How print and packaging businesses can give youth a chance

The Simpsons episode ‘Bart Gets Famous’ sees Bart Simpson sneak into a TV studio. After a number of misadventures, Bart ends up on a stage in front of a live audience, knocks over the set, and says, “I didn’t do it,” which becomes a famous catchphrase and catapults Bart to international fame overnight.

That might sound familiar, as it’s one of the most famous plots in one of the most famous TV shows of all time. And it all starts with a joke at the expense of packaging.

When Bart sneaks into the TV studio, he’s doing it to escape a comically tedious school trip to the box factory over the road. The walls are bare and grey, the manager of the site has a monotone, nasal voice, and the production lines trundle along, converting flat templates into identikit cardboard boxes.

It encapsulates the way the packaging industry is defined in pop culture – bland, tedious, and something that the protagonist has to escape from so the real story can begin. That problem still exists today, even though it’s unlikely many of today’s young people are directly influenced by a TV episode that first aired more than 30 years ago. And it’s having a real impact on the health of the industry – after all, if you were an ambitious young professional, would you want to commit your future to something you felt was comically boring?

At YPIPP, we think it’s time to correct the record. Print and packaging is a vibrant, diverse sector that could not be less like The Simpsons’ box factory. And the recent focus on youth employment gives it the perfect platform to introduce the next generation of young talent to the opportunities this amazing industry can offer.

Making an impression

There are talented, creative, innovative professionals behind the label on a drink, the book in a schoolbag, and the packaging around an online order. A young person can use all three within seconds without realising the people who make them could be future colleagues.

Helping them make that connection is an important part of attracting talent. It gives employers a chance to reach people who have the curiosity and ability to thrive in one of the many roles that make up print and packaging, but have never considered it.

The DWP’s October employer briefing highlights new efforts to connect young people with work. The Opening Shift retail programme plans to offer more than 11,000 work experience placements for 18 to 24-year-olds. A new partnership between DWP and The Careers & Enterprise Company will also strengthen links between schools, careers support and employers in England, while other initiatives focus on apprentices. Smaller employers may qualify for a new £2,000 incentive when hiring apprentices aged between 16 and 24, while the Treasury has committed to boosting funding for apprenticeship matching schemes.

For print and packaging, this is a timely prompt to turn career awareness into practical opportunities. Young people need opportunities to get on the employment ladder. Print and packaging businesses need young talent to replace experienced workers who are retiring. The challenge is to connect the two and meet in the middle.

Signpost the pathways into print and packaging

Start with the questions a young person is likely to ask. What would I actually do? What would I learn? Could someone like me succeed here? Where will it take me?

Show how different interests connect with real jobs. Someone who enjoys design could explore artwork and prepress. An interest in technology could lead towards digital presses, workflow software, or equipment maintenance. Production planning, customer service, and sales offer other ways into the business. Chemistry, physics, and even biology have a huge part to play in material science and sustainability.

There is a direct line between classrooms, campuses, and print and packaging work. A large part of our role at YPIPP is bringing business, education, and young people together, building bridges and facilitating programmes that benefit all parties. It’s impossible to create a more positive narrative about the industry unless you make sure there’s an audience that is able to hear it, so effective outreach is vital.

It doesn’t take much. Bringing younger employees into these conversations is a great start. A short video or school talk about their first months, the skills they use, and the support they received can make a role easier to picture. Explain technical language and show a job from start to finish – each step, from concept design to production, logistics, marketing, and customer service, offers something different.

Demonstrating these different skills is essential if we are to dispel the myths around print and packaging. We know it’s colourful and vibrant rather than dour and monotonous. It’s time to shout about it to the people who need to hear it most, and at a formative time of their lives.

Support the person behind the role

For employers, that’s really where the focus should be – on the young people themselves. Starting work can be daunting, especially for someone with little experience or time away from education and employment. Work experience has to be a positive experience. Placements have to be worth it. Apprenticeships have to be engaged with fully. A consistent mentor, clear instructions, and regular check-ins can help young people ask questions and build confidence across all approaches, but the end goal should always be nurturing interest and seeing how it develops.

For a busy team, just hosting a brief tour or mock interview can take a lot of planning, even before you take into account training bodies, educators, Jobcentres, and other stakeholders that often need to be involved. But the end result is worth it, and the support is there. In addition to organisations like YPIPP, and the incentives discussed earlier, schemes like the DWP’s Youth Jobs Grant offer £3,000 for qualifying hires of 18- to 24-year-olds in the UK who have been on Universal Credit for at least six months.

It’s long past time that we flipped The Simpsons’ script. A school trip to the box factory isn’t the soul-sucking experience it was painted as. For the next generation of print and packaging talent, it could be the best thing that ever happened to them – the spark of inspiration that set them off on a successful career.

It might even happen at your business – who knows? If you want to be part of the future of your industry, get in touch with us today to learn more about YPIPP and what we do.