Praetorian Marketing Reports- Government Work Experience Plans Face New Low

Praetorian Marketing have discovered that the popular fast food chain Burger King has pulled out of the Governments ‘Get Britain Working’ scheme. The government campaign has been under scrutiny recently, and following the controversy and public concern, Burger King has decided they will no longer partake in the project.

The scheme sees jobseekers continue to collect benefits while working for ‘free’ for a business to gain work experience. The online page for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) states the following,

‘The Government is committed to fighting poverty; supporting the most vulnerable and helping people break the cycle of benefit dependency. As a result we have made significant reforms to the welfare-to-work programmes currently available to Jobcentre Plus customers. The Work Programme represents a step change for Welfare to Work in this country, creating a structure that treats people as individuals and allows providers greater freedom to tailor the right support to the individual needs of each claimant.'

It continues,

‘The Work Programme also ensures value for money for the taxpayer by basing payments largely on results, and paying service providers from the benefits saved from getting people into work. It is very much a partnership between Government and providers from across the public, private and third sectors’.

Burger King is reportedly not the only company to either pull out or voice growing concerns over the scheme in recent weeks. Companies who have expressed issues with the project are said to include the book shop Waterstones, Maplin, retail firm Matalan, supermarket giant Tesco and Argos amongst others.

Praetorian Marketing has been following the unemployment issues in the UK for some time, so were not surprised recently to find that graduates nowadays are as likely to be employed as 16 year old school leavers, (http://www.praetorianmarketing.co.uk/2012/02/graduates-just-as-likely-to-be-unemployed-as-16-year-old-school-leavers-praetorian-marketing-shocked-to-find/).  Some of the issues regarding the ‘Get Britain working’ scheme have been attributed to what work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith brands as ‘work snobs’ or people who think they are too good for positions being offered. Forced to defend the scheme in light of its negative press he told the Daily Mail,

"Those critics waging a war against work experience also forget that some of this country's most successful businessmen and women started their careers on the shop floor. As well as betraying their ignorance and snobbery, our opponents have pathetically opted to use human rights laws, making claims about people being subjected by force to 'slave labour'."

A spokesperson for Praetorian Marketing commented,

“As a sales and marketing company specialising in client representation, we’re often looking for people to work alongside our company to help represent our clients. From recent experience talking to the unemployed, we have found that a lot of them are missing out on positions through lack of either experience or qualifications. In a lot of cases people require both experience and qualifications and a lot of people either have one or the other.  Praetorian Marketing believe that whatever background a person comes from, if businesses took more time and effort to implement a training process for job applicants it would benefit all involved. More people would become employed, but also businesses would be more confident in knowing that the candidate has full knowledge of exactly what they need to do and when.”

Graduates Just as Likely to Be Unemployed as 16 Year Old School Leavers Praetorian Marketing Shocked to Find

Official statistics released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) today show that a 21 year old graduate is just as likely to be unemployed as a 16 year old leaving school with just one GCSE. Praetorian Marketing investigates the shocking statistics.

The statistics showed that a quarter of people in the 16-24 age bracket were unemployed and there was no discernable difference between those who left school with no qualifications and those who graduated at 21. Praetorian Marketing understands that this figure falls to 5 percent when graduates reach the age of 24.

The statistics from the ONS appear to mirror those from the previous three recessions. Apparently youth unemployment has risen during the last three recessions and in the period immediately after them. The current figure of 1.04 million is the highest since 1986 and compares to 924,000 in the 1993 recession.

The worrying signs of youth unemployment is something that Praetorian Marketing has been highlighting for some time and it seems that deputy prime minister feels the same way. He said last week, “It is a tragedy for the young people involved – a ticking time bomb for the economy and our society as a whole.”

Far more than the financial repercussions of unemployment Praetorian Marketing feels Mr. Clegg was wise to point out that the psychological effects are just as damaging. “Sitting at home with nothing to do when you’re so young can knock the stuffing out of you for years. We urgently need to step up efforts to ensure some of our most troubled teenagers have the skills, confidence and opportunities to succeed."

The statistics have been released at the same time as the government is due to launch a £124 million fund to help young people find employment. A spokesperson for Praetorian Marketing said, “Whilst the statistics are deeply concerning it is positive to see that action is being taken to improve the situation.” Britain is just above the European average for unemployment among young people and is half of what it is in Spain.

Praetorian Marketing supports the recent move by universities to show their students the importance of work-place experience as well as their degree. There really isn’t enough that graduates can do to prepare themselves for the working world at this time.

Praetorian Marketing Reviews: 43 Mistakes Businesses Make by Duncan Bannatyne

Praetorian Marketing reviews their latest read ’43 Mistakes Businesses Make…and How to Avoid Them‘ by Duncan Bannatyne.

Praetorian Marketing was a little sceptical about reading the latest book to come from one of the Dragon’s Den ‘Dragons’. Was is simply going to be a read plugging the show with no real lessons to be learnt? The Birmingham based marketing company was pleased to find that the book was actually incredibly informative.

Geared more towards start-ups than those already running successful companies the book is simply set out with each chapter dealing with one of the 43 pitfalls. Interestingly for such a negative title the book is very encouraging. The book deals more with persuading individuals to trust their gut when it comes to a business idea and encourages you not to feel you have to conform to pre-prescribed ideas about running a business.

Unsurprisingly the book draws on many examples from Dragon’s Den, both good and bad, but Praetorian Marketing doesn’t feel that this is at the expense of providing some great lessons. For the target audience it is a perfect way to show what has worked and what hasn’t, from idea conception right through to managing sales.

Some of the mistakes are simply tips to prevent you wasting your time or embarrassing yourself whilst others are geared towards making sure your business doesn’t fail completely. “What was most interesting to me,” comments the director of Praetorian Marketing, “was mistake 43. Bannatyne believes that the biggest mistake that anyone can make in business is to never start your idea in the first place.”

He continued, “The huge variety of tips on offer means that even though not everything will be relevant there is definitely something for everyone to take away from the book. There are even a few things that company directors can learn.”

Praetorian Marketing’s verdict? “A perfect book to inspire, educate and encourage the budding entrepreneur with some humour thrown in as well.”