Industry Promotion
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BIFA young forwarders channel their inner Olympians for Transaid Members of the BIFA Young Forwarder Network (YFN) completed the Chase the Moon 2021 event around London’s Olympic Park on 13 October. A team of seven completed the 5k in aid of industry charity Transaid. The YFN team – Kyle Lawrence, Laura Hobby, Katie-Louise Thompson-Friend, Kelly Jarrold, Ryan Smith, Ellis Stevens and Josh Clark – passed a number of the Games’ iconic landmarks on their way to completing the run and raising over £1,000. In sub-Saharan Africa, road deaths are the
third biggest killer following HIV/AIDS and Malaria (Source: The World Bank). More than half of all road traffic deaths are among vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.
Carl Hobbis, executive director, commented: “We wanted to find a way of connecting the YFN with our designated charity, Transaid. Hopefully this initiative will be the first of many.”
Get involved with your local School Don’t moan about the lack of young talent, get out there and promote the sector to them
Government support for apprentice recruitment extended
In September, BIFA launched its latest initiative to promote the freight forwarding and logistics industry to young people with its useful Members’ guide to engaging with local schools. It is a lot easier than you may think; all schools must list their careers lead on their website. They will most likely have their careers events planned and just need local employers to take part. We are working with partner
business. Over the space of one to two weeks, the student can get involved in every department and gain a more realistic insight of each role. If they find an area of particular interest, they could focus more time there. • Mock interview events – school careers departments need companies to conduct a series of interviews with students to give them the experience of attending a ‘real life’ interview with someone unfamiliar to them.
Here at BIFA we welcome the news that the government is extending the period of time that companies can access cash incentives for hiring new apprentices. The cash incentives were first introduced in August 2020 and offered businesses £2,000 to take on apprentices aged 16 to 24, while those that employ new apprentices aged 25 and over were to be paid £1,500. They were increased to £3,000 for all apprentices in February with the scheme due to end in September, but the Chancellor Rishi Sunak has prolonged the scheme by four months until the end of January 2022. Carl Hobbis, BIFA’s executive director, who has management responsibility for BIFA’s training and development services, said: “The extension in funding support is a further reason for our Members to consider the apprenticeship pathway as a means of adding fresh talent to the industry.” Having been actively involved in the creation of an International Freight Forwarding Specialist apprenticeship, BIFA has committed to promote its availability since it was introduced in 2018. BIFA Members interested in employing an apprentice should visit https://apprentices.bifa.org/ to better understand apprenticeship opportunities.
• Careers events – display information and introduce the freight forwarding industry. This is an effective way to engage with students on a one-to-one basis and allow them to gather information. Providing leaflets and freebies for students to take home will allow you to stand out from other employers. BIFA recently attended our London Heathrow partner school’s Career Day along with other BIFA Members (See opposite).
schools close to seven main airports or ports, but we need Members to join us in creating awareness and to engage with their own local schools. This can be done in several ways: • Give a talk or presentation – within a short time, you can give an effective overview of the industry to a classroom or assembly full of students. • Workplace visit – by offering workplace visits, young people can view all areas of your working environment, such as the office, warehouse, port, airport etc, and can hear from different staff members regarding their roles within the company. • Work experience – this is a great way to give a student a more in-depth awareness of the
If you need any guidance, you can get in touch with Nezda Leigh at n.leigh@bifa.org who will be able to help.
November 2021
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