From First Job to Future Career

Why hospitality and retail must be recognised as Career Starter Sectors

Too many young people are outside education, employment and training. At the same time, hospitality and retail employers across the country are still working hard to recruit, train and retain the next generation of talent.

The national conversation has moved on. While the Industrial Strategy remains important, it does not fully answer the immediate challenge facing young people, employers and local communities.

At HIT Training, part of The Opportunity Provider, we believe the country does not need endless new schemes. It needs real routes into work, backed by employers, supported by trusted training providers and understood by young people.

That is why The Opportunity Provider has developed From First Job to Future Career: TOP’s Youth Employment Manifesto.

The manifesto sets out how apprenticeships, employers and training providers can work together to help more young people move into work, build confidence and progress into lasting careers.

Hospitality and retail are where many young people learn how work works

For many young people, their first job will not be in advanced manufacturing, clean energy or life sciences.

It will be in a kitchen, a hotel, a pub, a restaurant, a shop, a café, a visitor attraction or a local business.

These are the places where young people learn how work works.

Hospitality and retail are open, local and people-facing. They teach the professional behaviours every employer needs:

● timekeeping;
● teamwork;
● communication;
● resilience;
● responsibility;
● planning;
● problem solving;
● customer care;
● leadership;
● emotional intelligence.

A first job in hospitality or retail can give a young person confidence, structure, income and transferable skills they can use wherever their career takes them. Some will build long-term careers in these sectors. Others will take those skills into different industries. Both outcomes matter.

That is why we believe hospitality and retail should be recognised as Career Starter Sectors.

First job does not mean short-term job

Hospitality and retail are often seen as places where young people start while they work out what they want to do. That should not be seen as a weakness. It is a strength.
These sectors give young people a first chance. But they also offer real careers.

A team member can progress into supervision. A supervisor can move into management. A commis chef can progress into chef de partie, sous chef, head chef or executive chef. A front-of-house apprentice can move into team leadership, operations, events, customer experience or general management.

Apprenticeships help make this progression visible and achievable.

They give employers a way to grow their own talent, retain people and create clear pathways from first job to future career.

Apprenticeships should create pathways, not just vacancies

Youth employment is not only about creating new entry-level jobs.

In many businesses, the best way to create an entry point for a young person is to upskill and promote someone already in the organisation. When a team member moves into supervision, or a supervisor moves into management, a new entry-level opportunity can open up behind them.

Apprenticeships make this possible.

They help employers:

● build progression routes from entry-level roles into skilled positions;
● improve retention, not just recruitment;
● develop future supervisors, managers and leaders;
● create space for young people to enter the business;
● show young people that hospitality and retail can offer long-term careers.

What TOP is asking government to do

Through the manifesto, The Opportunity Provider is asking government to:

● recognise hospitality, retail, early years and adult care as Career Starter Sectors;
● use these sectors as practical delivery partners for the Youth Guarantee;
● fully fund apprenticeships and foundation apprenticeships for all 16 to 18-year-olds in these sectors, regardless of levy status;
● support clear progression from foundation routes into Level 2, Level 3 and higher apprenticeship pathways;
● make foundation apprenticeships more flexible by allowing completion in up to eight months, with earlier progression into Level 2 or Level 3 apprenticeships where the learner is ready;
● fund practical apprenticeship units for work-readiness and first-line managers;
● de-risk youth apprenticeships for providers, not just employers;
● protect small businesses from unnecessary cost and administration;
● measure success through retention, achievement, progression and confidence, not just apprenticeship starts.

Supporting employers to give young people their first chance

Employers in hospitality and retail already play a major role in youth employment. They offer young people their first experience of work, their first manager, their first wage and often their first qualification.

But employers cannot do this alone.

Young people often need more onboarding, more workplace support, more confidence-building, and in some cases additional support with English, maths,
SEND or wider learning needs. Small employers also need simple systems, clear guidance and training that works around real business pressures.

That is why TOP’s manifesto calls for government to support providers as well as employers. Employer incentives create the opportunity. Provider capacity, employer engagement and learner support help young people take that opportunity, stay on programme and succeed.

Measuring what matters

Success should not be measured by starts alone.

If the Youth Guarantee is to work, government, employers and providers must look at whether young people stay, achieve, progress and build confidence.
That means measuring:

● retention and achievement;
● progression into further apprenticeships, employment or promotion;
● sustained employment after completion;
● learner confidence and wellbeing;
● employer confidence in recruiting young people;
● outcomes for learners with SEND and additional learning needs;
● continued development of English, maths and wider employability skills.

The right measure is not simply whether a young person starts. It is whether they are supported to succeed.

HIT Training’s role

HIT Training will continue to work with hospitality and retail employers to create practical apprenticeship pathways that help people enter, stay and progress in work.

We will support employers to grow their own talent, promote from within and create space for young people to join the workforce.

We will continue to work with sector bodies, employers and partners to show what is possible, share good practice and build confidence in apprenticeships as a route into work and progression.

Hospitality and retail can provide a first step and a lasting career.

Apprenticeships can connect both.

Read the full manifesto

This article forms part of The Opportunity Provider’s wider Youth Employment Manifesto, From First Job to Future Career, which calls for greater recognition of the sectors that give young people their first chance in work and clear pathways to progress.

Download the full manifesto to read our full position and policy asks.