Connecting young people with employers is key to changing perceptions and attracting the next generation into manufacturing. So, Leeds Manufacturing Festival went back to school in April and May to meet and talk to students about the opportunities careers in the sector present.

Starting with a ‘Question Time’ careers panel at Laurence Calvert Academy, Middleton, organised by Ahead Partnership, hundreds of 12 -14 year-old students were given the chance to hear first-hand about what it’s like to work in a modern manufacturing business.

Ben Wilson, managing director of MPM Ltd, Steph Plazzi, marketing manager at E3 Recruitment, and Callum Haywood, a recruiter at packaging automation company Mpac Group, provided students with real life insight into what working in today’s manufacturing sector is really like.

They answered questions about the typical working day, recruitment processes and routes into manufacturing through apprenticeships.

More than 400 students took part in the event, with 95% saying that they now had better knowledge about different roles in manufacturing and engineering; while 94% reported that it had improved their understanding of skills, qualifications and entry routes.

Most importantly, nearly half of the students said it had increased their interest in working in the sector.

Ben Wilson commented: “Events like this are key to changing perceptions, engaging with education and addressing the shortage of new talent that continues to hamper growth in our industry, particularly by changing both teachers and young people’s outdated views of the sector and raising their awareness of the range of career choices available.”

Leeds Manufacturing Festival also partnered with Ahead Partnership for a speed networking and fact-finding

session for female students at Mount St Mary's Catholic High School, with the theme ‘Engineering Change: Women in Manufacturing’.

The event was designed to breakdown some of the myths and stereotypes which discourage women from working in the industry.

Attended by 180 young people and supported by nine regional businesses, the event featured women working in manufacturing and engineering roles at all levels and stages of their careers, ranging from recently qualified apprentices to experienced technicians and professionals, managing directors and company owners.

Students had the chance to meet and talk to these women about the challenges they have faced and the opportunities their careers have presented, and to find out more about how they came to be working in manufacturing.

Angela Augusto, technical innovation manager at Stanningley-based textiles firm AW Hainsworth, said: “It’s my first event and it was such a good experience. The reason I volunteered is because I have also been in their place, where I would like to know more and have a clearer view of what manufacturing and textiles is like, so it was very empowering.”

The aim of the session was to teach students that if you can see it, you can do it. The effectiveness of the event in changing perceptions of what modern manufacturing is all about was demonstrated by the comments of one Year 7 student who said afterwards: “Just because you’re a woman, you can still take part in a ‘male’ dominated activity. Even if the job is ‘just for men’, I will still take part.”

“Representation is key”, said Jessica Armitage from Made Smarter Yorkshire & Humber, a business support programme focussed on the manufacturing sector. “To get more women working in manufacturing, we need more women in manufacturing and young girls to see that this can be a career for them.”