Close in for the s-kill

Apprenticeships are on the rise in food and drink production. According to data from sector skills council Improve, 2,500 were offered in 2010 up from 900 in 2009. The creation of more apprenticeships will go some way to addressing the skills gap in the sector, but it is not the only option open to companies.

Placements and internships could also help to promote the sector as a place in which to work, especially for positions that require high technical expertise such as engineers. But they may be being under utilised because of prejudices against them, both on the part of employers and potential candidates. Employers view them as overly burdensome, while students continue to see the sector as offering poor career opportunities.

It is no secret that the food sector faces an impending skills crisis. The workforce is ageing and the sector desperately needs to attract new talent, said Angela Coleshill, director of human resources and competitiveness at the Food and Drink Federation (FDF).

"Among employers in the sector, there continues to be some long-standing concern about the shortage of qualified engineers and technicians. Changing consumer demand, rapid changes in technology, increased automation and new product development mean higher technical skills will be an increasing requirement," ​she said.

Much emphasis has been placed on apprenticeships as a solution to this problem and strides have been made towards developing them. But the use of internships or work placements is an opportunity some manufacturers may be missing out on, said Coleshill.

The terms 'internships' and 'work placements' are largely interchangeable and differ from apprenticeships in that they are targeted at undergraduates and graduates during their time at university usually taking place over the summer or during a year out, said Emma Docherty, head of customer relations at Gradcracker, a job and work placement service for engineering and technology students.

Work placements​

Internships and placements are an easy way for companies to show students what a career in food and drink would involve and what they would be doing, said Richard Newman, careers advisor at the University of Birmingham.

Engineering students tend to be focused on their post-university career and want to develop their employability skills, he added. With many universities providing courses that require a placement to graduate (Newman said Birmingham's is called a Certificate in Industrial Studies while Loughborough, where he used to work, called it a Diploma in Industrial Studies) there is no lack of graduates looking for manufacturers offering work experience.

But an informal poll conducted at a Gradcracker event at the University of Birmingham found that only four out of 50 engineering students had considered working in the food and drink industry. The general consensus seemed to be that students were unaware that the sector offered opportunities for engineers, said Docherty.

However, engineering covers many disciplines everything from mechanical and electrical to chemical engineering and students in different schools will have different interests, said Newman.

While mechanical engineering students may be more interested in the automotive or rail sectors, chemical engineering students are more likely to consider the food and drink sector as a place in which to work and a number of companies, including PepsiCo, Kraft and Cadbury, offer placements, he explained.

These large companies as well as others such as Mars, Nestlé and British Sugar place a high value on work placements, said Docherty. Many view them as an extended interview or tryout, she added. But more employers need to get involved in such schemes.

The FDF hopes to work with government and key partners to increase the number of opportunities available, said Coleshill. Meanwhile, getting more small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) involved would increase the number of potential placements available, while providing an invaluable recruitment route for manufacturers struggling to fill positions, said Newman.

SME participation has so far been constrained by perceptions of large amounts of paperwork, cost and risks involved, said Coleshill. However, the University of Birmingham is attempting to work with local and regional SMEs to rectify this, said Newman.

For example, it has recently set up a placement with a small company that makes parts for production lines and has struggled to recruit suitably qualified staff in the past, he said. With many interns returning to work for the company they were originally placed with, there is a good chance participating firms will be able to find suitable candidates for vacancies that might arise, said Newman.

Changing perceptions​

It may be that, in addition to getting more companies to offer placements or internships, a shift in students' perception of the sector is necessary. Mechanical engineering students interested in the automotive sector tend to look for placements with companies such as Jaguar Land Rover or Aston Martin, saidNewman. "It is as much about image as anything."​

But while cultivating a passion in food brands may seem harder than developing the same enthusiasm petrol-heads show for cars, it is not an impossible task.

The FDF's 'Taste success A Future in Food' campaign aims to change perceptions by making the industry more appealing to young people and addressing any doubts they might have about working in it, said Coleshill. But it will be some years before it bears fruit. Meanwhile, the FDF wants to "open doors to inspire young people and their advisors". ​

One way it is doing this is through two careers films made by The Scottish Food and Drink Federation. A world of opportunities and A future in food feature young people employed in or aspiring to join the sector discussing how they made their career choices; the importance of courses, qualifications and work placements; and what makes it a good place to work, said Coleshill.

She added that films are being shown to college and university students across the country.

Another way is through promoting the fact that the sector offers higher average weekly earnings compared to the economy as a whole, and an average job tenure of over nine years, she said. Indeed, while in other professions internships and placements are frequently offered on a 'work-for-free' or 'expenses-only' basis, those in engineering are typically paid.

The average salary for placements across all sectors offered on Gradcracker is £15,400 and the company would warn students to be wary of unpaid placements, said Docherty. With the sector having higher than average salaries, offering higher than average placement pay could be a incentive, said the experts. Most employers take a purely commercial view to offering placements in wanting a return on their investments, said Docherty.

However, she argued that the costs associated with a placement would be small compared with the potential benefits they offer.

"Food scientists, technologists, engineers and skilled trade positions for sectors such as bakery and meat processing will be the priorities for companies seeking to adjust to an industry that is increasingly global, high-tech and ever-more competitive," ​said Coleshill.

As competition and globalisation inevitably increase, employing the correct people will be more important than ever. Placements can be a cheaper alternative to hiring the wrong person or an even worse scenario: failing to find any staff to hire at all.