Young Scots are much less aware of the variety of jobs available to them than their peers in other parts of the UK, a major survey suggests, heightening calls for improvements to careers advice in Scotland.

In the research, published by skills body City & Guilds, Scottish 14- to 19-year-olds were found to be considering 67 of 369 jobs listed by the government. This was significantly below the national average and the figure for the South East, indicating lower job awareness and willingness to try different careers.

More than 3,200 young people took part in the survey - around a tenth of them from Scotland. According to City & Guilds, Scots failed to consider a large number of high-skilled and well-paid jobs while overselecting a handful in certain industries, such as the media.

While less aware of potential career paths, young Scots were slightly more optimistic about their futures than peers from south of the border, with 56 per cent thinking it was likely that they would be working in their chosen career in 10 years’ time.

Looking on the bright side

One in five heard about their chosen industry when a teacher or college lecturer suggested it, while only 4 per cent heard about it from visiting a local business with their school or college. Increased contact with employers, including work experience, is central to the Scottish government’s Developing the Young Workforce strategy (see box below).

Around four years ago, parents, teachers and careers advisers raised concerns over the move to a more web-based approach to careers advice with the introduction of the My World Of Work portal. In January 2013, TESS exclusively revealed that almost 98 per cent of Unison members working for Skills Development Scotland disagreed that the new model, rolled out the previous September, would result in an enhanced service.

Improvements have been made since then, however, and last year the union said the website was now providing a good service.

Kirstie Donnelly, managing director of City & Guilds said: “While it’s great that young people in Scotland have relatively high levels of careers confidence, our research demonstrates that they are not aware of the range of career paths open to them and, as a result, are setting their sights low when it comes to their career aspirations.”

Eileen Prior, executive director of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council, said careers advice to young people in Scotland was “an ongoing issue”, adding: “Despite the push around careers advice it seems to not be reaching young people sufficiently.”

Rob Henthorn, vice-president for education at the NUS Scotland students’ union, said that young people should be supported to develop skills relevant to the careers and fields they wanted to access, rather than advice being shaped around predicted future job markets.

@JBelgutay