Employability support for at-risk young job seekers

This research project explores young job seekers’ (15-25 years) pathways to sustainable employment. Partly funded by SYC Ltd, historical data was used to map pathways to employment and conduct in depth interviews to explore the stories and personal accounts of young people’s experiences whilst looking for work and maintaining employment. The research found that assessment of the key characteristics for job retention and the interventions required to encourage job retention and long-term employability requires responses that are tailored towards the individual’s circumstances. Effective outcomes are unlikely to follow a straight line sequence of assessment and predictable interventions but rather a ‘toolkit’ of support strategies with the job-seeker at the centre of the picture.