Talent Pool – a boost for graduates
The government has launched Graduate Talent Pool, an online portal which matches employers able to offer internships with graduates who want to take them up.
The scheme is designed to help prevent recent graduates falling into unemployment in the current economic climate, allowing them to increase their employability by gaining skills and experience through an internship. Whilst the online service will go live later this year, major firms and organisations including Network Rail, Microsoft and Marks & Spencer have already signed up.
Streatham is one of the youngest constituencies in the UK and also has a high proportion of graduates, with the number of young people going into higher education in Streatham having risen by 81.7% since 1997. In the 1980s and early 1990s the area suffered disproportionately from the problem of youth and graduate unemployment. The government is determined that unlike then, the difficult times we are going through now must not result in a lost generation, locked in unemployment and lacking the skills and experience to find work. Alongside the Talent Pool, an additional 14,000 postgraduate places are to be offered by universities, supported by Professional and Career Development Loans.
Chuka, commenting on the announcement, said: “It is crucial that we don’t leave a generation of bright young people behind, as happened in the 1980s. Internships are a valuable way of passing on skills and opening doors to further opportunities in the future”.
For more information about the talent pool and internship opportunities for graduates, visit this site.
