Youth unemployment is on the rise and young job applicants are struggling to get interviews for reasons beyond their control.

What’s the problem? The use of AI in job recruitment has tripled in the last year, which discriminates against young people, who lack experience and qualifications. This makes it extremely difficult for young applicants to reach the interview stage. Many employers claim they’re willing to hire 16+ year olds, but the current recruitment methods are putting young people at the back of the queue.

Even for entry-level roles, young people are being rejected in favour of more experienced candidates. Needlessly complicated online applications are stopping them at the door, and their talents are being wasted. Young people have a lot to offer employers, but they aren’t getting the chance to show them. We’ve created a culture where employers only want to hire the perfect candidate (on-paper), instead of investing in potential future superstars. But where would any of us be today if someone hadn’t taken a chance on us?

So what’s the solution? We need employers to Lower the Ladder. 

We’re launching a campaign called Lower the Ladder, where employers commit to a guaranteed job interview scheme for all applicants aged 16-to-19. This is a youth-led solution, co-developed and backed by young people who are affected by this issue.

This scheme doesn’t place any extra financial burden on the employers, and it doesn’t mean they have to hire every young person they interview. But it does allow young candidates to meet employers, which allows employers to consider people they previously wouldn’t have met, and for young applicants to gain interview skills. By removing the online recruitment barrier, this will result in more young people being hired.

Today employers have an increased awareness of Corporate Social Responsibility and talk about investing in their communities. We want them to put their money where their mouth is and commit to this scheme. Lowering youth unemployment would have many positive effects, including potentially reducing child poverty, homelessness, youth offending and mental health crises.

Previous guaranteed interviews campaigns (such as Disability Confident) have successfully raised awareness of existing issues, and persuaded employers to change their hiring practices and adopt fairer recruitment processes. This proves that together we can make a meaningful change.

We will be directly approaching employers and persuading them to commit to the Lower the Ladder scheme. By signing this petition you’ll be backing our argument and making us undeniable. Please support our petition if you believe in creating a fairer hiring process for young people, enabling them to fulfil their potential.

The Lower the Ladder campaign was co-created and developed with members of the Haringey Youth Advisory Board – a collective of young people who are working to improve their community, and NLPC - a North London charity with over 20 years of experience of supporting local people into employment – as part of the Youth Echo Programme.

Haringey Youth Advisory Board: https://www.instagram.com/_youthadvisoryboard_/  

NLPC: https://nlpcltd.com/youth-echo/  

Youth Echo Programme: https://www.bridgerenewaltrust.org.uk/youth-echo