How do you get work experience in order to have work experience, if you have never worked before?
How do you get a job that requires you to have high school education, if you have been unable to complete high school?
This is a common dilemma for many young Canadians. Unfortunately, when these two requirements become barriers for employment, the only alternative left for many Canadian youth is continued unemployment. This often results in a downward spiral that can lead to poverty and homelessness, unless some form of intervention helps to stop the spiral. Such extreme consequences of chronic unemployment create a negative impact on the individual and our communities as a whole.
Intervention in our Canadian culture usually comes through government supports and social assistance. There are, however, more instances of highly visible businesses creating opportunities for youth as part of their corporate social responsibility and active commitment to the greater good.
For example, Starbucks (the corporate coffee giant), announced a commitment to an ethical hiring plan that would set a 10% target for hiring at-risk youth across Canada.
Click Here to Read the Article.
The announcement of this commitment came out in the late fall of 2015. By the spring of 2016, local media started to pick up stories of job fairs offered by Starbucks, which seem to be putting this commitment into action.
Click Here to Read the Artcile.
Rather than seeing the typical negative patterns continue, in this case, we are able to see a positive and active societal change that focuses on the vulnerable and essential youth demographic in the development of the Canadian workforce.
One small change really does make one big difference.
Discussion Questions:
- How would you prepare an HR recruitment plan to hire at-risk youth at your current workplace?
- Identify five long-term benefits for an at-risk individual, as a result of targeted recruitment.
- Identify five long-term benefits of targeted recruitment that will impact Starbucks Canada.
- What are five possible challenges facing employers wanting to implement a targeted recruitment plan focused on hiring at-risk youth?