{"id":44196,"date":"2023-10-20T15:34:07","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/why-young-aussie-graduates-still-dont-want-to-join-a-startup-and-what-needs-to-change-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:34:07","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:34:07","slug":"why-young-aussie-graduates-still-dont-want-to-join-a-startup-and-what-needs-to-change-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/why-young-aussie-graduates-still-dont-want-to-join-a-startup-and-what-needs-to-change-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Why young Aussie graduates still don\u2019t want to join a startup and what needs to change – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Despite increased focus from all levels of government on entrepreneurship and embracing a culture of risk, young Australian STEM graduates are among the most averse in the world to joining a startup, a new study claims.<\/p>\n

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Amplifying Human Potential: Education and Skills for the Fourth Industrial Revolution<\/i>, released at the World Economic Forum on Monday afternoon, finds that less than 4% of the 1000 Australian STEM students and workers aged 15-25 surveyed have an interest in working for a startup.<\/p>\n

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Out of nine surveyed countries, Australian students are among the least prepared for the digital revolution and lack the necessary skills for future jobs.<\/p>\n

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The study was commissioned by Infosys, and vice president and regional head Andrew Groth tells StartupSmart<\/i> there are some concerning implications.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere are some very important messages for the startup community,\u201d Groth says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis whole thing that\u2019s driving the lack of confidence is what they\u2019ve got to take notice of. It\u2019s very timely.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe federal government\u2019s innovation statement did not come a moment too soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Startups too much of a risk and lack the reputation<\/b><\/p>\n


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Robert Holt is studying a Masters of Engineering at the University of Melbourne and says joining a larger company is still much more appealing and less risky for STEM graduates than getting on board with a smaller startup.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s not a private sentiment \u2013 it\u2019s something that I\u2019ve discussed with friends of mine that have categorically said that if you go straight into the workforce with a startup it\u2019ll diminish your employability,\u201d Holt tells StartupSmart.<\/i><\/p>\n


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\u201cPeople aren\u2019t concerned about income; they\u2019re concerned about their long-term employability. It\u2019s more of a gamble on pretty much every front.\u201d <\/i><\/p>\n

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The report finds that young Australians still have a \u201cstronger aversion to risk\u201d than the other countries surveyed and this is a key aspect that the federal government hopes to address, starting with a $28 million advertising campaign to spruik the $1 billion innovation statement.<\/p>\n

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The report lists numerous reasons why graduates still find working at a large tech company more appealing than a startup.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe greater stability, training opportunities, good salary and progression that large businesses can offer underpin their appeal,\u201d the report says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cDespite the high profile of many of the most successful global entrepreneurs today \u2013 some of whom are not much older than the respondents in this research \u2013 fast-paced change and the prospect of future disruption in the labour market are encouraging a more conservative workplace mindset among young people.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe reality is that young people gravitate towards larger companies that are perceived to offer greater stability, opportunities for development and structured progression.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In a statement, minister for industry, innovation and science Christopher Pyne says the government’s flagship innovation statement will look to close some of these gaps.<\/p>\n

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“These measures will help to address the findings in this report, positioning Australia and young Australians to be able to take advantage of digital disruptions as innovation pacesetters.<\/p>\n

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But to ensure young graduates want to work for startups, a wider culture change needs to take place, he says.<\/p>\n

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“The government can only do so much,” Pyne says.<\/p>\n

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“If we are to want to lift the ambition of young Australians there needs to be a cultural shift, an embracing of ‘taking a chance’ on creative ideas and lifting the profile of STEM in the community.”<\/p>\n

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What needs to change<\/b><\/p>\n


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In order to attract skilled graduates, startups need to offer long-term education within a job to compete with the larger organisations, Groth says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe key message is that a lot of these young people still at university want to have life-long learning a development plan that enables them to multi-skill.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe startup community needs to figure out how to give this to attract that type of talent. They have to ask, \u2018how can we give them that ongoing ability to learn and develop?\u2019<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey have to figure out how to do that in a different way.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In order to attract more STEM graduates to a startup, founders need to make themselves and the job listings more visible, and make the roles more attractive to students, Holt adds.<\/p>\n

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\u201cLooking at the job listings at smaller firms, the startup and entrepreneurial sector is driven less by engineers and more by business grads who are breaking out of their established firms,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThat\u2019s clear in the tech choices those companies make, and they\u2019re choices I wouldn\u2019t make.\u201d<\/p>\n

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To improve the situation, Australia needs to create its own thriving startup ecosystem rather than try to replicate the hotspots around the world, Holt says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI would love to see it change,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThat Silicon Valley startup culture does scare me. You don\u2019t see the work-to-actual-value-creation relationship a lot of the time and there\u2019s no path to monetisation.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI would love to see startups in Australia that are more visible to graduates.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Graduates not prepared for the digital revolution<\/b><\/p>\n


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Among the nine countries covered in the study, young Australians are the least prepared for the impending digital revolution.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYoung Australians are among the most highly aware of the increasingly pivotal role technology will play in their lives yet are falling behind in their confidence and drive to learn the necessary skills to remain relevant in the digital economy,\u201d Groth says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis disparity needs to be addressed so we can empower our future leaders to succeed in the workforce of the future. Our educators, business leaders and governments need to come together to action a modernised approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Follow<\/i> StartupSmart on<\/i> Facebook<\/i>,<\/i> Twitter<\/i>, and<\/i> LinkedIn<\/i>.<\/i> <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite increased focus from all levels of government on entrepreneurship and embracing a culture of risk, young Australian STEM graduates<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44196"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}