How Small Employers Can Build A Resilient Early Careers Pipeline In A Shaky UK Job Market

In this episode of Buzzing About HR, I want to talk about something that is getting lost in the headlines. Hiring might be slowing down, confidence might be wobbling, but small businesses can still build a really solid early careers pipeline without spending a fortune or exhausting their teams.

This one is for anyone who has noticed fewer decent applicants, people disappearing halfway through the process, or managers saying they simply do not have the time or headspace to train someone new. I talk honestly about why higher unemployment does not automatically solve your hiring problems, and why things like transport, working hours, confidence and basic skills still get in the way for a lot of capable people.

We look at how to take the panic out of early careers hiring and turn it into something steady and repeatable. I walk you through how to design one starter friendly role that actually adds value within the first few weeks, how to write a clear job advert that separates what someone must have from what you can train, and how a short work task can tell you far more than a polished interview ever will.

Mentoring is a big part of this conversation. I share how businesses are using experienced people, sometimes those nearing retirement, to coach and pass on knowledge without carrying the full workload. We talk about pairing that with a buddy for the everyday questions so new starters feel supported and managers are not firefighting.

I also explain a simple 90 day plan that builds confidence and skills gradually, with clear check ins and a sensible decision point at the end. We cover inclusion in a very practical way too, things like flexible interview times, written instructions, protected learning time and small adjustments that help people settle and stay.

If you are fed up with churn and the idea of the perfect candidate who still needs retraining, this episode will help you hire for potential, build skills properly and keep the people you invest in.

If this sounds useful, subscribe, share it with a manager who needs a calmer hiring plan, and leave a quick review telling me one thing you will try differently.

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Until next time, keep buzzing and take care of your people!

Chapters

• 0:00 Grey Tuesday And Big Question
• 2:29 UK Jobs Wobble And Why It Matters
• 3:59 On-The-Ground Hiring Frictions
• 5:49 Quiet Truths About Talent Access
• 7:49 Pipeline That Sticks And Churn Costs
• 9:49 Budget Silver Lining For Apprentices
• 11:29 Step-By-Step Early Careers Plan
• 15:59 Mentors, Buddies, And 90-Day Runway
• 18:59 Common Pitfalls And Fixes

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:58

Picture this, it's a grey Tuesday. Hazel, our ever opinionated well being officer, has her nose buried in a stack of CVs and a neon yellow sticky note that says Early Careers? My phone pings, labour market headlines again, unemployment up, hiring confidence down, managers fretting about rotors, budgets, and who's covering Saturdays? And the message in my inbox. Kate, do we bother with apprentices this year? Or is it a luxury? Let's talk straight. The UK jobs market is wobbling, and young workers are feeling it first. What we do next either builds a pipeline or loses a generation. Kettle on. Cake on a plate, let's get practical. Welcome and housekeeping. Hello, I'm Kate, and this is Buzzing About HR, UK only, plain English, no fluff. Hazel is supervising, and yes, payment in biscuits remains policy. Today's question is the UK facing a lost generation, or can employers bend the trend with smart early careers hiring? Why now? Unemployment has pushed up. Confidence has dipped. Young people are hit hardest. There's a national review running on why nearly one million young people are not in education, employment or training and how to fix it. While the big picture churns, you need something small, sane and doable that works in your business. Quick bright spot from the autumn budget. Small employers now get 100% of apprenticeship training costs covered for under 25s. You still fund wages and mentoring time, but the course fee sorted. That removes a huge blocker for a lot of you. Part one Setting the scene what it feels like on the ground. You tell me the same three things. Fewer decent applicants per role. Juniors, ghost mid-process. We don't have time to train. Finance replies with We don't have money to burn. Fair enough. But most small businesses don't need a graduate scheme and a helicopter pad. You need two good juniors a year. A steady trickle beats a panicked flood. Two quiet truths. Rising unemployment doesn't teleport perfect candidates to your postcode. Location, hours, transport, confidence and skills still trip you up. Nearly one million not in education, employment or training isn't laziness. It's messy transitions, mental health dips, caring responsibilities, patchy confidence. Design for that reality, and you unlock talent others miss. Hazel would like it recorded that an early biscuit beats a last-minute biscuit bribe. Same with early careers. Start early. Invest little and often, you'll get better results. Part two. A pipeline that actually sticks. Less agency panic. New ideas from people not welded to we've always done it like this. Expect and manage. A messy fortnight up front while they learn your kit. Manage a time to coach. The occasional mishire. Cut kindly, quickly, and learn. If you replace the same coordinator twice this year, you've already paid for a structured entry route. You just didn't get to keep the person. Churn is your biggest hidden bill. Part 3. The budget silver lining and how to use it. Here's the good news in one breath. If you're a small employer taking on an under 25 apprentice, the government now covers the training cost in full. Your main spend is wages and mentoring. So use the saving wisely. Buy time, give your mentor one protected hour a day for the first fortnight. Buy structure. Pay for a simple learning system or checklist templates. Buy stickiness. Help with travel for month one or provide lunch on training days. That's it. No gimmicks. Spend where it keeps people and build skill. Part four. Step by step. Build a small, sane early careers pipeline. Define one starter-friendly role. Pick something that creates value by week four. Strip the advert to three essentials, must have. And three trainables, nice to have. If it reads like mini manager with five years experience, start again. Swap the long first interview for a tiny work sample. Ten minute task. Real work. Draft a friendly customer email. Spot three errors in a mock spreadsheet. Label parts on a simple drawing or pick the best solution from two options. You'll learn more from 10 minutes of doing than 30 minutes of tell me about yourself. Shortlist for potential and reliability. Retail, care, hospitality, delivery work, green flags for stamina and people skills. The gold is turns up, listens, learns, communicates, offer a 90-day runway. Week one onboarding and shadowing. Weeks two to four simple, repeatable tasks, daily 15 minute check-ins. Weeks five to eight, one new responsibility each week, weekly feedback. Weeks nine to twelve, small independent tasks, a clean yes, no, move roll decision. Use your almost retiring gold dust. Got someone nearing retirement or wanting fewer hours, make them the mentor. All that know-how in their head. Your apprentice needs it. Your experienced pro keeps meaningful work without a 40-hour grind. It's a win-win. In many cases, a part-time expert plus an apprentice can sit near the cost of one full-time hire. Only now you're transferring knowledge and building future capacity. Add a buddy different to the mentor. One buddy for the daily how do I or and shortcuts. A separate person to quietly ask, how's it really going? Buddies stop people drowning in silence, pay fairly, and say the path out loud. If the starting pay is modest, show progression at month six and month twelve. If there are hidden costs, travel, lunch, boots, fix what you can. Tidy the boring bits. Simple rotor with protected learning time. A who to ask list. One page on feedback. Kind, specific, quick. A tiny adjustments note. Tell us if anything would help you do your best. Note for apprenticeships. Your training bill is now zero pounds for under twenty five as a small employer. Build the plan around wages and time. That's where the return lives. Part five. They won't. Fix keep one junior role on a standing brief. Interview monthly. Hire quarterly. It's easier to say yes when the plan already exists. Wrong turn number two. They can shadow whoever's free. Chaos. Fix, pick one trained buddy and a reduced hours veteran as mentor. Fifteen minutes a day beats two hours of Friday firefighting. Wrong turn number three. We need someone work ready. Define ready, then move one rung down and train the rest. If you only hire finished articles, you'll pay a premium and still retrain them your way. Wrong turn number four. We'll save time by skipping feedback. You'll pay for it in week six. Fix three sentences once a week. What went well, what to try, what's next. Wrong turn number five. We'll keep the mentor full time. You'll burn them out. Fix. Give your near retirement pro two or three days a week of focused mentoring and quality control. They'll love it and the apprentice will fly. Part six. The education and government bit. No committees required. You need two relationships, not ten. A local college or training provider who understands your roles and actually knows which students turn up. A youth charity or job centre coach who can flag motivated candidates who need a chance and a tidy induction. With the budget change covering apprenticeship training, channel the saved cash into a mentor allowance for your part-time expert, a weekly learning hour you actually protect. A tiny travel bursary for month one. If transport is the wobble, you'll be amazed how much loyalty that buys. Day one. Rewrite one advert with three essentials and three trainables. Put pay, location and hours in plain English. Day two. Build the 10 minute work sample. One page no trick questions. Day three. Pick a mentor, hello, soon to be part timer, and a buddy. Block daily 15 minute check-ins for two weeks. Day four. Map the 90 day runway. What good looks like at day 30, 60, 90. Day five. Post the role. Email your provider and youth contact. Ask your team for referrals. Yes, there's cake in it. Feels like admin. You're not wrong. But there's affordable tech that automates the dull bits, application questions, interview slots, right-to-work checks, even buddy check-in nudges. Book a discovery call and I'll help you pick something that saves hours, cuts spreadsheet pain, and actually pays you back in time. Hazel has confirmed the Biscuit Fund remains strictly non-taxable. For now. Steal these lines. With your near retirement star. Chris, you've got the craft we need more of. Would two days a week as lead mentor work for you, coaching one apprentice and QAing their work? We'll protect your time and pay you for the mentoring. No 40-hour weeks. Interested? With a nervous candidate. Thanks for telling me what helps you do your best. We'll give you written instructions, a consistent rotor for your first month, and a quiet hour at the start of your shift to get set up. Deal. With a manager who stretched. You don't need to be a teacher. You need 15 minutes a day for two weeks, then once a week. I'll give you the check-in prompts and the task list. That's it. With your team about pay. Here's the starting pay. At six months, if you hit these three markers, it moves to X. At twelve months, with these skills signed off, it moves to Y. No surprises. Part nine Inclusion without fuss, small adjustments that matter. Put travel routes in the ad and interview invite. Offer one early morning or early evening interview slot so college or care duties don't knock people out. Give instructions in writing as well as verbally. Protect one learning hour a week that doesn't get bumped by urgent emails. Ask on the form Any adjustments that would help you do your best? Review adjustments monthly. Keep them small, specific and honest. This isn't over engineering, it's common sense that keeps people. Part ten. Listener Q and A seven quick ones. Q one aren't apprentices more hassle than they're worth? A. Not if the role is real, the mentor is trained and the first ninety days are mapped. The hassle is what happens when you throw people in and hope. Q two We tried juniors, they left after six months. A. What did months one to three look like? Most early exits are onboarding problems wearing a resignation hat. Fix the runway first. Q3. We can't match big brand salaries. A. You don't need to. Offer a clear path, quick responsibility, and a manager who actually coaches. That beats£500 more to sit on a shared help desk. Q4. What if a candidate flags mental health needs? A thank them. Agree simple adjustments, consistent shifts, written instructions, a quiet hour to start the day. Review monthly, talk early if performance dips. Q5. Apprenticeships or entry level hires. A both can work. With training cost now fully funded for under 25 apprentices in small firms, apprenticeships are great value if you can spare a mentor. Q6. How do we get more young applicants? A. Short ads in plain English, travel routes listed, a real work sample, quick replies, and at least one interview slot outside college hours. Ask your team for referrals. Q7. Can a semi-retired employee be the mentor? A. Absolutely. Perfect for knowledge transfer. In many cases, a part-time expert plus an apprentice is similar in cost to one full-timer. Only now you're training your future team at the same time. Part 11. Practical takeaways. Pin this. Pick one role and make it starter-friendly. Replace the first interview with a 10-minute work sample. Appoint a mentor who wants fewer hours near retirement gold and a daily buddy. Map a 90-day plan with what good looks like. Build two local relationships, provider plus youth contact. Use simple tech to kill admin and save your evenings. Remember the budget silver lining. Apprenticeship training for under 25s in small businesses is fully funded. Budget for wages and mentoring time. If you want a hand setting it up, or you'd like me to sanity check your advert, work sample, 90-day plan, or mentor setup, book a discovery call. Practical. Cake optional, but strongly recommended. Back to the desk. Hazel is now asleep on the CV pile like a furry paperweight. The headlines are loud. The fixes are boring, but they work. You don't need to save the labour market. You need a tiny, reliable pipeline for your business. One role, one mentor, one buddy, one 90-day plan. Do that, and next winter you'll be thanking past you. If you want help choosing tech that frees hours and ditches spreadsheet pain, book that discovery call. We'll map your first three moves, set up the Mentor Plus apprentice model, and protect your biscuit budget.