Employment Opportunities / Issues

Many young people complete their schooling without a clear direction as to their future. Without tertiary qualifications or work experience, a school leaver faces huge disadvantages in the job market and yet many of them would prove to be valuable assets to potential employers given the opportunity.

The old system of businesses recruiting a "junior" straight from school has lost its appeal over the past two decades. Experienced workers were assigned tasks that had traditionally been the junior's responsibility and this was seen as a cost saving measure. Thus over the ensuing years, employers found it harder to recruit young people with elementary work-based training because there was a shortage of them.

Launchpad's stance from the beginning was that junior positions are essential as a foundation for a young person's career and as a way for businesses to train young recruits. We have set out to change business attitudes and encourage an investment in youth and it is working. We believe our young people and our business community stand to gain from each other and experience has shown that this is happening.