Sir John Beddington told the conference Innovate for Growth in London this week that the industry needed a champion to promote its image as celebrity physicist Brian Cox had done for his subject.
A charismatic television personality, like Cox, was needed to inspire young people with passion for food technology and science while overcoming the sector’s stereotype image, said Beddington. “Brian Cox’s TV series [Wonders of the Universe] led to a massive increase in the applications for physics courses,” he said.
Beddington also praised a scheme designed to send scientists into schools to encourage the take-up of science-based careers. He estimated that 1M students had received such visits, which had resulted in an increase in uptake of science, technology and engineering courses.
Attracting young talent is happening slowly, he said. “It is like the turning of a super-tanker.”
Super-tanker
While the super-tanker was turning, Beddington advised food and drink manufacturers to retain older workers and, where appropriate, to employ them in new positions. “We’re looking at a UK population that is ageing.
“But it is significantly fitter at an older age[than previous generations],” he said.“Looking to the older generation to stay on longer or come back to work has significant potential.”
Second careers and retraining will be a significant trend in the short-term, he added.
The food and drink manufacturing sector employs 400,000 people in a wide variety of roles, according to the Food and Drink Federation. Within the next five years, the industry will require 137,000 new recruits, it predicted.
A spokesman for East Midlands Innovation, a network promoting regional cooperation and innovation, agreed that attracting new talent to the industry was fundamental to its survival.
Young people, raised on technology and the internet, have a different attitude towards solving problems than their parents, he said. “Instead of a proprietary mindset – ‘this is my idea: that is your idea’ – they take an open approach to problem solving, sharing ideas and assuming that a solution would benefit everyone,” said the spokesman.
Younger workers would be well placed to foster a greater co-operative spirit in remedying sector-wide problems, he added.
Andrew Thomas, PepsiCo’s European head of research and development at Quaker, said internships, such as the firm’s graduate placement programme, are slowly generating interest in the industry.
Good salary
“We look to bring interns in for 12 months and pay them an extremely good salary,” he said. “We use it as a 12 month opportunity to find if we’re a good fit for them and to give them the experience of working in the food industry.”
The Innovate for Growth Summit, organised bythe Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, took place in London on March 14.
For more information about attracting young talent, make a date to attend our free Skills Seminar to be held on the morning of Monday March 26 at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham. The seminar will take place alongside the Food and Drink Expo and Foodex shows.
Intended for HR directors and managers, on offer will be a wealth of information about the latest manufacturing apprenticeship schemes and a new transferable skills initiative.
For more information about the event, which will take place at the NEC on the morning of Monday March 26, or to book your free place, click here or contact Hannah Rosevear on 01293 610431 or email Hannah.Rosevear@wrbm.com .