IMPORTANT STUFF: READ THE 'LONDON AMBITIONS' REPORT!

"When it comes to recruiting young people, most London employers – particularly smaller businesses – value experience above all other criteria.  But too few young people are gaining adequate experience of work while still at school, college or university. This is contributing to fewer employers recruiting young people and finding that many of those are not adequately prepared for the world of work. We also have to confront the reality that careers support for young people is not working as well as it could."

"This important report proposes seven key elements which will  transform the landscape of careers and employment support for young people across London. The seven elements are evidence-based and designed to establish a coherent framework to apply for young people regardless of the particular school or college they attend:

• Every young Londoner should have access to impartial, independent and personalised careers education, information, advice and face-to-face guidance in their local community. 
• Every young Londoner should have completed at least 100 hours experience of the world of work, in some form, by the time they reach the age of 16. 
• Every secondary school and college should have in place an explicit publicised policy on young people’s experiences of the world of work, links with business, careers provision and destination outcomes. 
• Every good institution will have a governor with oversight for ensuring the organisation supports all students to relate their learning to careers and the world of work from an early age. 
• Every secondary school and college should have up-to-date, user-friendly labour market intelligence/information (LMI) readily accessible by young people, teachers and parents/carers. 
• The quality of careers provision should be strengthened by developing ‘careers clusters’ to share resources in improving awareness of London’s labour market and supporting school and college leaders in a whole-school approach to plan and deliver careers provision. 
• The London Ambitions Portal should enable more schools and colleges to easily find high-quality careers provision designed to support the career development of all young Londoners. 

These seven key elements of the London Ambitions Careers Offer must be supported by a good understanding of a young person’s ‘learner journey’, with the aim of building a brilliant curriculum vitae (CV) as they move through schooling."