The BPIF is creating a School Engagement Programme to help bridge the skills and age gap, and to address diversity and social inclusion issues in the industry. Can you help?
By September the BPIF hopes to have a skills/recruitment strategy for the print industry, with tools, guidance and information that can provide companies with support to engage in youth-focused programmes. But, before that, it wants your help to ensure that the new School Engagement Programme it is formulating is properly focussed and meets current and future needs. To that end it is calling for print providers in the large-format sector to get involved and take to part in an online survey at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/79SCLNX.
The survey has been open for some time, but PSPs in this sector have been somewhat lethargic, with the BPIF saying it has only had “four or five” responses so far. Whatever the reason for this, time is running out if the sector is to be properly represented within the programme, which aims to:
- Increase the industry’s profile with young people
- Promote the industry to students, educators, unions and associations
- Improve relationships between companies and the educational sector
- Increase industry apprentices
The bottom line is that we need to ensure there continues to be the right people in the right jobs at the right time. As the BPIF points out, this part of the industry, which is so creative and has such strong ties with big brand clients, could be up front and centre when it comes to striking a chord with youngsters yet to decide on their career path.
Sarah Tishler, development director at Simpson Group is the chair of the BPIF Student Engagement Forum Steering Group and says: “Ever since participating in the ESH Group ‘Building My Skills’ programme - where we started to present the idea of a career in the print industry to students at local schools, whilst also introducing them to the STEM Learning Top 10 employability skills and covering set check point learning embedded in the programme (such as options after GCSEs, world of work, CV builder and cover letters, interview preparation) - I have been exploring how we can attract students to our business and the print industry in general.
“Unless they have a family member employed in print you are probably unlikely to hear a school-aged student tell you they ‘want to be a printer’ when you ask them what their future plans look like. After all, print does seem to be the biggest industry that the future workforce has never thought of.
“Through this role as chair of the BPIF Student Engagement Forum Steering Group, and with the support and collaboration of other BPIF members, Local Enterprise Partnerships, The Careers and Enterprise Company and anyone else we can encourage to be involved - including other trade bodies linked to the print industry - we can hopefully create a ‘plug and play’ national programme to support print companies in their quest to ignite student interest and get them fired up for a career in print.”
At the time of writing the BPIF was working on ready-to-use online and offline materials which could be used for different activities aimed at encouraging youngsters into print - company visits, career days, social media campaigns etc. The ‘pack’ will also contain guidelines on areas such as mentoring, as well as videos, social media posts, other online assets and printed materials.
It is also happy to act as a conduit between PSPs and Leeds Beckett University to engage with students. Last year the federation worked with the university’s third year business students and MBA students on projects such as how print will influence the retail digital space, and how the future consumer will shop. The group worked with the BPIF’s Display and POS special interest group and member companies in the sector to understand print and its standing in the space. It is now offering PSPs the chance set a project and work with the university’s students from October/November 2023 - April/May 2024.