Youve Got the Degree, Now Get Out the Passport Viewpoint careers advice blog

You’ve Got the Degree, Now Get Out the Passport More young people are  travelling  overseas to find work. Governments and employers must take  responsibility  for ensuring they dont lose a generation of talent. Earlier this month, I spotted a story in the French newspaper  Le Monde  warning of an exodus of young talent from France. It seems that many young French people think that greater opportunities exist overseas, particularly in Asia. This is very interesting â€" a country that has traditionally  benefited  from immigration seeing its brightest and best leaving to find work abroad. Many young graduates around the world are doing the same, with youth unemployment at home forcing them to seek a decent job and salary elsewhere. Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged the 15 million young Europeans currently out of work to take advantage of the EU’s open borders and move around to find employment, and they’re doing so. With more than half of young people unemployed in Greece and Spain, I hear that German classes in those countries are oversubscribed. Moving for work is now a worldwide phenomenon It’s not just a European phenomenon. India has been losing many of its gifted graduates for some time, particularly to the US. Seven million people graduated from China’s colleges and universities this year, but with the Chinese economy slowing, more youngsters are looking to the US, Canada and Australia to start their careers. For the individuals involved, I believe this presents an incredible opportunity. I’ve spent part of my own professional life working abroad and learned more from those periods than I can begin to describe. Savvy employers can reap enormous benefits from this increasingly mobile and educated workforce. But while some economies will see a short-term skills gain, the effects on many labour markets will be devastating. For the countries waving goodbye to a generation of talent, the brain drain may prove irreversible and create real economic issues in future years. Governments bear a great responsibility for this. Italy’s Prime Minister Enrico Letta recently apologised to the youth of his country for their need to seek work outside their native land. He admitted that Italy had got it wrong in the past, educating its young people, but creating no opportunities for them. Similarly, UK business leaders have accused the British education system of being little more than an exam factory that leaves young people without the skills they need to function in the modern workplace. Young people themselves are responding to their plight in a very pragmatic manner. They may not want to travel abroad to find work, but they realise they must if they wish to find opportunity and I applaud their initiative and courage in doing so. Governments, institutions and employers could learn a lot from this willingness to adapt, evolve and take tough decisions. Tackling these problems will require new ideas and flexibility. Otherwise countries will wake up in the future and realise they have lost a whole generation of talent, but by then it will be too late to get them back. //