VMA LAUNCHES EMERGING TALENT PROGRAMME
The Visual Media Association has launched the Inkers, a support programme for emerging talent in the print industry, with sponsorship to make it happen coming from Konica Minolta.
Andy Cocker, general manager Production and Industrial Print at Konica Minolta said, “Everyone in the industry knows that talent acquisition is getting harder, whether that's new talent coming up through the ranks, or retaining the talent that we currently have. Konica Minolta is delighted to be able to support this new programme with the VMA.”
Launching the new programme on the Konica Minolta stand at PacPrint, Kellie Northwood, CEO, VMA said, “We need to address the 57 per cent non-completion rate of apprenticeships across our industry. So for every apprentice that we recruit to come into our industry, we are losing more than half. That is not a tenable solution when we have a skills shortage issue across our industry, and not a tenable solution when we have an aging workforce.
“So we had to look at that as an industry association and work through what do we need to do, not what we want, not what we could, but what we need and must do, and that is launching an emerging talent program, which we are here to announce today is called the Inkers.”
Northwood said the Inkers programme is “about providing a supporting community for people being in our industry for five years or less, via a national programme.”
The VMA is now calling for young talent in the industry to become involved in the development of the programme.
On the stand at the launch were Ian Martin from the Manufacturing Industry Skills Alliance (MISA), which is essentially print’s Jobs and Skills Council, and Stephen Gamble from Anchor Health. Northwood said, “We are working with MISA on a mentoring programme which will assist our industry, our aging workforce, learn how to be mentors, to support our mentees, so that will sit under the structure of the Incas.
“We also have a partnership announcement with Anchor Health, with Stephen Gamble, who we all know well and love dearly across this industry. He has signed on to assist in training and doing a national rollout across the country to speak to all of our emerging talent community on mental health, and first aid certificated services, which will be subsidised under the association, as well as the wonderful let's speak. Let's start talking openly about mental health. Health is health, physical and mental.
“It is wonderful to have Anchor Health and MISA on board immediately to support the wonderful programmes that we're doing with Konica Minolta and the Inkers.”
Northwood expressed her appreciation on behalf of the industry for the Konica Minolta sponsorship of the programme, she said, “We are here today only because of Konica Minolta. We needed a platinum partner to help us launch this, we couldn't fund it on our own. Sponsorship dollars, marketing dollars, all are so desperately appreciated in associations. They're not for profit. Everything goes back in the industry, I think we all understand how critical this programme is, and I cannot thank Konica Minolta enough.”