Recruiting young people could be key to the business sustainability

At Postify we have been struck by BITC’s and City & Guilds’ #JargonFreeJobs campaign and want to back up the sentiment that excluding young people could be to your company’s detriment.

Employing the right people is essential and young people can often be overlooked as employers seek candidates with the full range of skills and experience to fill their vacancies. Often, the ‘perfect’ candidate isn’t out there and employers will need to consider alternative ways to find or grow their talent.

Many businesses shy away from giving young people their first job, believing they will not have the right skills or attitude. In reality, all that young people are lacking is experience of the workplace and that is something that can be quickly addressed by any responsible business.

Opening your business to young people can be invaluable. They bring enthusiasm and fresh ideas which could open up new and emerging markets. There are benefits for your existing staff too as they can mentor and support young recruits, developing their leadership and management skills – all valuable skills.

The first step to reaching young people will be to ensure your job specs do not exclude young people and that’s where BITC’s and City and Guilds’ ‘Futureproof’ guidance can help:

5 reasons why we need #JargonFreeJobs…

1. It puts young people off applying

“For applicants, it’s a bit of a hindrance. If you’re asked about it in an interview, and you don’t know the term, it just makes you look bad because they say you’re not prepared for the company or you’ve not done your research; it puts applicants off.” Pranav, 21

2. It makes the application process more stressful

"You’re going to be stressed enough if you’re doing a job application. And you don’t want to have to end up looking on the website or looking on the internet “what does this mean?” and then maybe getting that jargon wrong." Alex, 24

3. You’re missing out on talent

"So many kids are coming up and leaving school that have all the skills that you need. Jargon alienates a whole bunch of people that could be really well suited to the role. It might be the most obvious thing in the world but because you haven’t had that experience of course you don’t know the term." Vicky, 24

4. It unfairly advantages some young people over others

“There might be people who do know what it is and don't have to spend that extra 25-30 minutes Googling what things are and they obviously have a step up on you because maybe they can go into an interview process and use them and be like "ooh I know what these words are" but they might not necessarily be better.” Ben, 24

5. It’s a bad way to judge potential

“You’re in a job interview and you want that opportunity to show what you’re capable of doing – your attributes, your characteristics – and being judged just because you don’t know jargon doesn’t mean you’re not correct for the job.” Pranav, 21