Kickstart success sees 65 new entrants into UK food manufacturing careers

The National Skills Academy for Food & Drink (NSAFD) has released a detailed review of the success of the food manufacturing industry's support for the Government's Kickstart scheme to offer young people life-changing paid work experience.

Some 65 young people, 64% of the Kickstarters successfully completing associated training, moved into full-time positions at the end of their placements in roles ranging from production and IT to quality assurance, sales, and logistics. The remainder were deemed job-ready and significantly better equipped to enter the workforce.

"Kickstart proved very effective in highlighting the sheer variety of careers available to young people in food and drink as well as opening the door to new talent," said NSAFD Chief Executive Louise Cairns.

"Its lasting legacy has been the development of the Food & Drink Careers Passport - originally conceived as wrap-around online training support for Kickstarters and since developed by us as a gold standard in sector-specific pre-employment training for job hunters and now recognised by leading firms as a fast-track recruitment source for quality entrants."

Kickstart, now concluded, saw more than 50 food and drink businesses offer six-month paid placements following the creation of a dedicated Gateway into the sector set up by the NSAFD and the Food & Drink Federation.

The Gateway helped participating firms to access grants to cover placement costs and worked alongside  the NSAFD's industry-specific Kickstart training which was designed with industry input  to cover key areas of food handling and food safety.

Participating companies included Premier Foods, Coca Cola, and Nestlé as well as a wide range of SMEs and micro-businesses. Among successful Kickstarters was Isaac Nixon who not only landed a full-time job as Assurance Technician at Ornua Foods but won a Young Employee of The Year accolade in Ornua's local Chamber of Commerce awards.

Feedback on the scheme's success from participating firms and Kickstarters all well as key statistics can be seen in the NSAFD's Kickstart Review here.