According to new research, 93% of young Australian’s believe getting a job and earning money is either important or very important to them. Despite this, Australia has a youth unemployment rate of 12% (twice the national average), a growing list of skills shortage areas and many employers report struggling to attract and retain quality young people, particularly in the trades industries. If there is will and opportunity, why aren’t more young people in jobs? And what does this mean for businesses, parents and young people today?

Young people want meaningful careers

The recently released 2017 Skillsroad Youth Census, an online survey completed by nearly 14,000 young people across Australia aged between 15-24, found that while young people want to work and believe getting a job is important, it’s also important to make the right choice and like what they do. In other words, from day one, they want meaningful work.

There was once a time, when people worked for a pay-check. Work was seen, for many people, as a means to an end. Something one did to pay the bills and feed the family. However, this attitude seems to have shifted as today’s young Australian’s want to see their career journey as more than a ‘job’, resulting in pressure to get it right. The survey tells us that today, young Australian’s see their career as a significant life choice and the biggest concerns when making life choice is getting it right and liking the career they choose.

This aspiration comes with great benefits, both individually and collectively. Leading research on meaning has found that people who pursue career pathways that are meaningful are more likely to stay in their role longer, be more satisfied in the work they do, are more engaged, more productive and more profitable. However, many businesses and managers are slower to subscribe to the belief that meaningful work matters to younger workers. Instead, they tend to fill their workloads full of meaningless tasks, often resulting in disengagement and low retention.

What role to businesses play in creating meaning at work?

If young people want work that’s meaningful, how does this translate for businesses today? According to Michael Steger, a leading Professor on ‘meaning’, meaningful work is; work that does not waste our time, work that feels worthwhile, work that engages the best of us, work that makes us excited and work that we invest in ourselves.

For many workplaces, managers and supervisors providing workplaces that support these needs for its most junior members may mean some significant behavior change in the way businesses approach recruitment, induction and engagement of youth.

For starters, businesses need to invest in giving an accurate representation of what a role involves. This means, aligning expectations with the reality. It also means businesses need to think about the type of workplaces they offer. Young people want roles they enjoy and they want workplaces they are part of. They want to be sure they have made the right choice in their career path. When new to work, this requires significant effort and input from employers in getting to know their youngest workers and building relationships with them.

Today’s requirements of business owners, supervisors and managers have certainly shifted with regard to what employees want and need in order to be ‘engaged’. In the past managers gave pay checks and performance appraisals, today employees expect ongoing coaching and constant communication. However, while this investment may appear arduous for many, the research is clear on the organizational benefits of having engaged employees. Gallup has widely reported that engaged employees lead to improved customer ratings, profitability, productivity, improved safety, better retention, and less absenteeism. One of the most simple ways to build engagement and meaning for a young person at work is building relationships and connecting employees.

What role do parent’s play in facilitating career conversations?

Parents, according to the Skillsroad Youth Census, are the number one career coach for Australian’s youth.  Young people in the survey report that their parents are the people they are most likely to turn to for career advice and guidance in making that all important decision on what pathway to pursue. This means, it’s essential for parents to be able to facilitate educated and meaningful career discussions but also that parents hold challenging and realistic perspectives on what meaningful work actually looks like.

One of the best ways to guarantee career unhappiness is to tell your child what they must do, when it comes to pursuing their career path. Pursuing a pathway because someone ‘told us to’ typically not only inspires unhappiness but in many cases cost serious time and money, something else young Australian’s care about.

As career choices are stressful for young Australian’s, and something they want to get right, parents also have a real responsibility in helping their children find a meaningful pathway. However, are parent’s turning meaning into a commodity for their children? Are we educating children to believe, expect and strive for deep meaning constantly and immediately instead of pursuing a pathway where they can give meaning as well as find it?

To help navigate these career conversations, parents need to get upskilled in career options and pathways. But then parents need to help explore what pathways play to their children’s strengths, interests and motivations. These conversations need to create a mindset of curiosity not just expectation. Conversations need to see career pathways as moments, where we begin a life-long journey of learning in industries we are passionate about. Finding a meaningful career is as much about what we can bring and give to that pathway, as it is about expecting to have deep meaning on day one. Parents play a crucial role in helping young people strive for moments of learning and meaning as they embark on their careers, not just pursuing pathways for status and materialism.

What does this mean for Youth Australian’s starting their career? 

Starting a career can be daunting and making the right choice can be tough, but perhaps there is another way school leavers can approach starting a career. That is, that today, there is so much opportunity to pursue things we are interested in a passionate about that there is no such thing as the wrong choice, particularly if we pursue a pathway that we are curious about and want to from. Equally, once we make our choice, instead of asking, ‘what am I getting from this’, ask ‘what am I giving to this?’ Finding a meaningful career path is possible but requires perseverance, passion, resilience, mental toughness and patience.

Want some resources?

If you or someone you know wants to help youth make meaningful and informed career choices, head to www.skillsroad.com.au – Australia’s number one career website where young people can take a free career quiz, test out suitability to certain roles but importantly explore hundred of careers across of range of industries