CIPD welcomes Government announcement on mentoring support for young people

19 Jan 2016 12:07 PM

Peter Cheese, Chief Executive of the CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development, responded to the announcement made by the Prime Minister last week on a campaign to provide mentoring support to thousands of teenagers, which will be spearheaded by the Careers and Enterprise Company, 

“Helping young people to navigate the increasingly complex world of work, and to find jobs and fulfilling careers, is a critical part of securing the long-term competitiveness of the UK economy. By engaging with businesses to help address these challenges, the Careers and Enterprise Company is putting in place a crucial mechanism that will help ensure that future generations avoid facing periods of unemployment that can be so damaging early on in a young person’s working life.

“Far too often we hear about young people who struggle to fulfil their potential and aren’t prepared with the right skills or awareness of the complexities of working life. We know that one way to overcome these barriers, and help bridge the gap between education and employment, is to provide them with strong role models from the world of work. Over the past three years CIPD volunteers have been providing HR mentoring support to young jobseekers via our Steps Ahead Mentoring programme, helping hundreds of young people fulfil their potential and find work.”

The CIPD has also been supporting the Enterprise Adviser network, launched by the Careers and Enterprise Company in October 2015. The programme aims to build a network of volunteer Enterprise Advisers to work directly with schools and college leaders to help them build an effective careers education strategy. As part of this, the CIPD is working with Team London, the delivery partner for the programme in London, to recruit HR professionals who will volunteer to help advise schools and colleges.

The CIPD represents a large community of learning and development professionals and has developed a number of resources and training courses on how organisations can develop and implement successful mentoring and coaching relationships.