Raising awareness of a career in logistics among school leavers is the focus of a nationwide strategy. The initiative, supported by the Logistics Institute at the University of Hull working in partnership with Franklin College, aims to encourage 16-19 year olds who are in further study to consider logistics and the supply chain sector as a future career path.
Franklin College in Grimsby has been appointed as one of five Logistics Career Ready Centres in the UK. These centres are being backed by a scheme called Think Logistics and Career Ready, a national charity that links schools and colleges with employers to help prepare young people for the world of work.
Think Logistics is an initiative funded by the Edge Foundation and led by a steering group of companies that comprises Abbey Logistics Group, DAF Trucks, Eddie Stobart, PD Ports and Matthew Kibble Transport amongst many others.
Students who attend Franklin College will be offered the opportunity to participate in a two-year enrichment programme of master classes, internships and mentoring.
Dr Sarah Shaw, a lecturer in logistics and supply chain management at Hull University Business School, will act as a mentor for the programme and will be one of the guest speakers at the launch event at the college on Thursday 4 June.
Dr Shaw said: “I am delighted to be speaking at the launch of such a worthwhile programme. It has the potential to really make a difference to the lives of the students, opening their eyes to new career possibilities and offering the chance of success in a sector that is becoming increasingly important.”
Discussing the current shortage of people working in logistics, Dr Shaw said: “The UK is experiencing a significant shortfall in the number of talented people entering the logistics sector at the moment. In the Humber region alone, the logistics sector employs approximately 137,900 people across 16,420 companies, this equates to 9% of the region’s total workforce.
“With the advent of City of Culture in 2017, we are expecting the sector to grow substantially over the next two years. The region is going to require a significant number of new people to work across a variety of logistics roles.”
Dr Shaw believes that Franklin College’s new status as a Logistics Career Ready Centre is a great step towards addressing the skills shortage: “This new development is a great opportunity for the region to address its local talent gap as it will help to raise awareness of the logistics industry amongst a number of other schools and colleges in the area.
“By giving local students the opportunity to see what logistics is all about and showing them that working in this sector is incredibly dynamic, challenging and rewarding, we will hopefully see an increase in the number of people considering logistics as a future career.”
Dr Shaw will be joined at the launch at Franklin College by a number of local businesses, the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport and the Road Haulage Association, and will be addressing Franklin students and guests from several prestigious local logistics companies which will provide students with mentor support and internships.
Ian Nichol, National STEM development manager at Career Ready (previously Career Academies UK) said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with the University of Hull, Think Logistics, Franklin College and Humberside logistics employers to open the first logistics career ready centre in the region. With an established and successful programme we know that young people will be made aware of the great career opportunities available in this exciting sector.”
Franklin College Principal, Trevor Wray, said: “We are pleased to be able to build on our successful Career Academies programme by offering our students the opportunity to learn more about careers in logistics, a dynamic and growing industry in North East Lincolnshire”.
Franklin College is currently looking for supporters within the logistics industry who are passionate about raising the aspiration of students and who would be willing to offer support through a variety of means, including pupil mentoring, internship opportunities, guest speaking and company visits.
Franklin College has four successful Careers Ready programmes in Business, Law, Science and Engineering and Health and was recently the recipient of the Santander Career Academy of the Year Award 2015.
If you are interested in working with Franklin College, please contact Emma Swinburn on emma.swinburn@franklin.ac.uk or 01472 875000 for more details.
