Teen unemployment hits new high Where are all the careers advisers

Teen unemployment hits new high Where are all the careers advisers Teenage unemployment hits new high Where are all the careers advisers?Posted March 26, 2015, by Marni Williams One in five unemployed Australians is a teenager. So who is responsible for guiding them into work? Australias youth jobless rate reached its highest peak since 1998 last month, with 14.2 per cent of 15-24 year olds looking for work. While we may not have reached the figures being experienced in Greece or Spain just yet, research released this week by the Career Industry Council of Australia (CICA) and McCrindle should be cause for concern it shows that in-school careers practitioners are considerably underfunded and time poor. When you consider the situation for careers advisers alongside the federal governments decision to discontinue funding for careers websites myfuture and the National Job Guide, its no wonder 15-19 year olds are struggling to find a sense of direction. It would seem too many students ar e left to make these important life choices on their own. So where are all the careers advisers? The CICA and McCrindle research have revealed that over half of all career practitioners are working part-time in their roles, and that just 1 in 3 are able to devote the entirety of their time to career education and guidance. Lack of support is a concern shared by careers adviser Penny Morrison, who sees the impact of reduced funding first-hand It mostly boils down to having the time to put the ideas into practice. If you have an innovative idea, you cant just run with it. You need to get someone to replace you for the day. Image courtesy of McCrindle and CICA There has been valid concern amongst the VET and tertiary education sectors lately about disreputable training organisations signing up students with little or no regard for their educational outcomes. One of the most important roles of careers advisers is to point students in the direction of appropriate courses that will get th em into jobs that are in demand, and Penny says shes concerned that student resources arent being supported Theres a big problem with the reliability of resources. Careers advisers dont have the time to validate all the information that comes to them. If there arent free, impartial resources for the students to get an idea of the career paths that are out there then some of the limited discretionary funding we have to go into purchasing those resources and less will go into programs to get them into jobs. Penny cites the success of a