Kier Group plc is a leading supplier of property residential and construction services. The group has announced that they will be pledging 1% of their workforce, who will be acting as career ambassadors. As part of this scheme the ambassadors will work in schools and colleges over the course of the next y12 months in order to try and increase the amount of people considering a career in the industry.

A new report has been published recently which shows that parents have shown a significant level of concerns about the quality of careers advice which is made available to secondary schools. The concerns are heightened as GCSE results decline. Kier, the FTSE 250 construction and services group commissioned the report which included 2,000 parents, teachers and careers advisors of children who are aged between 12 and 18 and in the UK state education sector. The survey revealed that two thirds of the teacher and careers advisors involved had a negative view of the construction industry and the potential career routes on offer.

Over 80% of the parents involved in the survey weren’t aware that it was possible for big construction companies to pay for university degree courses. And 90% of teachers across the UK didn’t know about the recruitment shortfall that is being experienced in the construction industry.

As a result of this survey, Kier have pledged a minimum of 15 of their workforce for the role of Career Ambassadors in order to establish a better relationship with schools and colleges across the UK. Through this scheme, Kier hope to engage with at least 10,000 pupils over the course of the next 12 months. If every company in the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 followed this 1% pledge in order to commit to the improvement of employment and skills, a powerful and influential network could be created that would be able to work to inform and inspire the next generation.