A decent place to work: youth notions of the good workplace: implications for work-readiness and soft skills issues

This paper argues that there is a need for better understanding of the youth experience of the transition from school to work and early career social processes in order to identify the range of issues that they perceive to be challenging and anxiety-generating. The author suggests that the literature in youth early career experience is surprisingly sparse. It is also suggested that first job experiences are influential in the development of self esteem and the making of the wider transition to adult life as well as having an important influence on later employment. The paper looks at youth perceptions of the good workplace. Two aspects of the transition process are closely connected: the need to undertake initial critical assessments with regard to workplace social relations and the need to deal with the anxiety young people report that they experience when moving into the workplace.

Published abstract.

The collected proceedings are indexed at TD/TNC 74.501; the collected PowerPoint presentations are indexed at TD/TNC 74.530; available papers are indexed from TD/TNC 74.502 to TD/TNC 74.529.

This paper argues that there is a need for better understanding of the youth experience of the transition from school to work and early career social processes in order to identify the range of issues that they perceive to be challenging and anxiety-generating. The author suggests that the literature in youth early career experience is surprisingly sparse. It is also suggested that first job experiences are influential in the development of self esteem and the making of the wider transition to adult life as well as having an important influence on later employment. The paper looks at ...  [+] Show more