Education employment linkages: perspectives from employer-led channels

Abstract

This report presents results from a series of key informant interviews carried out in 2009 about employer-led channels for helping young New Zealanders make effective educationemployment linkages during their transition years. Employers have become more connected to education institutions, motivated in part by serious skills shortages that emerged over the last decade. Career Services is recognised as a superb source of reliable career information, advice and guidance, whose services could be more widely used. The interviews revealed a concern that large numbers of young New Zealanders undervalue the positive benefits that can be achieved with good quality career guidance. There was wide support for further development of careers education in secondary and in tertiary education institutions. Another theme concerned finding ways to better manage relationships between educators and employers, including the greater use of specialist brokers. Finally, participants emphasised again and again the importance of supporting effective systems for helping young people to imagine different possibilities for their career development, and for helping them to develop skills for exploring and assessing a full range of opportunities as they construct their own career pathways.