In another report by Evans, et al. (2015), one looks at the range of mechanisms that school students among other unemployed young people can undertake work experience.Adrian (2007), in his research on corporate truths also identified views from young people on the deficiencies of such programs (Cooper et al., 2006).

Importance of Work Experience for Young People

This is important as it lease to the employer and advocacy bodies in the country to develop guides which set out how work knowledge should be recast to be more meaningful for the people involved. Cascio & Wynn (2004) also adds that such bodies have also began promoting great links between companies and scholastic institutions by also suggesting ways in which employers can be able to engage with young people in Australia and a more local level. Cooper, et al. (2006), also profiles some of the employment programs and initiatives that are run by labour markets intermediaries who are found to improve the work readiness of young people.

In his paper on job interviews, Baur, et al. (2013) wrote that the young work market today is at the crossroads. One needs to ask themselves which factors make employment for the young very unique and effective as ones that will be sacrificed if professionalised. It is also important to note that historically youth workers have always faced professionalism with a lot of suspicion for various reasons. Some of them come in to work with no formal qualifications and are afraid that professionalism is going to reduce their opportunities to do their job of which they are drawn in to (Chen & Lau, 2000) (Chun et al., 2003).

Because there is a lot of unavoidable desire with regards to values and practice, there is always a great misunderstanding on the fact that the young people who have gone through professional training may not allow for the unconventional working styles with other people. The main reason this happens is because young employees have a tendency of resisting organisation as they value autonomy and innovation. Graffin, et al. (2011) also added that the main issue for young people looking for work for the first time is on the idea that they take pleasure in their role as campaigners of other youth when it comes to institutionalism which is often taken with a lot of suspicion. It is however important to note as adrian (2007) said, even though are always campaigning for the interest of other young people,, they may also be sseen as using the same position to improve on the own status which can be at the expense of the customer.

It is also important to understand that people who push for employment among youth need to be formalised and standardised, professionalised and must contine to report incidents and other wyas which cannot reflect in the best practice which at times can be seen as being very unethical with regard to their practices. In addition, young employees are also seen as being marginalised while discussing other areas of work since they do not have enough experience. 

In another research Bryant & Kazan (2012), examined strategies which engaginginstitutes can use to provide support for novice workers and how this is put together. Among the areas that the study targeted included conducting a robust inductions process, supervisory support and managerial support, mentoring and buddying schemes and other strategies for socialisation of young workers in the workplace culture. Also research indicates that there is a disjointedness between the needs of young people who enter work and the procedures of orientation by providers. The process of induction was also found to be generic in nature meaning that it is not custom-made to address various problems of young people which are described when the person begins work (Macguire et al., 2013). Due to this, it caused in young workers sensinguncorroborated in the workstation. However, an ongoing support from the workplace friends, counsellors and intimate member was also found to be useful to fresh people starting work. Another research by Arruñada (2004), also indicates that experiences and skills of employers and supervisors who deal with young workers also makes a significant change to the achievement of the youth to move in to post study work. In addition, simple socialisation strategies will also help in building the confidence of a novice worker and make them feel more at ease in the workplace. In general, the nature of the day to day communications among young people and their colleagues and administrators in the context of work place is the most vital factors in helping reduce the transition of the young person to work. 

Benefits of Prior Engagement with Workplaces for Young People

With respect to most professional associations a young person may have challenges understanding various code of ethics that are there to provide direction to members of the same profession. With regard to other professions, when an employee breaches the code of ethics  the they are bound to face some form of penalty which can include the invoking of one’s license to practice. the inclusion and development of employee code of ethics has attracted a lot of attention when it comes to new employees who are not able to understand the code of ethics and those who do may not be in a position to understand how to maintain it. Anika (2009), says that the advantages of having an organisation code of ethics is that it helps in articulating the core values, professional boundaries and acceptable practice. It also provides the employees with strategies in circumstances of conflict, helps identify and prevent forms of unethical practices, sets out the caring duty which is useful in preventing the abuse of power over a young person at work and helps them to secure and restore some form of confidence from their employers.

This is because the internal regulatory process is usually seen being in place to educate young workers on the issue of good practice by providing a basis for denouncing and determining different forms of unethical conduct. However Chun, et al. (2003), adds that some form of codes of ethical may not be desired since they will impose moral requirements which young employees may not be able to meet. Some of these standards automatically may remove new employees entitlements to exercise their personal professional judgement even though new to the job; this is at times difficult to construct in a way that will reflect the values of the pluralist and diverseculture that may not prevent unprincipledbehaviour by new employees.

Cameron, (2004), defines accreditation as being the proof that and training institution or educational seminar has met a particular standard of quality. It is an official authorisation that requires aexpertreminder to judge whether or not a program that a student has undergone prepared him or her for the profession. Various discussion in favour of accreditation argue that it helps in producing graduates who have professional competence to practice, it also gives the new employee with higher status to work programmes which in the end makes them less vulnerable and place them to right jobs. Accreditation as improves the quality of teaching for professionals since it provides a particular form of standardisation of educational curriculum which is used by academicians; it ensures that what is taught is very relevant to the field.

However,Baliga (2009), argues that accreditation  can also be unfair to young people starting work when it tends to regulate the area by a specific group whom their interests is in their current members alone. Accreditation may also not be able to guarantee improvement in the professional sector and is often viewed as being a political process which provides advantages for well-thought of institutions to be able to take care of therelated costs. It is also not an objective process nor is it reasonable across various organisations leading to the weakening of poorpackages that result in to a lot of rigidness. Due to these most young people may not be able to react to variations and the needs of the place of work as changes in accreditation results to changes in curriculum over time which may not favour those who went through the older curriculum.

Structured Engagement vs. Short Term Experience for Young People

This is the other main issues for young people starting work. Most of them may not have a license to practise which proves that they are authorised by anexpertorganisation meaning that a set of necessities have been encountered by the licence owner. The requirements will consider issues such as proof for professional qualification, years of experience, police checks and other forms of external examination.

This paper aimed to understand challenges that are faced by young people starting work and to study different dimensions with regard to employee engagement with the help of scholarly journals. The essay thus was based upon review of related literature and secondary data which was collected from various journals articles (Cohen et al., 2007). The literature review has been useful in showing prior research work done in the same area and other related areas. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, there is still a lot of challenges faced by youth who are looking forward to be employed in a company. There is a lot of research gap on factors that need to be considered and those that need to be done away with. A lot of literature is also missing with regard to strategic issues that employers look for while employing young people straight from the university. There is still a lot to be discussed on employer factors apart like experience requirements, coded of ethics and licence of practice. Some of the questions to be asked would be:

1. What are some of the issues employers look for while recruiting young people for work?
2. What do the young people need to do to prepare themselves for the modern job market?
3. Is the years’ experience necessary while considering a young person for employment or should this not have to be a factor?  

References

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