Passionate industry advocate and recruiter James Cryer gave up a slice of his time to network with students at Forest High School on Sydney's Northern Beaches, about careers in Print and Signage. Here’s his report:
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| James Cryer took samples of embellished print, courtesy Kurz foils, to show students |
Last week I had the humbling experience of confronting 240 enthusiastic young students in the Assembly Hall at The Forest High, on Sydney's Northern Beaches.
No, they weren't wielding pick-axes and they weren't going on strike. They were quite demanding, however, and that was in their quest for knowledge, especially about career choices (which they didn't even think existed) in the print and signage sectors.
I was there, courtesy of a marvellous organisation called ''Inspiring the Future'', run in Sydney, by Adrian Rhodes - whose aim is to bridge the gap between school-leavers and industry generally, with the aim of explaining in more detail what career, or vocational opportunities exist, across a broad range of industries.
This is particularly (or especially!) the case with 'the trades', such as those like printing, which may have a poor, or misunderstood, perception among the broad cross-section of school students, who still perceive these trade-based industries as mainly offering only factory-based roles.
Little could be further from the truth, as we all know ... or do we? Many of our trade associations and media outlets still lament the disastrous decline in apprenticeships, when in fact the print, package and signage industries are rapidly re-inventing themselves as service industries - with a greatly reduced dependence on traditional vocations such as printing-machinist or machine-minder - terms which should be consigned to the great wheelie-bin of history.
In a printing company one hundred years ago, there was one admin person for every nine factory staff: now, that ratio has been tipped on its head, as the modern print or signage business employs more customer-facing, tech support and even HR or IT staff.
Modern roles for modern kids
These are the roles which the modern youth of today crave - not factory-floor ones, and this was borne out during my in-depth, speed-dating experience with each of the 240 students (or that's my story, anyway!)
Several messages (or examples of mis-information) emerged: when I asked the kids to give me examples of print when they first got up in the morning, they were tongue-tied until I rattled off things like the packet of cornflakes, the label on the juice bottle, the driverless-train ticket, the Woolworth's truck that roared by - the list was endless - they had looked, but never seen, how print is all around them but they assumed it all just happened by magic.
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| James Cryer in a group discussion at Forest High |
They also think, quite understandably, there is no 'future' in print, as all they hear about is the decline in newspapers and the growth in online everything. They also assume the only roles in print would be in factories - they're completely unaware of the growth in additional roles, as mentioned, in client-facing, sales, operations, IT, digital disciplines or admin positions.
Furthermore, they were oblivious to the existence of anything other than newspapers, magazines and books, when it comes to the print sector. No mention of POS, promotional products, signage, displays or DM. No concept of brand management, where smart printing companies are becoming campaign managers working with their clients across numerous platforms, often involving both print and online strategies.
When they asked me, hypothetically, if they wanted to join the print or signage industries, how would they do it? - I was struggling to give them a clear-cut answer. Do they just ring up their local friendly signage companies? Do they contact TAFE? Do they contact an industry association? If so, which one?. Do they contact their local MP?
I know energy is important, and the PIAA has spent much time schmoozing with Canberra on this issue. But to prove we can walk and chew gum we should be coordinating our efforts and asking all print and signage organisations to join forces in reaching out to school-leavers and presenting our industry as a positive career choice.
My suggestions, open for debate, are:
A dedicated 'careers in print' website would help.
Maybe appointing a print ambassador to visit schools and TAFEs?
There is a group has formed called 'women for engineering' (or similar) - there's no reason why we can't do the same - we've already got a Women in Print body.
Where is Two Sides on this?
Maybe it's time for a Skills Summit attended by all interested parties, including all of our major industry associations.
I can't think of a more pressing issue than attracting more new entrants - especially as our industry is clean, creative and collaborative. If my confrontation with 240 kids taught me anything, it's that other industries are also out there making their pitch.
- James Cryer, founder JDA Print Recruitment
Footnote: James did this all off his own bat to connect with young minds and put print, signage and display careers on the radar. How about trade associations collectively funding similar engagements, and an information pack, in all states, using local industry folks as the ambassadors in schools?
