cy
Join our Pledge
The creation of an industry pledge forms a key part of the Skills Plan for the Welsh food and drink industry. Specifically the strategic aim is to improve the perception and understanding of the food and drink industry in Wales as offering an exciting career of choice, and as such the focus of the pledge is around encouraging businesses to support activity to improve the image of the industry as an exciting place to work.
The Full Pledge Team
What is Tasty Careers?
Tasty Careers is your one stop shop to finding a Tasty Career in the food & drink industry. If you want to find out more about a specific career, hear from people already in the industry or are finding job hunting a bit unsavoury, then look no further – we can help! A career in food & drink is a whole lot sweeter, so use your waffle and take a look.
Tasty Careers Pledge
The Tasty Careers Pledge is a Food & Drink Wales Industry Board initiative, which aims to improve the perception and understanding of the food & drink industry in Wales. The National Skills Academy for Food & Drink’s “Tasty Careers”, is the perfect brand to support this activity, and has already been used for many years across the UK to education and inspire the next generation of talent in the industry.
The Pledge Itself
Companies will sign up to the following wording. The food and drink industry offers great careers in a dynamic environment and is a Welsh success story. We want people to know, particularly young people and people considering a change of career, that the food and drink sector is attractive and inspiring, and we need their talent now. Changing perceptions and attracting people will only be achieved by industry and government creating a long term momentum for change. Welsh Government have invested in developing infrastructure to support a range of solutions and the Food and Drink Wales Industry Board recognise the importance of every business stepping up and getting involved so we, (business name), pledge to play our part in proactively engaging with young people to change perceptions and promote careers in food and drink.
What are the benefits?
Demonstrates your company is doing its bit for the promotion of the industry.
- Retailers are increasingly expecting businesses to be undertaking schools engagement
- Builds your company image as a local employer of choice
- Access to a potential pool of talent now and for the future
- Aligns with the values of the Well-being of Future Generations Act and the Economic Action Plan.
Working with the Local Community by:
Promotion of the industry – as a career of choice and encourage people to take part in the careers Passport to help people gain employment within the sector.
Workplace pledge: Ensure that all members of staff commit to at least one development / training initiative in the next year.
How the pledge will work
Companies will be signing up to being ‘Committed to Tasty Careers’ which means they commit to undertake one or more of these activities each year for 3 years. After signing they will receive a visit from Tasty Careers Wales and have all the options available explained to them and select the most appropriate for their organisation. They will also receive a certificate to signify their involvement and a logo to use on their website. Their involvement will be monitored and PR case studies produced and publicised. This will be used by WG to promote the industry at trade events and highlighted at Taste Wales. All companies benefitting from any Welsh Government support will be expected to commit to this activity as part of their agreement.
What does the Tasty Careers Pledge include and what can my business get involved in?
Support us through a variety of initiatives including:
Tasty Careers Schools Challenge
Support a Tasty Careers School’s Challenge - Help a local school by judging their design & technology challenge to design a new product or dish fit for future generations that is sustainable.
This is a really engaging initiative that gets children thinking in new ways and seeing a new side to the industry, and the breadth of opportunities on offer. We launched an Enterprise and Employability Tasty Careers Schools challenge based around the new schools curriculum and aligned to the existing challenge for schools, delivering the National/Foundation Skills Challenge Certificate Welsh Baccalaureate at Key Stage 4. The competition aims to provide learners with an exciting way of completing the Enterprise and Employability Challenge. And if short-listed for the final, they would have an amazing opportunity to showcase their ideas in front of business leaders, industry experts and food and drink celebrities. During the Tasty Challenge competition we provide students with an opportunity to work with others through team building, and develop their skills and awareness of the food & drink industry. It will also allow them to develop skills in creativity and innovation, personal effectiveness and digital literacy, and apply them to the challenge.
Now in its 5th Year the Tasty Careers Schools challenge is available pan Wales with the support of a range of organisations including Careers Wales, Castell Howell, Seren Collection and other food and drink companies across Wales.
Previous Competition Winners
Train an ambassador
Train an Ambassador - commit to train a Tasty Careers Ambassador and enable them to visit at least one local school or attend one event to showcase their story and provide an overview of food and drink careers.
Tasty Careers Ambassadors are young people selected by their employers to represent both their company and the Welsh food & drink manufacturing industry. It is a structured schools and college outreach programme managed by the National Skills Academy for Food & Drink (NSAFD). Tasty Careers Ambassadors are trained to deliver presentations to schools local to their business, representing not just their employer, but the sector as a whole. They are provided will all the tools and information required to do this as part of the training. Case studies from Tasty Ambassadors are placed on the Tasty Careers website which provides a handy reference for both teachers and students wanting to find out what careers in food or drink manufacturing can involve, plus the broad range of jobs undertaken in any food or drink business. The Tasty Careers Ambassador programme came about as a result of research back in 2009, involving UK secondary schools. The research showed that students lacked any real understanding of what local businesses involved in food and drinks manufacturing really did – they knew food came from farmers’ fields and ended up on supermarket shelves but had little idea of what happened in between. As a result there is a very low level of awareness of the wide range of jobs or the sheer variety of career opportunities on offer. Food and drink simply isn’t on their radar. Tasty Careers Ambassadors can be booked to visit local school with the aim of encouraging students to think about future study and career options and to think about moving towards the kind of courses valued in the many different roles within food and drink food businesses. We want them to be aware of what’s on offer and consider the education options and many vocational courses and qualifications available in secondary, further education and even higher education that open the door a successful career within the industry. Some students may be ready to think about a food and drink career straight after school – others may be looking further ahead. But food and drink careers will only be on their roadmap with your input
Meet an Ambassador
Tasty Tours
Host a Tasty Tour - invite local schools into your company to see for themselves how dynamic and interesting the industry is and the different jobs that are needed to make the food we eat.
We think it’s important for children to understand how their food is made, the manufacturing process involved and how it gets from the field to their table. In order to do this, we want to give groups of school children the opportunity to have a behind-the-scenes tour of some of the best Welsh food & drink manufacturing businesses. That’s why we need sign up from businesses like yours to offer Tasty Tours to your local schools and colleges. What does a Tasty Tour include? A Tasty Tour is a day full of learning, projects and challenges. It usually starts with an introduction from the National Skills Academy for Food & Drink giving an overview of the industry as whole. This is then followed by a welcome from the business and information on what the students should expect throughout the day. The group is then taken on a tour around the business’s food or drink factory/manufacturing area, where they will be shown a product being made and the steps involved to turn it into the finished item. The afternoon is then based in a classroom environment, where the students will be given a project or workshop based on what they have seen during their morning tour.
Support the new careers passport and sign the pledge
The Food & Drink Careers Passport from the National Skills Academy for Food & Drink is a passport to all the essential knowledge needed for working in UK Food & Drink Manufacturing industry.
Developed in partnership with major food & drink manufacturing businesses, the new Food & Drink Careers Passport from the National Skills Academy for Food & Drink (NSAFD) and the Food and drink Federation (FDF) is the complete package. It’s based around accessible online learning of all the core areas applicants need to work in the industry.
Once completed, Passport qualifications are stored on the NSAFD’s central database – giving everyone full transparency and speeding up the entire compliance and induction process.
Course include:
Food Safety Level 2, Health & Safety Level 2, HACCP Level 2 and Allergen Awareness
For further information go to: https://fdcp.co.uk/
Share it on social media
#TastyCareersPledge
Twitter users can use it in a variety of ways:
- I’ve taken the
#TastyCareersPledge - We’re committed to the
#TastyCareersPledge - @bicinnovation taking the
#TastyCareersPledge - So proud that [name] has taken the
#TastyCareersPledge
