Stephen Isherwood
@stish.bsky.social
My job is anything to do with early career education, recruitment and development (ISE joint-CEO). Other stuff I look at on here: anything to do with allotments, art and old cars.
Our annual survey out today. Grad vacancies down 8%, non-grad (mostly apprenticeships) up 8%. But grad hires are more in volume so overall early career market down 5%. ise.org.uk/knowledge/in...
Apprenticeships rise as graduate vacancies drop 8%
ISE’s Student Recruitment Survey 2025 launches with the latest data on the entry-level jobs market.
ise.org.uk
October 15, 2025 at 9:48 AM
Our annual survey out today. Grad vacancies down 8%, non-grad (mostly apprenticeships) up 8%. But grad hires are more in volume so overall early career market down 5%. ise.org.uk/knowledge/in...
EE Broadband. How can a company be so mindbendingly incompetent and wasteful and still say solvent?
September 25, 2025 at 7:40 PM
EE Broadband. How can a company be so mindbendingly incompetent and wasteful and still say solvent?
The younger Ish has got the A-level grades she wanted and all is dandy. But having seen the process play out at first hand, and at what all her friends are doing, I can't help but think how unfit for purpose it is.
August 14, 2025 at 9:53 AM
The younger Ish has got the A-level grades she wanted and all is dandy. But having seen the process play out at first hand, and at what all her friends are doing, I can't help but think how unfit for purpose it is.
Just read this piece by @recneil.bsky.social, made me think of France where employment regs make it really hard for young people to get permanent contracts. campaign-for-learning.org.uk/Web/CFL/What...
An insider-outsider labour market needs an insider-outsider skills policy
By Neil Carberry, Chief Executive, REC - May 2025
campaign-for-learning.org.uk
May 15, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Just read this piece by @recneil.bsky.social, made me think of France where employment regs make it really hard for young people to get permanent contracts. campaign-for-learning.org.uk/Web/CFL/What...
Reposted by Stephen Isherwood
Last week on Wonkhe: Graduate and apprentice employers are growing less interested in a person’s age, education and technical experience. Stephen Isherwood explains the upshot for higher education
Employers will increasingly focus on graduates’ skills over technical knowledge
Graduate and apprentice employers are growing less interested in a person’s age, education and technical experience. Stephen Isherwood explains the upshot for higher education Graduate and apprentice...
buff.ly
April 27, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Last week on Wonkhe: Graduate and apprentice employers are growing less interested in a person’s age, education and technical experience. Stephen Isherwood explains the upshot for higher education
Best book I've read on politics in a very long time - Failed State by @samfr.bsky.social. Should be on the national curriculum.
April 26, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Best book I've read on politics in a very long time - Failed State by @samfr.bsky.social. Should be on the national curriculum.
Fascinating. There is also this tool from the IFS where you plug in your household income and it tells you where you sit relative to the rest of the UK. I think most people have very little understanding of what a middle income is: ifs.org.uk/tools_and_re...
Does earning £100k make you rich?
Exclusive new nationally representative polling from @FindoutnowUK.
Plus:
- What % of the country is rich?
- Do men and women differ?
- Should your primary home count?
- And which fictional families are rich?
www.edrith.co.uk/p/whos-rich-...
Thread.
Exclusive new nationally representative polling from @FindoutnowUK.
Plus:
- What % of the country is rich?
- Do men and women differ?
- Should your primary home count?
- And which fictional families are rich?
www.edrith.co.uk/p/whos-rich-...
Thread.
Who's Rich? Redux
Exclusive new polling from Find Out Now
www.edrith.co.uk
April 9, 2025 at 8:55 AM
Fascinating. There is also this tool from the IFS where you plug in your household income and it tells you where you sit relative to the rest of the UK. I think most people have very little understanding of what a middle income is: ifs.org.uk/tools_and_re...
A slide I left out my deck last week - it shows the current population split by age and projections to 2035. There are over 600,000 more 55-59yr-olds in the UK than 15-19yr-olds. One to think about when formulating talent plans! Link to our full report: ise.org.uk/page/futureo...
March 6, 2025 at 2:29 PM
A slide I left out my deck last week - it shows the current population split by age and projections to 2035. There are over 600,000 more 55-59yr-olds in the UK than 15-19yr-olds. One to think about when formulating talent plans! Link to our full report: ise.org.uk/page/futureo...
Today we launched our report on how student recruitment & development teams can embrace skills-based employer thinking. Reducing birth rates, an aging workforce and technological change are the drivers. ise.org.uk/page/futureo...
Future of early talent
Ten years ago, not many ISE members were hiring school leavers, now they are. Ten years from now, we expect many ISE member recruitment teams will not only still target school leavers and graduates, but also career changers, older workers and internal candidates.
ise.org.uk
February 27, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Today we launched our report on how student recruitment & development teams can embrace skills-based employer thinking. Reducing birth rates, an aging workforce and technological change are the drivers. ise.org.uk/page/futureo...
A lot of chat on our forums about students using AI live in online interviews. The trouble is they are then getting rejected as they don't come across as authentic, and might otherwise have got through.
January 17, 2025 at 9:50 AM
A lot of chat on our forums about students using AI live in online interviews. The trouble is they are then getting rejected as they don't come across as authentic, and might otherwise have got through.
@in-otter-news.bsky.social is so much my favourite find on here.
January 9, 2025 at 8:24 PM
@in-otter-news.bsky.social is so much my favourite find on here.
"41% of workers are mismatched in terms of field of study, because their highest qualification is not in the field that is most relevant to their job". But over 80% of UK employers don't recruit by subject. You don't need a law degree to be a lawyer here. www.oecd.org/en/publicati...
Do Adults Have the Skills They Need to Thrive in a Changing World?
The 2023 Survey of Adult Skills, a product of the OECD Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), provides a comprehensive overview of adults' literacy, numeracy, and ad...
www.oecd.org
December 10, 2024 at 4:43 PM
"41% of workers are mismatched in terms of field of study, because their highest qualification is not in the field that is most relevant to their job". But over 80% of UK employers don't recruit by subject. You don't need a law degree to be a lawyer here. www.oecd.org/en/publicati...
Difficult to sum up this excellent piece by @herdyshepherd.bsky.social , but this quote in particular stands out: our dipshit policy is to “Leave it to Tesco”,
unherd.com/2024/11/a-fa.... Reminded me of some of the themes in Wendell Berry's 2019 'Going Home' interview in the NYT.
unherd.com/2024/11/a-fa.... Reminded me of some of the themes in Wendell Berry's 2019 'Going Home' interview in the NYT.
The farmers march on Westminster
unherd.com
November 20, 2024 at 12:37 PM
Difficult to sum up this excellent piece by @herdyshepherd.bsky.social , but this quote in particular stands out: our dipshit policy is to “Leave it to Tesco”,
unherd.com/2024/11/a-fa.... Reminded me of some of the themes in Wendell Berry's 2019 'Going Home' interview in the NYT.
unherd.com/2024/11/a-fa.... Reminded me of some of the themes in Wendell Berry's 2019 'Going Home' interview in the NYT.
Reposted by Stephen Isherwood
Appreciate this may not be a universally popular opinion but the less you treat BlueSky as a crusade or cause, and the more you position it as simply a superior user experience with a better governance approach, the more sustainable the growth will be.
November 20, 2024 at 10:21 AM
Appreciate this may not be a universally popular opinion but the less you treat BlueSky as a crusade or cause, and the more you position it as simply a superior user experience with a better governance approach, the more sustainable the growth will be.
Reposted by Stephen Isherwood
Every word of this. www.hepi.ac.uk/2024/10/14/p...
Sarra Jenkins' excellent reflections on the recent developments in the #UCAS #PersonalStatements
Sarra Jenkins' excellent reflections on the recent developments in the #UCAS #PersonalStatements
Personal Statements – a redraft rather than a reform? - HEPI
UCAS’s 2026 Personal Statement reforms aim to simplify the process and level the playing field, yet the minimal changes may not significantly reduce stress or widen access for students as intended.
www.hepi.ac.uk
October 14, 2024 at 1:28 PM
Every word of this. www.hepi.ac.uk/2024/10/14/p...
Sarra Jenkins' excellent reflections on the recent developments in the #UCAS #PersonalStatements
Sarra Jenkins' excellent reflections on the recent developments in the #UCAS #PersonalStatements
Two sentences in the FT today caught my eye:
“Immigration drives fastest population growth for half a century”, and, “Deaths outnumbered births for the first time in 50 years, other than during the pandemic”. There are now fewer 15-19yr olds than 55-59yr olds in the UK. (www.populationpyramid.net)
“Immigration drives fastest population growth for half a century”, and, “Deaths outnumbered births for the first time in 50 years, other than during the pandemic”. There are now fewer 15-19yr olds than 55-59yr olds in the UK. (www.populationpyramid.net)
October 8, 2024 at 3:11 PM
Two sentences in the FT today caught my eye:
“Immigration drives fastest population growth for half a century”, and, “Deaths outnumbered births for the first time in 50 years, other than during the pandemic”. There are now fewer 15-19yr olds than 55-59yr olds in the UK. (www.populationpyramid.net)
“Immigration drives fastest population growth for half a century”, and, “Deaths outnumbered births for the first time in 50 years, other than during the pandemic”. There are now fewer 15-19yr olds than 55-59yr olds in the UK. (www.populationpyramid.net)
Our recent pulse survey on international student job applications: 33% of employers said they will now state where candidates can’t apply for some locations/positions if they need a visa, even with the graduate visa. Small sample, only 15, but as more are public on their policy others will follow.
September 12, 2024 at 3:43 PM
Our recent pulse survey on international student job applications: 33% of employers said they will now state where candidates can’t apply for some locations/positions if they need a visa, even with the graduate visa. Small sample, only 15, but as more are public on their policy others will follow.
Reposted by Stephen Isherwood
New post just out:
Notes on a dismal leadership contest...
"Can anyone save the Conservative Party?"
(£/free trial)
open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/c...
Notes on a dismal leadership contest...
"Can anyone save the Conservative Party?"
(£/free trial)
open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/c...
Can anyone save the Conservative Party?
Notes on a dismal leadership contest
open.substack.com
September 12, 2024 at 7:33 AM
New post just out:
Notes on a dismal leadership contest...
"Can anyone save the Conservative Party?"
(£/free trial)
open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/c...
Notes on a dismal leadership contest...
"Can anyone save the Conservative Party?"
(£/free trial)
open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/c...
"Of the respondents who had been successful, many said their best advice for students was to contact their university’s careers service, to gain as much practical experience as possible before, during and after their degree, and to pick up additional skills." www.theguardian.com/money/articl...
‘Like throwing myself at a wall’: UK graduates struggle in ‘insane’ job market
‘Hostile and impersonal’ process to find first job after university leads many to work for minimum wage
www.theguardian.com
August 30, 2024 at 7:58 AM
"Of the respondents who had been successful, many said their best advice for students was to contact their university’s careers service, to gain as much practical experience as possible before, during and after their degree, and to pick up additional skills." www.theguardian.com/money/articl...
Blustery but sunny couple of days in Pembrokeshire
August 25, 2024 at 7:45 AM
Blustery but sunny couple of days in Pembrokeshire
IMO apprentice funding should shift towards young people. This from today's FT report on skills: "While university places are almost unlimited... apprenticeships and traineeships are in effect capped because of inadequate funding." www.ft.com/content/8422...
August 20, 2024 at 9:01 AM
IMO apprentice funding should shift towards young people. This from today's FT report on skills: "While university places are almost unlimited... apprenticeships and traineeships are in effect capped because of inadequate funding." www.ft.com/content/8422...
Finally cleared my new allotment, very happy 😄. And my back survived the ordeal.
August 20, 2024 at 8:54 AM
Finally cleared my new allotment, very happy 😄. And my back survived the ordeal.
Breakdown of what actually happened to uni applications on A-level results day. "More England-domiciled 18 year olds have been placed at university on results day than in any year other than 2021", wrote David Kernohan on Wonkhe: wonkhe.com/blogs/a-leve...
A level results day, 2024
All the results, all the analysis, and all the clearing action from JCQ results day 2024
wonkhe.com
August 20, 2024 at 8:33 AM
Breakdown of what actually happened to uni applications on A-level results day. "More England-domiciled 18 year olds have been placed at university on results day than in any year other than 2021", wrote David Kernohan on Wonkhe: wonkhe.com/blogs/a-leve...