In the following pages the need for the industry to attract more young people is highlighted on no fewer than six pages, and even by an HRH no less!

Few would argue that the industry needs to do more in this regard, and equally few would argue that it hasn’t already upped its game.

From a fairly low base point, admittedly, but upped it nonetheless, thanks to organisations like the BPIF and Proskills doing their bit, and companies like Label Apeel and Emmerson Press (and hundreds of others) stepping up to the plate.

While I’m sure that the industry still faces a credibility issue with young people in the eyes of some, the bigger challenge seems to be one of profile: we’re just not doing enough to highlight the opportunities in print.

If only we worked in a communications industry, dammit, then we could easily rectify that.

I’m being flippant, of course, it’s going to take more than handing out a few leaflets outside the school gates or popping a few brochures into the post to increase print’s profile. What we need is an army of advocates, who are happy to talk up the industry whenever the opportunity arises.

But seeing as we’re part of an industry that employs more than 100,000 people that hopefully shouldn’t pose too much of a problem, surely?

Because if each of us took on the mantle of being an ambassador for print, and made a conscious effort to sound a little more ‘you’re hired’ and less ‘you’re fired’ when we talk about it as a career option then the number of youngsters who might want to join the industry would increase exponentially.