With unemployment standing firm above the one million mark and competition for work experience places intensifying, the summer holidays mark a pivotal time for thousands of young people as they prepare for the world of work. Facing some of the toughest employment challenges ever, it's understandable that young people are daunted as they look to get their foot on the career ladder- but I do believe there is some cause for optimism.
That's because young job seekers have a set of skills that large swathes of workers don't - I'm talking about digital literacy, an entrepreneurial spirit and the ability to embrace innovation. Think about it - the blogger, the social media manager, the app developer - three buzz jobs that didn't exist 10 years ago. Today's youth community has, in abundance, the skills and knowledge that many organisations so desperately need. Now is the time for young people to capitalise on the fact that they have grown up in a digital world.
But whilst young people must showcase their innate digital skills and demonstrate why they are so valuable to potential employers, there's only so much that they can do on their own. As young people ardently seek out opportunities with businesses, so too do businesses need to recognise the opportunity in young people. We know economic growth depends on the digital economy so it's odd that too many businesses are excluding from the workplace the very people who have digital skills - the skills needed to pull the country out of recession.
All businesses, big and small need to take some responsibility for getting young people into work. Whether it's providing quality work experience, mentoring opportunities, internships or apprenticeships - we can all play our part.
At O2, 25% of our workforce is under 25 so we're privileged to see first-hand the benefits that young people bring to our business. We recently launched an internship scheme, offering 50 young people to chance to develop their skills through six month-long paid internships. We are also putting 3,000 young people through work skills days - bite size sessions for young people aged 16 where they can try their hand at engineering and activities across digital technology - and increasing the number of apprenticeship and graduate positions we offer in 2012.
As a leading communications company in a digital world, we are taking responsibility for setting the agenda to harness a digitally skilled workforce that is fit for the future. There are a handful other companies who, like us, are already taking urgent action to ensure today's youth community does not become a lost generation. But with over one million young people still unemployed - there's simply not enough being done. We need to see more businesses giving young people the opportunity to grow their confidence and capitalise on their skills and knowledge. Only then will we see young people, business and the British economy thrive.