Sarah Mann joined as an apprentice account executive at the Huddersfield-based firm in February, on a scheme run by the local National Business College, which will help her work towards a Level 2 certification in business administration.

Mann has since been shadowing the client services team, in order to learn more about various aspects of the business and the market it deals with, as well as processing jobs and dealing with the customer services.

Propack account director Gary Walker said: “Sarah is doing really well so far and we are very pleased. Because of this positive experience, hiring more apprentices in the future is not something we would discount.

“I think training and bringing young people into the industry needs to happen because, to a degree, customers have lost their knowledge base in areas such as direct mail. Specialist and knowledgeable print buyers are rare and now, because of a resurgence in direct mail, a lot of businesses want to use it but do not know much about it.

“This means companies like ours have to operate as advisors, on top of just reacting to market demand, and we spend a lot of time educating clients. Because of this, we need to make sure that knowledge is cultivated in new workers and kept within the industry.”

Mann joined the team shortly after the acquisition by Propack of several new clients and the appointment of Emily Parkinson and Nicola Gautry as account managers to further enhance customer services.

According to senior account manager Limara McDermott, the apprenticeship route was chosen as the firm struggled finding the right candidates through recruitment and decided instead to cultivate its own.

£8m-turnover Propack provides services in digital print, direct mail, print management and postage, with a number of blue-chip clients including Sky Bet, Travis Perkins and GHD. It operates on premises spanning 4,180sqm and employs 63 members of staff.