“Our industry has a skilled but ageing workforce, and often struggles to recruit young people at a roots level,” said Brendan Perring, general manager of the IPIA.
“Through Kickstart, we feel very proud to have not just contributed tangibly to the sector but also helped transform the lives of some bright young people who otherwise were facing long term unemployment.”
In 2021, the IPIA helped to place 33 young people with 25 of its members, and itself created two Kickstart roles. These were taken up by Kaci Cole and Bidhya Rai, whom the IPIA is training in graphic design.
The Kickstart scheme was launched in late 2020 as a government-assisted means of getting long-term unemployed young people into work.
Cole and Rai said their experience with the IPIA has given them confidence and a supportive environment in which to progress their skills.
“[Print is] flamboyant and exciting and a lot bigger than I first thought,” added Cole.
Lance Hill, managing director of Eight Days A Week Print Solutions, was the first to propose an IPIA Kickstarter consortium. He said the firm had struck gold in its trainees Callum Draycott and Sam Riley.
“Kickstart was one of the few positive things to come out of Covid. It was a good idea and well incentivised. It was always my intention to create a career path for a young person and we’ve done it for two people,” he said.
“At interview, both lads saw print as a dull and dying media form but now see it as slick and clever, using data and technology to drive customer communications.”
Perring told Printweek that the IPIA was now looking at other means of supporting young people into print.
One programme that the association is keen to get behind is The Printing Charity’s Rising Star Awards, formerly known as Print Futures.
The awards sponsor young people that want to get into print and related industries with grants of up to £1,500 that can go towards training, professional development, or technology.
Neil Lovell, CEO of The Printing Charity, told Printweek: “Our sector has one of the most varied range of roles you could imagine, from people seeking face to face customer interaction and development through to those who love all that’s involved in production and problem solving, and everything in between.
“Our awards aim to demonstrate these possibilities and also give support to rising stars in their own personal development.”
The IPIA has begun working with other print industry associations under the GPMA banner, such as the BPIF and Picon, to educate a larger number of young people about print.
Perring said: “We really need to get from that point where it’s just individual print businesses or organisations trying to do their bit, to making it a much more cohesive national coordinated project.”
