Opening Doors: How Employers are Creating Pathways into Skilled Careers for Young People

It’s Youth Employment Week, and in a special feature for FE News, Alison Morris, Director of Policy at Skills Federation brings together members Adrian Wookey, Head of New Entrants, Training Pathways and Further Education Strategy at the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) and Justine Fosh, CEO of Cogent Skills, to discuss how employers are opening up opportunities for young people and helping them build successful careers in science and engineering.

Alison: Youth Employment Week is an opportunity to celebrate young people’s contribution to the workforce, while also recognising the challenges many face in accessing opportunities. What are you seeing in your sector, and what do you think are the biggest opportunities for young people entering employment today?

Adrian: One of the biggest challenges in engineering construction is that many young people simply do not know enough about it. 

Young people may see major renewable, energy and infrastructure projects happening around them, but they don’t always see the wide range of careers behind them or the opportunities the sector offers.

The opportunities really are significant. ECITB’s Labour Forecasting Tool (LFT) predicts that 40,000 extra workers could be needed across the engineering construction industry (ECI) by 2030. There’s also the impact of the upcoming wave of possible retirements, with the share of workers over 60 increasing to 14.7%, up from 11.6%. This means there is growing demand for new entrants in roles such as electrical and mechanical engineering, welding, fabrication, project controls, and engineering maintenance, all well-paid skilled careers, with clear progression, transferable qualifications and the chance to work on projects that matter globally.  

The challenge is helping young people see these careers exist. That’s why we’ve launched our Look closer: Engineering construction campaign, to challenge outdated perceptions and raise awareness of industry careers.

As the industry works to deliver the UK’s future energy, industrial and infrastructure ambitions, it offers new generations of technicians and engineers the chance to build rewarding, long-term careers while playing a key role in shaping the nation’s future.

Justine: That’s interesting you talk about the challenge of awareness for young people – we are seeing the same thing in science industries. Our Not Just Lab Coats careers platform has already reached around 80,000 people, and the response tells you everything: young people are interested, they just didn’t know these careers existed. 

Apprenticeships can open doors that traditional academic routes don’t always reach, in our apprenticeship training business 55% of our apprentices are aged 16–24, and our achievement rates are running 20% above the national average. 

The science industries are genuinely exciting places to be right now from medicines and chemicals to low carbon fuels. These are the industries that keep the country running. What I’m seeing is real employer appetite to bring young people in. The opportunity now is to help more young people discover these careers and give them the confidence and support to take that first step. 

Alison: We’ve heard a lot about barriers facing many sectors in recruiting young people into industry. Can you give an example of how your industry is supporting young people at different stages of the career pathway?

Adrian: Engineering construction sectors have long recognised the importance of supporting individuals at every stage of their career journey and in turn that has been an ongoing commitment of the ECITB as its training board. 

Working with employers, training providers and colleges, we run initiatives like our Scholarship programme aimed at school leavers. This is essentially a pre-apprenticeship scheme, that gives learners industrial skills and work experience as well as an industry-recognised qualification.

Once they’re in work, there’s a focus on ongoing training, mentoring and professional development, enabling them to progress into skilled technical, supervisory and leadership roles.  That combination of practical experience and continued support gives young people the confidence and skills to progress into technical, supervisory and leadership roles.

Justine: A great example in our sector is the Science Industry Apprenticeship Consortium in the North East, a group of employers who realised they were too small to go it alone, so Cogent brought them together. 

Over ten years, 23 companies have collaborated to train 380 apprentices across 34 different standards. What’s good about this model is the outcomes: apprentices are better prepared, on-site faster, and employers say they make an immediate impact. 

Beyond that, our employment services team attends jobs fairs and runs mock interviews in schools. This is all practical stuff that helps young people who’ve never sat in a formal interview before. This kind of initiative is exactly what makes the difference at the start of a young person’s career. 

Alison: Given the growing conversation around neurodiversity, health challenges and youth employment, do you have an example of how employers are creating more inclusive pathways into work for young people?

Adrian: There’s growing recognition that employers need to look beyond traditional recruitment approaches and design pathways that are accessible to a wider range of individuals, including those who are neurodivergent or managing health challenges. 

For instance, many engineering roles are structured, process-driven and centred on problem-solving, qualities that can align well with the strengths of many neurodivergent individuals. 

Our Work Ready Programme is a great example. It combines practical training, workplace experience and employer engagement and is helping young people build confidence and develop skills in a supportive environment. It is also supporting people who might otherwise struggle to get a job, including the long-term unemployed and ex-offenders. It’s a practical route into meaningful work in engineering construction. But more than that – it is changing lives.

Justine: 

Through our employment services, we know that 10% of our students have a medical disclosure. That reinforces how important it is to understand what each young person needs to succeed, whether they’re neurodivergent, managing a health condition or facing other barriers. 

Our employment services programmes are designed around that. By employing apprentices directly and placing them with host employers, we provide a more supported pathway into the workplace. This is reinforced by our national team of advisers, who work closely with both the young person and the employer, visiting learners on site and offering practical guidance, reassurance and ongoing support.

It shows that when you build the right support around young people, they can not only achieve their qualifications, but also build confidence, develop a genuine understanding of their industry and see a long-term future within it.

Alison: What is the particular role that sector skills bodies can play in supporting young people into employment and through their career pathway?

Adrian: Our role is to bridge the gap between education and employment. We bring together employers, training providers, colleges and policymakers so that training reflects what employers actually need. 

Just as important is our role in helping young people, parents and carers and careers advisors understand where opportunities exist. Many fantastic career opportunities remain hidden so it’s vital we open up easy-to-access, clearly visible pathways whilst also helping employers create more inclusive and supportive workplaces.

Justine: For us, two things standout. First, giving employers of all sizes a genuine voice in shaping the skills system so that the conditions are right for young people to enter and progress. A small chemical manufacturer in the North East has as much insight into what good looks like as a multinational, but without a body like ours convening that collective view, that voice gets lost in policy discussions. 

Second – and I agree with you on this one – it’s about promotion and perception. Some of the most rewarding careers available to young people today are in industries they’ve barely heard of. We exist to change that, through our ambassador network and through championing vocational routes as genuinely valuable, not as a consolation prize for those who didn’t go to university.

Alison: If you could change one thing about the current system to make it easier for employers to attract, develop and retain young talent, what would it be?

Adrian: I’d like to see a system that’s more aligned to employer demand. We also need to do more to engage the people who influence young people’s choices, particularly parents, carers and careers advisers. 

If they understand the career routes, earning potential and long-term prospects, they are far more likely to encourage young people to consider a career in engineering construction.

Alongside that we also need to make equity, diversity and inclusion a more embedded and measurable part of workforce development rather than treating it as a standalone initiative. 

Engineering construction can’t afford to recruit from the same traditional talent pools. Opening the door to a broader range of young people isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s essential if we’re going to meet future skills needs.

Justine: For me it comes down to simplicity. The system is too complicated for employers and for young people. Funding rules shift, standards get revised, levy balances lapse. Smaller employers in our sectors are often put off before they’ve even started. 

If I could change one thing, it would be a single, stable front door for employer engagement with the skills system, not another initiative layered on top, just less friction. The employers who commit to young talent get so much back. We need to make it far easier to take that first step.

Alison: There is often a great deal of concern about the future of youth employment, from economic uncertainty to the impact of AI and changing skills needs. What gives you the greatest cause for optimism about the next generation entering the workforce?

Adrian: This generation is entering employment at a time of significant change. But it’s not new to them. AI is their norm. They have grown up with technology, so this could be their superpower as opposed to a threat. 

Skills needs evolve. They always have. And this generation maybe has greater capacity to embrace change than those that came before. They’ve shown that they are eager to learn and can adapt to new technologies.

The UK’s goal to become a clean energy superpower presents huge opportunities within engineering construction which will require a highly skilled workforce. What gives me optimism is that there are now more routes into skilled careers than ever before, and employers increasingly value potential, adaptability and different perspectives. Those qualities will be just as important as technical skills in the years ahead.

Justine: Honestly? The young people themselves. Every time I meet apprentices I’m struck by how purposeful they are. They want to do work that means something. And the science and process industries genuinely offer the defining challenges of the next few decades. Our ambassador network has now engaged over 74,000 young people in the last two years. 

When you show young people what’s actually possible in these industries, their response is remarkable. That gives me a lot of confidence about what comes next.

By Alison Morris, Director of Policy at Skills Federation; Adrian Wookey, Head of New Entrants, Training Pathways and Further Education Strategy at the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) and Justine Fosh, CEO of Cogent Skills