Food & Drink Wholesale UK (FWD) has launched the Future Leaders Index to promote careers to young people in wholesale.
Aiming to help tackle youth unemployment, the report was launched at FWD’s Wholesale Star Awards at the House of Commons. It shows career opportunities for the nearly one million young people in the UK who are not in education, employment or training (NEET).
The FWD Future Leaders Index gives under-35s working across the wholesale sector a platform to shape the industry’s future. The report reveals that while awareness of wholesale careers remains low (80% of respondents identified this as a barrier), every young professional surveyed (100%) said they would recommend a career in the sector. Respondents also highlighted on-the-job experience (68%) and clear progression routes (58%) as two of wholesale’s greatest strengths in attracting and developing talent. Once they are working in wholesale, respondents identify the support of managers (86%) and mentors (70%) key to their career development.
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Lyndsey Cambridge-Wilson, head of external affairs, FWD, said: “Eight in ten respondents told us there is a lack of awareness about the career opportunities available in the food and drink wholesale channel. Nearly as many said people don’t understand the career paths available. That tells me we have a job to do as a collective. We need to champion the breadth of careers our sector offers – whether that’s in logistics, technology, finance, operations, sales, marketing, HR or leadership. We need to be in more schools, colleges and universities promoting the opportunities we have for the taking. We want to ensure that the next generation of talent not only know about the opportunities in our sector, but they make a conscious choice to choose our sector.”
