Our annual survey out today. Grad vacancies down 8%, non-grad (mostly apprenticeships) up 8%. But grad hires are more in volume so overall early career market down 5%. ise.org.uk/knowledge/in...

EE Broadband. How can a company be so mindbendingly incompetent and wasteful and still say solvent?

The younger Ish has got the A-level grades she wanted and all is dandy. But having seen the process play out at first hand, and at what all her friends are doing, I can't help but think how unfit for purpose it is.

Just read this piece by @recneil.bsky.social, made me think of France where employment regs make it really hard for young people to get permanent contracts. campaign-for-learning.org.uk/Web/CFL/What...

Last week on Wonkhe: Graduate and apprentice employers are growing less interested in a person’s age, education and technical experience. Stephen Isherwood explains the upshot for higher education

Best book I've read on politics in a very long time - Failed State by @samfr.bsky.social. Should be on the national curriculum.

Fascinating. There is also this tool from the IFS where you plug in your household income and it tells you where you sit relative to the rest of the UK. I think most people have very little understanding of what a middle income is: ifs.org.uk/tools_and_re...

A slide I left out my deck last week - it shows the current population split by age and projections to 2035. There are over 600,000 more 55-59yr-olds in the UK than 15-19yr-olds. One to think about when formulating talent plans! Link to our full report: ise.org.uk/page/futureo...

Today we launched our report on how student recruitment & development teams can embrace skills-based employer thinking. Reducing birth rates, an aging workforce and technological change are the drivers. ise.org.uk/page/futureo...

A lot of chat on our forums about students using AI live in online interviews. The trouble is they are then getting rejected as they don't come across as authentic, and might otherwise have got through.

@in-otter-news.bsky.social is so much my favourite find on here.

"41% of workers are mismatched in terms of field of study, because their highest qualification is not in the field that is most relevant to their job". But over 80% of UK employers don't recruit by subject. You don't need a law degree to be a lawyer here. www.oecd.org/en/publicati...

Difficult to sum up this excellent piece by @herdyshepherd.bsky.social , but this quote in particular stands out: our dipshit policy is to “Leave it to Tesco”, unherd.com/2024/11/a-fa.... Reminded me of some of the themes in Wendell Berry's 2019 'Going Home' interview in the NYT.

Appreciate this may not be a universally popular opinion but the less you treat BlueSky as a crusade or cause, and the more you position it as simply a superior user experience with a better governance approach, the more sustainable the growth will be.

Every word of this. www.hepi.ac.uk/2024/10/14/p... Sarra Jenkins' excellent reflections on the recent developments in the #UCAS #PersonalStatements

Two sentences in the FT today caught my eye: “Immigration drives fastest population growth for half a century”, and, “Deaths outnumbered births for the first time in 50 years, other than during the pandemic”. There are now fewer 15-19yr olds than 55-59yr olds in the UK. (www.populationpyramid.net)

Our recent pulse survey on international student job applications: 33% of employers said they will now state where candidates can’t apply for some locations/positions if they need a visa, even with the graduate visa. Small sample, only 15, but as more are public on their policy others will follow.

New post just out: Notes on a dismal leadership contest... "Can anyone save the Conservative Party?" (£/free trial) open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/c...

"Of the respondents who had been successful, many said their best advice for students was to contact their university’s careers service, to gain as much practical experience as possible before, during and after their degree, and to pick up additional skills." www.theguardian.com/money/articl...

Blustery but sunny couple of days in Pembrokeshire

IMO apprentice funding should shift towards young people. This from today's FT report on skills: "While university places are almost unlimited... apprenticeships and traineeships are in effect capped because of inadequate funding." www.ft.com/content/8422...

Finally cleared my new allotment, very happy 😄. And my back survived the ordeal.

Breakdown of what actually happened to uni applications on A-level results day. "More England-domiciled 18 year olds have been placed at university on results day than in any year other than 2021", wrote David Kernohan on Wonkhe: wonkhe.com/blogs/a-leve...