Case studies

Headteacher slams Millennials' 'one-in-a-million job' expectations

The Head of an elite private school has lambasted the 'overly mollycoddled' generation of youngers for their lack of grit and sense of entitlement.

Douglas Robb, the Headmaster of Gresham's, a Victorian red-brick in rural Norfolk that charges fees of up to £34,000, wrote in a blog post on the schools' website that the younger "generation has come of age where many more individuals perceive themselves to be 'one in a million'."

Clearly peeved by a run-in with a candidate, Robb wrote that during a job interview, the jobseeker left him feeling deflated after they enquired, 'why should I come and work for you?'

He described the way that "some youngsters" approach job interviews as they might approach buying a luxury holiday is concerning.

"Some expect to be given a 'one-in-a-million' job, despite being one of millions of applicants, many of whom are not yet fit for the work place!" he wrote. "Perhaps I overreacted and the candidate was more a victim of recruitment-agency pep-talks than anything else, but my lasting impression was of an 'entitled' candidate who was looking for some further guarantee or incentive before committing to getting stuck in to furthering their career."
He said that as well as a clutch of impressive grades or a degree from university, young people need to show they can add value to an employer's organisation through hard work, commitment, passion and determination.
Robb continued that "something has been lost," such as the sense of pride associated with doing 'an honest day's work', whatever the role.

His final word was that schools, parents and Government need to encourage young people that all work experience, is valuable, and ended his rant by stating that young people should be 'grateful' for the opportunities they are given.

Robb's comments coincide with the publication of new research from a thinktank, which calls for changes in the labour market to help young people.

The Resolution Foundation, in its latest research for its Intergenerational Commission, found that Millennial workers are more likely to find themselves in insecure, low-paying jobs and are earning less than previous cohorts did at the same age.

Insecure work, stagnant wages and a lack of moving between jobs were cited as issues hampering younger peoples' careers. More than half of people on zero-hours contracts are aged 16-34 and a quarter of people in their early twenties did not receive a pay rise for five years in a row after the financial crisis.

It also addressed a shift in mindset that is halting productivity. Whereas previous generations found that, 'a job, any job' was the mantra, "for too many younger workers today finding work is not a problem, finding security and advancement is," the report read.

The goal of the paper is to set out a 'Better Jobs Deal' to support younger workers and reinvigorate generational progress.

Stephen Clarke, senior economic analyst at the Resolution Foundation, said that if the approach to the labour market did not change, "we risk leaving a generation of young people struggling to get by and progress."

Permanent Placements up 10% as Employers Shun Short-Term Hiring

According to a new survey from the Association of Professional Staffing Companies, Professional recruitment firms are reporting that the number of candidates securing permanents roles in Jan 18 increased by ten percent

APSCo's data, which focuses on professional recruitment, reveals that vacancies for permanent staff also remained strong, increasing by 0.3% over the same period. This stability is reflected in the most recent figures from the Office for National Statistics which reported in February that UK employment levels now sit at 75.3%, a figure that was higher than a year earlier and the joint highest since comparable records began in 1971.

While overall demand for talent remains resilient, vacancies for finance professionals to work on a permanent basis were particularly strong, jumping by 16% year-on-year.

Contractors out on assignment down

Demand for contractors decreased across many of the trade association's core sector groups. Vacancies within engineering, for example, slipped by just 5%, while demand within IT and marketing fell more significantly (by 8% and 21% respectively). Finance was the only sector where vacancies for non-permanent roles increased, with demand for contractors up by 2%.

The overall number of contractors out on assignment, meanwhile, dipped by 16% during the same period. This can largely be attributed to a significant 38% year-on-year fall in IT professionals working on a contract basis during this time.

Average salaries stable

APSCo's figures also reveal that median salaries across all professional sectors dipped by 1.2% year-on-year. This figure is characterised by notable fluctuations in terms of sector, with financial services and engineering, for example, recording uplifts of 1.8% and 2.4% respectively.

Graduates who left university this summer with degrees in Engineering may well qualify for the largest pay packets when starting work, according to new research by job search engineAdzuna.

The study, conducted in September 2017, analysed CVs belonging to recent graduates using Adzuna's ValueMyCV algorithm, to reveal which degrees are the most valuable immediately after leaving university.

Students bearing Computer Engineering degrees are destined to in the money and can expect to earn as much as £33,555 when starting out, making this subject the most lucrative degree in the UK. This is followed by Electrical Engineering (£32,781), Finance (£32,159) and Chemical Engineering (£31,880) qualifications, which are also top earners for new graduates.

Forming a clear trend, engineering-related courses dominate the top 10 list of highest paying degrees, with Software Engineering (£30,839), General Engineering (£30,557), Civil Engineering (£30,047) and Mechanical Engineering (£29,958) all also featuring on the list.

Computer Science (£31,698) and Information Technology (£31,162) degrees round off the top-10 UK's most valuable degrees.

 Table 1: Top 10 Most Valuable Degrees in UK

Average annual earning potential after graduation
Computer Engineering £33,555
Electrical Engineering £32,781
Finance £32,159
Chemical Engineering £31,880
Computer Science £31,698
Information Technology £31,162
Software Engineering £30,839
General Engineering £30,557
Civil Engineering £30,047
Mechanical Engineering £29,958