People power

5 November 2010



Having only just emerged from recession, now seems an incongruous time to be focused on attracting more people into the industry. Yet the future of packaging depends on it, says Dani Novick, Managing Director of print and packaging recruitment specialist Mercury Search and Selection.


Throughout the recession, despite the many signs of retrenchment, packaging technologists remained in demand; with a number of employers struggling to attract the right level of talent to fill their vacancies.

Some of these are structural issues. Packaging development departments and training budgets have been scaled down over the years so there are fewer people coming through the ranks ‘in-house’. Added to this is the consolidation in the industry, leading to fewer employers in each geographic region, reducing the scale and diversity of the talent pool in any given area. This is a critical issue as these geographic concentrations provide the ‘market’ in which people developed their careers. Many employers now find it inevitable that new recruits will have to relocate to their area.

Often, the saviours in these situations are specialist packaging consultancies and freelance packaging specialists. One of the consequences of 10 – 15 years of industry consolidation is that many of those made redundant or concerned about security struck out on their own, resulting in an exceptional resource. The industry is blessed with some truly talented freelancers and consultants. A word of caution, however: the ability to dip in and out of this resource may perpetuate the lean structures which rob the industry of the junior and training posts that larger pack development departments would afford.

Of course, one of the most prominent issues facing the industry in attracting new talent is its public image; with companies such as Sainsbury’s and M&S continually castigated despite having made great strides from a sustainability perspective.

This is a dynamic and innovative industry and we must ensure that we provide entry points and career paths for new talent. Mercury Search and Selection partners the IOP: The Packaging Society with www.packaging futures.com and the British Printing Industries Federation with www.jobsinprint.com.


Dani Novick Dani Novick

Dani Novick Dani Novick


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