Cascaid Careers Report 2015

About
CASCAID
Here at CASCAID we are passionate about providing
informative, impartial and accessible careers guidance
resources that help support young people in identifying
their future education, training and career goals.
Regardless of background, our online resources allow
young people to explore a myriad of careers based on
their interests and aspirations.
Through our products we are able to support young
people and also schools, academies and colleges. But
don’t just take our word for it, The Rt.Hon. Secretary of
State for Education, Nicky Morgan MP said,
“Delivering the best schools and skills for young
people is a key part of the government’s long-term
economic plan. I hope the example of the team at
CASCAID will inspire many others across the country
to think seriously about how we can improve the
quality of careers advice and guidance offered to
young people, and I look forward to working with
these organisations and businesses to make this
happen.”
We believe careers guidance is about each individual and
the journey their education and career takes them on. It
should be about discovery, opportunity and dreaming big.
Founded in 1969, CASCAID has history. But the future
is where we’re at, starting now with ground-breaking
resources for careers guidance. Our constantly
evolving technologies inform and inspire young
people and adults all over the world.
Our purpose? Your purpose
Contact CASCAID for further information
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The changing face of
career choices
With over 1.5 million current users of our careers
guidance resources, here at CASCAID we are able to
get a fascinating insight into the career, training and
education aspirations of the country’s young people.
Using this data, a by-product of the services we provide,
we are able to build a clearer picture of what young
people are interested in, what motivates them and what
doesn’t!
Through our data we are able to identify potential future
skills gaps as we see the career plans of young people
and compare them to the country’s skills needs.
Our latest figures, from over
600,000
young people aged 13 to 19.
users between August 2014 and
July 2015, is from our most popular
programs, aimed at
Within this report you will get an insight into the most
explored careers, the most popular subjects and the skills
young people feel they need to develop.
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Career
Choices
EXPLORATION:
The careers that young people are exploring most
While creative careers continue to dominate the top ten (taking six spots), our most recent data shows a shift
towards young people exploring more traditional career paths. Both doctor and lawyer have seen significant
movement up the chart, with lawyer moving from eighth last year to take the top spot.
Experiencing a drop in popularity are careers such as chef, fashion photographer and teaching assistant as well
as train driver which no longer makes the top 50, perhaps influenced by publicity about the development of
driverless trains. Of most concern, in particular for the future economy, is the lack of popularity for careers within
construction, engineering and manufacturing.
And here’s the rest of the top twenty…
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11. Veterinary nurse
12. Presenter(broadcasting)
13. Actor/actress
14. PE teacher
15. Make-up artist
16. DJ
17. Army officer
18. Scriptwriter
19. Psychologist
20. Commercial illustrator
In addition to allowing young people to explore hundreds
of different careers, we also help them to identify which
careers they are interested in.
Creative careers become even more dominent when
young people start to indicate their career plans.
Careers young people
are most INTERESTED in
And completing the chart…
11. Police officer
12.Fashion photographer
13. Computer games developer
14. Scriptwriter
15. Psychologist
16. Designer
17. Presenter (broadcasting)
18. Army serviceman/woman
19. Primary teacher
20. Teaching assistant
This year’s data echoes our previous findings that young
people are not as obsessed by careers relating to fame as
some might think.
Actor which appeared in the top 20 last year has
disappeared from this years list and Presenter
(broadcasting) has dropped from three to seventeen.
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ACTIVITES:
What kind of work activities do
young people want to do?
The features of work that young people
are interested in doing have remained
fairly stable for over five years.
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Features of work that least
appeal to young people
For a decade, (excluding 2010), work including sciences,
maths and technology has consistently appeared as the
least desired aspects of a job role, with young people
clearly indicating they do not want to do careers involving
STEM activities. So, it is encouraging to see that this year
there is a slight improvement in the perception of STEM
related work activities.
This year many of the activities associated with STEM
roles have moved down the least desired list, to be
replaced with tasks such as ‘Dealing with paperwork’ and
‘Checking that people are following laws and regulations’
– interesting when considering police officer is the third
most explored career!
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Developing Skills
Recognising our strengths and conversely those areas
we need to work on is a key part of our professional and
personal development and it is especially important for
young people to be able to recognise their strengths and
weaknesses when developing a successful career plan.
For some time employers have expressed concerns about
the lack of skills some young people demonstrate when
entering the workplace. This perceived skills gap can be
frustrating for would-be employers and can impact how
successful a young person is.
SKILLS:
The skills young people are
most confident with
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Our data indicates that while young people do have
confidence around skills such as reading, comprehension
and IT – all vital for the workplace, other key skills, many
of which are highly valued by employers, are ranked as
areas of weakness.
While ‘Using a foreign language’ takes the top spot for the
skill young people are least confident with, key workplace
skills such as ‘Safely using machines & equipment’ along
with maths skills also appear in the top ten.
The skills young people are
least confident with
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SKILLS BUILDING:
Skills young people believe
they need to improve
Our data has also highlighted the skills that young people believe they need to improve in order to access the
career/s they are interested in.
As the chart above shows, young people do recognise the value and importance of strong maths skills and know
they need to continue to develop skills in this area.
We show young people the skills needed to be successful in different careers enabling them to create their own
development plan for their future.
HIGHER EDUCATION
Popular Course topics
Our programs also give young people
who are interested in higher education the
opportunity to explore courses that they
are interested in.
From our data, the courses that young
people are most interested in are:
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And at Key Stage 3..
Through our dedicated programs for younger students, we can also see how interests change as they mature.
STUDY:
Favourite subjects at KS3
Topping the list of favourite subjects for students aged
(11-13) is Mathematics, with sciences including Chemistry
making the top ten. ICT also appears at number eight.
The data would indicate some shift in thinking between
Key Stage three and Key Stage four as students interests in
activities relating to STEM subjects spiral downwards.
It appears that as they transition from
KS3 to KS4 students disengage with these
subjects and do not want them as part of
their future career.
CAREERS:
Favourite careers of KS3 students
Younger students display less of a focus on creative
careers and tend to explore traditional ‘professions’ more.
These careers are usually more obvious and our programs
help young people to expand their ideas.
Younger students also show more interest
in media profile careers such as Actor and
Sports Professional. As they mature young
people appear to discount these careers
perhaps considering them as less realistic.
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For more information on the range
of careers resources available from
CASCAID, including the UK’s most
popular careers guidance resource,
New Kudos, call the team on
01509 226868 or email
enquiry@cascaid.co.uk or visit our
website www.cascaid.co.uk
CA/11/15/CO/224