All‐age occupational guidance service

Abstract

THE YOUTH EMPLOYMENT SERVICE, WHICH IS CONCERNED with the placing in employment of those between school leaving age and 18, has a long history. It began in 1910 almost immediately after the setting up of what were then called Labour Exchanges, when the majority of children were in employment by the age of 14, and many, through the half time system, even younger. At the time all that the officers dealing with adult applicants were expected to do was to try to match the vacancies notified by employers with the skills and experience that their clients claimed to have; but it was recognised that those confronted with the new recruits to the labour force had an additional responsibility. Children had had no employment experience so for them it was a question of deciding which occupation to enter. Even in the restricted circumstances of the time, when there were few opportunities for young people to get either further education or industrial training, this choice could be of immense importance to their future lives. Apart from the tiny minority with exceptional potential or very strong determination about their future most girls and boys are capable of adjusting themselves to any one of a dozen or so jobs when they first start work, but with every year in subsequent employment their interests and capacities become more and more canalised. Indeed one of the real difficulties of creating a flexible body of workers at any level is the extent to which people tend to narrow their ideas of what is open to them, to identify themselves with any experience they have had and to find it difficult to ‘think themselves’ into a new situation.

Citation

WILLIAMS, L. (1970), "All‐age occupational guidance service", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 2 No. 2, pp. 61-67. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb003047