City & Guilds claims provision of careers advice must improve in order to boost UK workforce and economy.
The careers advice offered in the UK should be improved to help the country respond to the challenges of recession, it has been claimed.
According to a recent survey conducted by City & Guilds, 58 per cent of British employees feel the careers guidance they received at school was unsatisfactory.
Judith Norrington, director of policy at City & Guilds, said that improving careers advice should now be made a priority to satisfy "the needs of the economy and our workforce".
The study discovered that, while 26 per cent of British workers seek career advice from their local Jobcentre and 23 per cent would look to the internet for help with jobs, only eight per cent would turn to their former school, college or university for such guidance.
In addition, the research found that 52 per cent of employees have not received any careers advice since leaving education.
Mr Norrington commented: "Stop-start and inadequate careers advice has left one in five of us needing to retrain or re-skill as they have made an inadequately informed choice.
"The economic downturn is set to compound this further as employees need to adapt their skills to the changing needs of businesses and the labour market."
She claimed that careers advice should be a "truly lifelong service" which is available to people at all stages of their working life, rather than concentrated at the beginning of their career.
City & Guilds is an awarding body which gives vocational qualifications to 1.5 million people every year.
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