What’s Stopping Organisations Hiring Young Talent?

Conversations about workforce renewal are not difficult to find in the creative and cultural sector. Most leaders recognise that their organisations will need to look different in ten years’ time: youth voice is regularly cited as a priority, and there is broad agreement that entry routes into the industry need to improve. 

Yet when recruitment patterns are examined more closely, early-career hiring remains inconsistent. 

Analysis from the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre shows that 57% of creative industries employers had recruited someone under 25 in the previous two to three years, compared to 64% across all sectors*. More notably, 70% of creative employers had not recruited any education leavers during that period. Work placements are relatively common, but far fewer convert into sustained employment than in other industries. 

The intention is clearly there, but the challenge lies in how that intention translates into practice. 

*Giles, L. and Carey, H. (2025) Creative industries employers’ perspectives on skills initiatives: 2025. Creative PEC State of the Nations Research Series. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.15730438 

From Intention to Structure

Capacity is often cited as a central barrier. Smaller teams are managing increasingly complex portfolios of work, frequently within short project cycles and under financial constraints. Supervising and developing someone at the beginning of their career requires time and consistency, neither of which is always abundant. 

Employer surveys also suggest a broader confidence gap. Research from the CIPD indicates that many employers feel younger workers are not fully prepared for the expectations of the workplace. Whether those perceptions are fair is open to debate, but they influence behaviour. When an organisation feels stretched, the tendency is to recruit someone who appears ready to operate independently from day one. 

What is striking is that the creative sector is not risk-averse in general. Organisations take programming risks, experiment with new digital approaches, enter ambitious partnerships and bid competitively for funding. Cultural organisations make risk-based decisions all the time and it is a common part of how organisations operate. However, early-career recruitment is often treated as something separate, and that separation deserves attention. 

In many cases, hesitation does not stem from the young people themselves, but from the absence of scaffolding. Without clear timelines, defined responsibilities and external support, early-career recruitment can feel improvised. This improvisation can increase feelings of uncertainty. 

Where entry routes are structured, the dynamic changes: 

• Clear role scoping reduces ambiguity 
• Pre-employment preparation strengthens readiness 
• Ongoing mentoring and regular check-ins provide reassurance for both employers and employees 
• Shared accountability spreads responsibility beyond a single line manager 

When these elements are built in, the conversation shifts from risk towards development. 

Designing Entry Routes That Work

There is also a longer-term consideration. The creative industries contribute significantly to the UK economy and rely on the continual renewal of ideas and perspectives. If a substantial proportion of organisations are not recruiting younger people, the sector’s future workforce will narrow by default. Youth voice should not remain an abstract aspiration and can only become meaningful when young people are embedded within teams and contributing towards projects, decision-making, programming and strategy. 

Organisations that have taken part in supported entry models, such as Artswork’s Breakthrough Programme, often describe the experience in practical rather than ideological terms. One employer reflected that working with Artswork meant they ​“felt supported as an organisation and therefore able to support our placement person.” Another described the scheme as ​“a very helpful way to show, in practice, how to support young people into the creative sector.” 

These kinds of reflections are less about charity and more about operational design. When expectations are clear and support is visible, bringing in early-career talent becomes far more manageable for organisations and far more meaningful for the young people involved. 

Supported entry models are designed to address the gap between intention and practical opportunity, providing structure for employers while supporting young people as they enter the sector. Rather than asking organisations to create a pathway from scratch, they provide a defined framework and shared support. For employers, this can mean clearer expectations, external mentoring for participants and regular touchpoints throughout the placement. For young people, it means preparation before arrival and guidance throughout the experience. 

Artswork’s Breakthrough Programme operates on this basis. Running for six months across the South, it offers creative and cultural organisations a structured way to bring in early-career talent, with wraparound support for both employers and participants. The aim is to reduce avoidable barriers and increase the likelihood of success on both sides. 

For some organisations, the impact extends beyond a single placement. As one employer put it, ​“we love the scheme and hope we can take on more young people next year as a strategic pillar of our growth plan.” 

If you would like to learn more about Breakthrough, including how to express interest in the 2026 cohort, you can read the full details here.

For organisations thinking more broadly about how to embed youth voice meaningfully into their work, Artswork Professional Development’s eLearning course Exploring Models of Participation provides practical frameworks and approaches that may also be useful.