What leaders are saying about Early Careers and Skills

CRF kicked off its research into Early Careers – in partnership with BPP – by hosting a breakfast of senior leaders last month to share their perspectives and insights on the current landscape.

We heard that Early Careers is becoming a more strategic test of organisational intent, revealing whether employers are willing to invest in long-term capability when the short-term pressures point elsewhere.

At the same time, strategy is being shaped by a wider set of pressures than many organisations acknowledge, including policy change, line manager capacity, hybrid working, economic uncertainty and the internal politics of investment.

The discussion highlighted a growing mismatch between what employers increasingly value at entry level and what many believe young people are consistently being prepared for – with leaders concerned that schools and universities are not consistently preparing people for the realities of work.

If organisations want to expand early careers meaningfully, they may need to shift the conversation from social good or talent branding to capability, productivity and long-term business value.

Below we summaries the key takeaways from the initial research discussion. We will be launching our research survey imminently and want to hear your organisation’s views.

Key Takeaways

1. Early careers is not shrinking everywhere. It is fragmenting.
Some organisations are rebuilding from scratch. Some are holding volumes steady. Some are reducing in specific areas. Some are expanding, but offshore or in different routes such as apprenticeships.

2. AI is changing expectations faster than it is changing headcount.
Very few were confident in saying AI has already removed large numbers of early careers roles. What is clearer is that it is changing the nature of entry-level work and raising questions about how people learn and the support they need once in role.

3. The real challenge is not just “how many early careers hires?” but “what work are they learning through?”
If repetitive tasks are reduced, organisations lose part of the traditional apprenticeship of work. Employers are reassessing their development pathways to meet the skills needed within their organisations.

4. Work readiness came through as a major concern.
Not technical confidence, but judgement, resilience, communication, collaboration and the ability to navigate ambiguity. Leaders were concerned that these skills were increasingly lacking in Early Careers candidates – citing the education system as needing to play its part in developing these soft skills.   

5. Apprenticeships are increasingly seen as a strong route, but policy instability is undermining confidence.
Several leaders pointed to the strength of apprentices in performance, loyalty and emotional intelligence. At the same time, funding changes are clearly causing frustration. However, there were interesting insights suggesting that organisations are increasing their apprenticeship intake versus traditional graduate scheme development routes.

6. Managers are under pressure, and that matters.
A recurring issue was that line managers are expected to support early careers talent, but often lack time, capability or incentives.

7. The support structure around early careers matters as much as the intake itself.
A strong point from the discussion was that firms may focus on the number of hires while underestimating the risk of shrinking the teams and support mechanisms that make those hires successful.

8. Employers are having to pick up more of the “work readiness” burden themselves.
There was clear concern that schools and universities are not consistently preparing people for the realities of work.

9. This is now a strategic business issue, not just a talent process issue.
The conversation repeatedly came back to ROI, CFO buy-in, long-term value and workforce strategy.