Bradford’s chief careers officer is urging school and college leavers to do all they can to arm themselves against an economic downturn.

Trevor Mason, 52, newly-appointed chief executive of Careers Bradford, remains optimistic about the city’s future as regeneration gathers pace, but is warning students to “think very carefully” about their career choices as market conditions change.

He said: “Unemployment hits hardest at the people who are the weakest in an economy. People’s best protection against that is their skills set – the more broad ranging and flexible that is the more people will be able to adapt to changing circumstances.”

Mr Mason, previously chief executive of Lifetime Careers in South Yorkshire, said the district’s jobs market had altered radically in recent years, and stressed the need for school leavers and job seekers to align themselves to it.

He said: “By and large what we are seeing is a growth in service and professional sectors and a decline in manufacturing and manual jobs. And even when jobs are manual the skill-set has changed and many now are computerised.

“There are no guarantees but people will be in a far better position to respond to those changes if they have better skills and qualifications. Demand is changing and there is now a need for more qualified people in the service, retail and professional industries.”

Mr Mason applauded the year-on-year improvements made by GCSE students across the district, but called on school leavers to wherever possible think about forging their own distinct career path.

“We have seen a year-on-year improvement in the percentage of young people attaining five A* to C GCSEs, but the problem is everyone else has improved too,” he said.

“When young people make choices they need to think carefully about where those choices will take them. Some young people are staying in education because they don’t know what else to do. Too many are drifting and don’t have a career plan.

“But I am not sure we can necessarily blame the young people – it’s whether we are giving them the right information at the right time. There are some fantastic young people in Bradford. We have to understand what the economy will be like in the future and from that create a pathway for young people to follow.”

Bradford has seen an increase in the percentage of 16-year-olds choosing to remain in full-time education, rising from 70 per cent in 2004 to 77.3 per cent in 2007. The proportion of Year 11 pupils entering employment without training has also fallen from 4.3 per cent in 2004 to around 2.5 per cent.

Careers Bradford advisors are on hand to advise people from the age of 13 on training, education and employment. Call (01274) 829429 or visit careersbrad ford.com to find out more.