Zainab Ali: Youth Inspire CEO on the falling number of jobs filled by 15-19 year olds

Throwing in a CV and cover letter in response to a job ad may not cut it anymore, as young people face high unemployment rates. 

Stats NZ data shows jobs filled by 15 to 19-year-olds dropped 10% in the last year – representing over 12 thousand roles. 

The overall drop nationally is 1.2%. 

Youth Inspire Chief Executive Zainab Ali told Ryan Bridge the tactical approach to training youth has been forced to change. 

She says in the past six months she's relied on relationships with business partners for job opportunities. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It is harder for young people to get a job
at the moment, basically because there are a fewer of them.
Data from stats n Z shows nearly thirty thousand jobs
have disappeared from the job market in the last year.
On average, people under thirty have a five point eight
percent fewer jobs available than they did last year. Zainab
Ali is the CEO Youth Inspired with me this morning, zaneb.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Good morning, Good morning, Ryan.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
How are you very well? Thank you. Now your job
is to get young people into work, especially those from
poorer backgrounds. What are you seeing at the moment? Are
people a young people as prepared for work as they
have always been or is this a hard market for them?

Speaker 2 (00:40):
We are definitely feeling those stats in real life. It
is definitely harder at the moment to secure a job
as a young person compared to two to three years ago.
We've had to completely change the we work at yath

(01:01):
Inspire to ensure we still have ample, uh you know,
opportunities for our young people. So our change in tactic
has really been a reflection of how much harder it
has gotten out there.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
What have you changed saying it?

Speaker 2 (01:22):
I think really we've we've shifted completely away from you know,
back we've been around for eleven years and Ryan, back
in the day, we could kind of go through these
amazing courses where we where we upskilled down anatahi and

(01:43):
you know, some of the really important soft skills that
employers tell us that they need, work with them on
a CV and a cover letter and kind of get
them into the job market very relatively easily. Compared to now,
we've had to completely you switch, and we now, i
would say, in the last six months, have one hundred

(02:06):
percent relied on job opportunities through our relationships, through with
our small to medium business partners and the goodwill of
our local community.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
So yeah, why is that Is that because the old
way of throwing in a CV and a cover letter
to a random job is just not working anymore. There's
ter many applicants.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Yeah, yeah, that's pretty much You've nailed it. That's exactly
what we're finding. On top of that, what we're seeing
employers tell us is for entry level jobs is also
a mass kind of run of overseas applications that come through,

(02:49):
and so employers are almost you know, it's a form
of fatigue, right, and you know, they go through seventy
applications before they get to the first one that's possibly
a local application. And so you know, internet based, you know,

(03:09):
websites like seek and trade me allow for a lot
of you know, applications that are just not suitable, and
so that paired with the fact that we do have
higher unemployment rates. For instance, Ryan, I've got a job,
you know, currently advertised, and the applications I'm getting, arguably,

(03:32):
I would say these are really overqualified candidates, you know,
that are applying for a more administration like jobs. So yeah,
it's kind of two pronged, but essentially there's a lot
of people and not enough jobs, if that makes sense.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
No, it makes perfect sense exactly what we're seeing in
the numbers and obviously reflected on what you're doing on
the grounds, iain't never appreciate your time This morning, Zain't Never,
Ali's youth Inspired. For more from earlier edition with Ryan Bridge,
listen live to News Talks it Be from five am weekdays,
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