VISUAL CONNECTIONS LOOKS TO ATTRACT TALENT

By Will Wain-Williams | 12 December 2023

Visual Connections has launched its newly expanded careers program, which aims to attract new talent to the industry, with the initiative now to be known as Sign & Print Career Connections.

Sign & Print Career Connections: Expanding reach

The program aims to provide advice and support to students, parents, teachers and careers advisors, and involve Years 10, 11 and 12 students in trade shows, try-a-trade activities, careers expos and industry taster days.

Running for more than ten years, the program originally focused solely on the sign and graphics sector, with Visual Connections and the Australian Sign & Graphics Association (ASGA) working with Australian Schools Industry Partnership (AusSIP) to design, pilot and deliver it.

Enrolments in the Certificate III for Sign & Graphics have grown from just over 200 in 2015 to more than 700 in 2023 – which Visual Connections says has provided ample proof of its effectiveness. This has led Visual Connections to expand its benefits to the entire sector including general and commercial print, labels and packaging, wide-format digital, textile printing, signage, display, engraving, routing and graphics.

The result is Sign & Print Career Connections, a collaborative venture that from 2024 will see Visual Connections and ASGA joined by FESPA Australia, the Flexible Packaging & Label Makers Association (FPLMA), the Lithographic Institute of Australia (LIA) and the Visual Media Association (VMA).

Peter Harper: Making a contribution to growing the industry's talent

The program is also supported by a growing number of industry sponsors, including Amari Visual Solutions, Ball & Doggett, Cactus Imaging, Fujifilm Graphic Systems, Graphic Art Mart, Mulford Plastics, ORAFOL, Pozitive Sign & Graphics Supplies, Signarama, and Starleaton. Böttcher, FPLMA and MacDermid Graphic Solutions are partner sponsors.

Peter Harper, CEO of Visual Connections, said the new name and brand is designed to provide a clear, strong identity under which all partners can unite. “It’s great to end 2023 with this collaboration well underway, a new visual identity launched, and our plans for the 2024 program already taking shape,” he said.

“We thank our sponsors for their generous support and are also grateful to our partners for the value they are already adding to the initiative. We look forward to expanding the reach and benefits of the program to the whole sector in 2024, and to making a real contribution to attracting vital new talent to our industry.”