The Pledge campaign is also aimed at addressing corporate gaps in staffing and encourages companies to take on internships. Internships needn’t cost the employer much and can bring immediate benefits to the business, said CIOB, which is asking its members to support the campaign and gain from the benefits by signing up and playing their part in supporting future talent.
Graduates in Britain are facing the worst prospects for decades, said the CIOB, with more than twice as many graduates now chase every available job compared with the early 1980s.
The Pledge is aiming to keep skilled and talented people focused on pursuing a career in construction, even if there aren’t full time jobs for them just now. CIOB’s Head of Policy & External Relations Paula Annels believes that The Pledge will offer the construction sector a structured approach to protecting talent in order to break the cyclical issue of skills shortages that recession’s have been proven to create.
“It’s about safeguarding the future talent and skills of individual businesses and the sector as a whole so that when the upturn arrives, the construction industry is ready to respond and grow,” she said. “It might sound idealistic, but the concept was born out of robust research and data that clearly indicates no other option but practical and unified sector commitment to change.”
The Pledge research has shown that if every firm made 2% of their staff interns, this would be enough to give each currently unemployed graduate at least one placement. Given that the ‘professional and technical’ element of the industry accounts for about 300,000 jobs – excluding senior executives and construction managers – then that 2% will maintain skills slightly above the forecasted level, allowing for some losses along the way.
To sign up, visit the www.thepledge.org.uk .
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