CAREER CONNECTIONS DELIVERS ON PROMISE

Young people are now signing up for print apprenticeships, following the Sign & Print Career Connections roadshow that has been touring the country.

The Career Connections team has connected with thousands of students across Australia over the past few months, to let them know about careers in the print, sign and visual communications sector.

Tina Mavris from AusSIP, which coordinates the programme, said the progress is the result of the participation in Careers Expos and trade shows across the year, together with a lot of hard work behind the scenes to connect interested students with local training opportunities and potential employers.

Mavris said, “Some 41,000 students attended the 2024 Careers & Employment Expos around Australia and, while it’s impossible to provide an accurate number of young people our team has talked to, we have handed out some 6,000 Sign & Print Career Connections booklets over the past few months.

“From hits to the Sign & Print Career Connections online resource, and through our connections with TAFEs and industry businesses, we know that the conversations we’ve had are bearing fruit, with a number of young people poised to take on apprenticeships next year.”

A typical example is a Year 10 student who attended the recent Sydney Careers & Employment Expo. “Having done work experience through school at his local Signarama store, this young man was already aware of the industry, and was keen to find out more from the information we provided on the stand,” Mavris relates.

“A conversation with Sue Waite from Kwik Kopy, who was volunteering on the stand that day, led to follow-up after the show, when Sue arranged for the student to attend an application training session with one of Kwik Kopy’s preferred suppliers.

“After attending, and enjoying, the session, he was keen to progress, and I’m happy to report that Sue is now working to place him with a Kwik Kopy centre for an apprenticeship in 2025.”

This is just one anecdotal example, but it’s far from a one-off, as the numbers over recent years attest, said Peter Harper, CEO of Visual Connections.

“This programme dates back almost 15 years,” he explained. “Initially, it was focused solely on the signage sector but, since an agreement last year with our fellow industry associations, it was expanded to cover the entirety of the print, sign and visual communications sector and renamed Sign & Print Career Connections.”

“The number of apprentices in the sign industry back in 2009 is not recorded, but it was somewhere between 110 and 150,” recalls Visual Connections CEO, Peter Harper.

“By 2017, that had grown to 240 Australia-wide and from there the growth just took off. In 2020 we had 500 apprentices, this year it is already up to around 700. We expect this growth to continue, particularly as we take in results from print and finishing apprenticeships that result from this year’s expanded programme,” he said.

One thing still holding back the success of the programme is the lack of apprenticeship opportunities for young people, something which Harper says the Association is working to improve next year.

“With the widespread shortage of qualified staff across many industries, and new arrangements around skilled migration, you can no longer just pick a skilled staffer ‘off the shelf’,” said Harper, adding, “Offering an apprenticeship is a great way to grow your team – and to help secure the future of our industry.

“While it obviously requires some effort and investment, we have access to some great resources to help you with sourcing new talent, connecting them to local training opportunities, and managing their employment over their apprenticeship journey. So, if you need to grow your team, please give us a call to discuss how you can take advantage of our connections and resources.”

The Sign & Print Career Connections program is made possible with the cooperation of industry associations Asga, Fespa Australia, FPLMA, LIA and VMA. It is generously supported by industry leading companies including major sponsors Amari Visual Solutions, Fujifilm Graphic Systems, Graphic Art Mart, Orafol, Pozitive Sign & Graphics Supplies and Signarama, and partnering sponsors Böttcher, FPLMA, Hero Print, MacDirmid Graphic Solutions and Spicers.