Stephen Isherwood

Apprenticeships rise as graduate vacancies drop 8% ISE’s Student Recruitment Survey 2025 launches with the latest data on the entry-level jobs market.

Our annual survey out today. Grad vacancies down 8%, non-grad (mostly apprenticeships) up 8%. But grad hires are more in volume so overall early career market down 5%. ise.org.uk/knowledge/in...

I think what those who don't pay to much attention to politics hear isyet another leadership soap opera. This never does politicians any favours, but for Labour to be playing leadership games this early on is electoral suicide in my book. Those paying only some attention will switch off totally.

EE Broadband. How can a company be so mindbendingly incompetent and wasteful and still say solvent?

Oh goody, more campaigning. You have a 150+ seat majority, use it or lose it.

Not as exotic as your pic @benjacksontp.bsky.social - I think this was taken at Beaulieu

As an aside, on holiday recently a US couple we met were quizing the youngster on how she made her uni decsion. She couldn't really explain it, and the US couple (who were Ivy League grads) certainly couldn't get their heads around it.

Now they know their grades, many are changing their minds on courses/location, upgrading, taking a year out - this is not clearing in the old sense of the word.

The younger Ish has got the A-level grades she wanted and all is dandy. But having seen the process play out at first hand, and at what all her friends are doing, I can't help but think how unfit for purpose it is.

The student who thinks my degree in X will enable me to get a job in X field, particularly when certain courses have far more students studying them than there are jobs, often struggle. There are a plethora of pros & cons to this situation. But this basic market data is too often ignored.

One thing I repeat in my job ad nauseam is that most (not all) employers don't really recruit by subject - 86% according to our data. So if a student knows this, takes a flexible approach, and does all the other stuff that makes them employable, they'll be ok - even if it takes a while. 1/2

I try not to be sniffy about media courses as I did business studies myself:) But I'm coming to the conclusion that this line of subject at degree level should mostly be run as degree apprenticeships - then they are connected to the labour market. Not sure how you make this happen though.

An insider-outsider labour market needs an insider-outsider skills policy By Neil Carberry, Chief Executive, REC - May 2025

Just read this piece by @recneil.bsky.social, made me think of France where employment regs make it really hard for young people to get permanent contracts. campaign-for-learning.org.uk/Web/CFL/What...

Employers will increasingly focus on graduates’ skills over technical knowledge Graduate and apprentice employers are growing less interested in a person’s age, education and technical experience. Stephen Isherwood explains the upshot for higher education Graduate and apprentice...

Last week on Wonkhe: Graduate and apprentice employers are growing less interested in a person’s age, education and technical experience. Stephen Isherwood explains the upshot for higher education

Best book I've read on politics in a very long time - Failed State by @samfr.bsky.social. Should be on the national curriculum.

Fascinating. There is also this tool from the IFS where you plug in your household income and it tells you where you sit relative to the rest of the UK. I think most people have very little understanding of what a middle income is: ifs.org.uk/tools_and_re...

A slide I left out my deck last week - it shows the current population split by age and projections to 2035. There are over 600,000 more 55-59yr-olds in the UK than 15-19yr-olds. One to think about when formulating talent plans! Link to our full report: ise.org.uk/page/futureo...

Future of early talent Ten years ago, not many ISE members were hiring school leavers, now they are. Ten years from now, we expect many ISE member recruitment teams will not only still target school leavers and graduates, but also career changers, older workers and internal candidates.

Today we launched our report on how student recruitment & development teams can embrace skills-based employer thinking. Reducing birth rates, an aging workforce and technological change are the drivers. ise.org.uk/page/futureo...

A lot of chat on our forums about students using AI live in online interviews. The trouble is they are then getting rejected as they don't come across as authentic, and might otherwise have got through.

@in-otter-news.bsky.social is so much my favourite find on here.

Which makes it hard to match supply and demand through our education system. There are all sorts of historic reasons for this approach, and it creates both benefits and problems. But I never see this quirk of the UK graduate labour market debated much.

Do Adults Have the Skills They Need to Thrive in a Changing World? The 2023 Survey of Adult Skills, a product of the OECD Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), provides a comprehensive overview of adults' literacy, numeracy, and ad...

"41% of workers are mismatched in terms of field of study, because their highest qualification is not in the field that is most relevant to their job". But over 80% of UK employers don't recruit by subject. You don't need a law degree to be a lawyer here. www.oecd.org/en/publicati...

The farmers march on Westminster

Difficult to sum up this excellent piece by @herdyshepherd.bsky.social , but this quote in particular stands out: our dipshit policy is to “Leave it to Tesco”,
unherd.com/2024/11/a-fa.... Reminded me of some of the themes in Wendell Berry's 2019 'Going Home' interview in the NYT.

Appreciate this may not be a universally popular opinion but the less you treat BlueSky as a crusade or cause, and the more you position it as simply a superior user experience with a better governance approach, the more sustainable the growth will be.

I had my first flare up earlier this year. Luckily I was in the US where the hotel had an ice machine. My dad had it and was teetotal (I'm not). Changed my diet a bit and it's not come back - I've lost half a stone too.

Personal Statements – a redraft rather than a reform? - HEPI UCAS’s 2026 Personal Statement reforms aim to simplify the process and level the playing field, yet the minimal changes may not significantly reduce stress or widen access for students as intended.

Every word of this. www.hepi.ac.uk/2024/10/14/p...

Sarra Jenkins' excellent reflections on the recent developments in the #UCAS #PersonalStatements

Two sentences in the FT today caught my eye:
“Immigration drives fastest population growth for half a century”, and, “Deaths outnumbered births for the first time in 50 years, other than during the pandemic”. There are now fewer 15-19yr olds than 55-59yr olds in the UK. (www.populationpyramid.net)

Our recent pulse survey on international student job applications: 33% of employers said they will now state where candidates can’t apply for some locations/positions if they need a visa, even with the graduate visa. Small sample, only 15, but as more are public on their policy others will follow.

Can anyone save the Conservative Party? Notes on a dismal leadership contest

New post just out:

Notes on a dismal leadership contest...

"Can anyone save the Conservative Party?"

(£/free trial)

open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/c...

Lots of things to talk about in this article, but I thought this was the most salient comment. ISE will have data on application volumes for 2024 in Oct - we need to talk about how tech is reducing bariers to applications but the nock on effect is many more applications and then rejections.

‘Like throwing myself at a wall’: UK graduates struggle in ‘insane’ job market ‘Hostile and impersonal’ process to find first job after university leads many to work for minimum wage

"Of the respondents who had been successful, many said their best advice for students was to contact their university’s careers service, to gain as much practical experience as possible before, during and after their degree, and to pick up additional skills." www.theguardian.com/money/articl...