What are some of the early warning signs that you think schools can look out for and interventions they can put in place if they spot that within a pupil in their c- classroom or in their school system?

Yeah.

And you're, y- you're absolutely right to highlight the challenge that I think we face as a, as a country really, and, and as a society around NEET.

You know, we've got almost a million young people now out of work, and, and we have to find Ways to, to really tackle that.

And that's not a s- there's no single solution.

I think every- everyone knows there's no single solution that's going to do that.

But early prevention and actually preventing young people moving into becoming NEET is, is far better than cure, in my mind.

And what do you think, if you're a school leader listening to this podcast, what are some of the immediate steps, well, maybe not immediate, can't put anything into place [laughs] straight away, but if they're looking at the next academic year, what are some of the things that they could put in place to weave this more into the curriculum, more into the day-to-day timetable, some of those, like, practical things that they, they can start to do?

They forget that part of, you know, how do we make this more human? How do I put you at ease? So What types of things can these companies do to make the candidates feel at ease and to actually get the best out of them, which ultimately is what an interview is about?

Well, I mean, if you take yourself back to when you were 16, 17, 18, maybe even 20, 21, Would you have the confidence to kind of express yourself as clearly as you can today? I know the answer for me is absolutely not.

I wasn't comfortable speaking at all.

So the idea of doing something like this would be a complete anathema to me.

At that age, I really, really wasn't comfortable at all.

And I think...

So the idea of being able to create an environment where a young person can reflect upon themselves to put their best foot forward, whether that's an interview or sort of selection process more generally, is ultimately going to benefit the young person clearly, but also that employer because they're going to see the potential that they are hoping to attract into their business.

What do employers still fundamentally misunderstand about making apprenticeship routes work?