Attracting the youth

Over the years, successive governments have introduced various schemes and plans to help combat youth unemployment. The Labour party pledged at its recent party conference to abolish long-term youth unemployment. But what are companies and bodies on the ground doing to help? IR managing editor, Melanie Attlesey, investigates.

Back in September, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the Labour Party’s plan to guarantee young people who have been out of a job or education for 18 months a work placement.

She added that those who do not take up the offer could face being stripped of their benefits.

The initiative builds on the ‘youth guarantee’, announced last November, which promised every 18 to 21-year-old in England access to an apprenticeship, training, education opportunities or help to find a job.

While I was carrying out interviews with print service providers for the latest Widthwise Survey it surprised me just how many managing directors or CEOs were nearing retirement or had retired since the 2024 survey was carried out.

It’s no secret that the print industry as a sector is experiencing a bit of an ageing workforce and skills shortage crisis. But the question remains – just how do we make the industry an interesting and promising career path for anyone under the age of 25?

Attract and nurture

The Printing Charity has taken this issue by the horns and has produced a campaign called ‘Five Ideas’ to help print businesses understand what it is young people working in print love about it – and hopefully take forward this knowledge and learn from it. The goal of the campaign being to help businesses consider effective ways to attract, and nurture, the emerging talent in their teams.

Liz Ross Martyn, director of marketing and engagement at the charity, explains: “At the charity, we’re here to do what we can to help people in our sector thrive, and part of that is doing what we can to help the sector itself thrive, too.”

The charity has for a number of years now ran its Rising Star Awards, which celebrate and reward young talent in the print sector. Data from the Rising Star Award winners since 2021 shows that 79% are still working in the industry – which is an encouraging statistic. So, this has naturally built up a group of youngsters willing to share their real-world experiences of starting and developing
careers in the print sector. It’s these experiences that the campaign has been launched off the back of.

Liz says that upon speaking with the Rising Stars alumni to gauge their thoughts on working in print, the team would hear statements such as ‘it’s modern-day magic’, and ‘the industry communicates in ways that are irreplaceable’. But this was a complete paradox to when the same group were asked what their thoughts were on the print sector before joining. They often believed that print was ‘stuck in the past’, because they hadn’t yet had the opportunity to experience or learn what the sector is truly like.

“Clearly, this is crucial to try and address,” says Liz.

Another aspect which sparked the launch of the campaign were the conversations the Printing Charity was having within the industry. “There are lots of discussions about the challenges of enticing young people into the sector, and there are a number of really excellent initiatives being run within the industry to show people about to take that next step into the workplace what the print industry and allied trades are like,” explains Liz. “We wanted to provide a resource that was open to everyone and easily available, to help with those challenges.”

The five ideas

So, what exactly are the five ideas that make up the campaign?

They can be broken down into the following, with the idea being that PSPs can use the information provided in the Five Ideas booklet to attract and retain young talent by learning what makes them tick:

1) Shout about the fact that print is an industry that young people can be passionate about.
2) Make it clear how print offers many ways to build a career.
3) Provide the right training, support and development.
4) Consider how to use network connections to build communities, and encourage collaboration.
5) Take time to think through and implement initiatives for workplace wellbeing.

The Five Ideas booklet goes into further detail surrounding each of the ideas and provides essential points and thoughts for businesses to consider. I’d recommend sourcing a copy to find out more.

Although it’s early days with the campaign, it’s already raised a lot of interesting points and generated a lot of interesting conversations.

What’s clear is that without the help of the Rising Star Award winners the publication of the Five Ideas booklet would not have been possible.

As one Rising Star alumni said: “We have to be visible to encourage people to join us.” While another added: “Before the industry I was blind to how much print was around us – when you see it, it’s a complete gamechanger.”

Those involved in the creation of the booklet have identified an outdated, and often incorrect, perception among young people of what the industry really comprises for a career; and difficulty in gaining insight into what working in print really means.

“Their invaluable insight underlined what inspires and excites them about the industry, and provided a clear view of what they’re looking for from employers to help them push forward with a fulfilling career,” explains Liz.

“Our (and their!) sincere hope is that their insight will provide the brilliant businesses in our sector with implementable, straightforward ideas to consider when they are looking at how to attract and nurture our future leaders,” Liz continues.

A long way to go

Ultimately, the industry has a long way to go to reverse its perception and to promote it as a promising career path to young people. All the Printing Charity is asking is that businesses take a second and think about how they can encourage and inspire young people working in our sector.

And perhaps with the help of government initiatives such as the one proposed by the Labour Party, we will begin see an injection of youth into the print sector.