🎯 Youth-Evaluated Careers Toolkit with Employer Accountability

Bridging guidance and opportunity through cross-sector collaboration, inclusivity, and feedback from youth

Youth-Evaluated Careers Toolkit with Employer Accountability

The Problem
Young people often face outdated, impersonal, or inaccessible career guidance. Scenes from You’re Fried! highlighted that many were left to navigate unclear job options alone, faced discrimination (e.g. “-ology won’t get you anywhere”), and received only generic lists of websites. Employers may not be prepared or resourced to offer meaningful placements. There is no system in place to listen to or learn from young people’s real experiences.

The Proposal
Develop a shared toolkit and accountability system for employers and schools, evaluated by young people themselves, to ensure career guidance is relevant, inclusive, and responsive.

Key Actions

1. National Careers Toolkit Co-Designed with Young People

   • A practical, adaptable toolkit for schools and employers.

   • Includes:

     • Guidelines on making placements meaningful and inclusive

     • A calendar of sector events (e.g., NHS college takeovers)

     • A pledge template for employers

     • Communication and consent protocols for young people and families

     • Guidance on feedback and check-ins

   • Developed through workshops with young people from diverse backgrounds, including neurodivergent participants.

2. Employer Pledge & Charter with Evaluation Criteria

   • Employers sign a local/regional Careers Charter, pledging to:

     • Offer structured placements with real learning

     • Respect inclusion standards and fair pay practices where relevant

     • Receive and act on feedback

   • Backed by public recognition and shared responsibility with schools and local authorities.

3. Youth-Evaluated Feedback System (“Experience Check-Up”)

   • Every placement ends with an anonymized evaluation from the young participant.

   • Feedback is reviewed annually by local career boards or school authorities.

   • Data is used to improve practice and share good examples.

4. Accessible & Inclusive by Design

   • Mechanisms to support young people with disabilities or mental health needs (as raised in scenes and comments).

   • Provide additional training to career advisors on listening empathetically and adapting opportunities.

   • Accessibility must be clear, documented, and evaluated — “What does accessibility mean and who’s responsible?”

5. Cross-Sector Support and Monitoring

   • Employers receive the toolkit through CPD (Continuing Professional Development) events.

   • Combined authorities and councils involved to ensure visibility of local job markets.

   • Funding mechanisms and insurance policy reform supported by government to reduce burdens on small employers.

Clarifications & Details from the Forum and Play

• The scene with the career advisor showed young women dismissed or directed to online links; this toolkit responds by offering personal, well-resourced pathways.

• A woman from the audience stepped in as a second advisor, showing how different it feels when someone listens and supports. This feedback structure builds on that intervention.

• There were calls for clear accountability: “Is it the school’s responsibility? The employer’s? The council’s?” This policy proposes a shared structure across levels.

• McDonald’s scene illustrated the consequences of poor-quality jobs. Participants argued for better prep and respectful workplaces. The toolkit includes employer-facing resources to promote respect, structure, and learning.

• Emphasis from spectators on neurodiversity and young people with barriers to access — this is integrated in the co-design and feedback mechanisms.

Amendments and Additions from the Forum

• Government should incentivise youth-inclusive work environments

• Centralised portal of opportunities could be explored

• Local councils need clearer accountability roles

• Parents, advisors, and employers need better communication systems

• Focus on transferable skills and inclusive environments

• Toolkit must support safe, welcoming spaces

• Ask young people to help design and evaluate every stage

• Promote examples like industry days instead of generic “work experience”

Let’s make career guidance a shared, inclusive journey — one where employers, families, and institutions work with youth, not just for them.