Food industry employers share how work experience, clearer recruitment and Feeding Britain’s Future can open doors and help build tomorrow’s talent pool.
Work experience can help the food industry build its future workforce, but offering a placement is only the start. Discussions at IGD’s Future of the UK Food System 2026 conference highlighted the importance of opening doors earlier, making recruitment more transparent and helping people see where a first opportunity could lead.
Opening the session, Harshal Gore, IGD’s Director of Economic & Workforce Programmes, Social Impact, highlighted the challenge of young people being outside education, employment or training and the contribution the food industry can make through its breadth of roles and routes into work. He also pointed to the progress of Feeding Britain’s Future in bringing businesses together to help young people discover opportunities across food and consumer goods.
Employers including Tesco, Greencore and Samworth Brothers shared approaches to connecting education with employment. Alongside these examples, participants described what makes an experience useful: exposure to different roles, meaningful tasks and someone who can offer support. Together, these perspectives highlight how employers can help prevent people from becoming disconnected from education and work, a central issue for the Milburn review.
Make the breadth of opportunity visible
The food industry offers routes into work across retail, manufacturing and away-from-home businesses. Yet the range of careers available is not always visible to those considering their next steps. The employer discussion highlighted the value of building connections with schools before career decisions are made.
Warner Bezuidenhout, Talent Director at Greencore, described using apprentice ambassadors to spark interest and help pupils imagine themselves in the industry. Nikki McConkey, Regional HR Business Partner at Tesco, highlighted its partnership with The King’s Trust and its wider early careers programme, including support with CVs and interviews. These approaches can help make opportunities more tangible, while developing communication, problem-solving and adaptability.
Give placements purpose and a next step
Claire Moore, Chief People Officer at Samworth Brothers, described working with local schools to introduce pupils to the world of work. Following induction and health and safety preparation, placements can involve time within one function or across several, with opportunities to contribute to solving problems. IGD learning materials help support the experience.
Greencore linked work experience to its apprenticeship programme, describing how a placement can help someone make an informed decision before joining. The business case discussed went beyond recruitment: involving colleagues in creating opportunities can also strengthen their connection with the communities in which they work.
The implication for employers is to design a placement around what someone will learn, who they will meet and what they could do next. A useful experience should offer more than a brief introduction to the workplace; it should help the participant understand whether a role or career path could be right for them.
Make the route into work more human
Ellie Hopper, a graduate working at Asda, highlighted the importance of looking beyond the first job. Alongside salary, she emphasised development opportunities, clear career pathways and employers’ investment in future talent. Her message was that businesses need not just to recruit, but to help people see what a future in the food industry could look like.
“Businesses shouldn’t just be recruiting young talent; they should be showing young people what a future with them could look like.”
— Ellie Hopper, graduate at Asda
Participants’ accounts added an important perspective. The most useful experiences included meeting people across a business, seeing different functions and being given something meaningful to do. Having someone available to answer questions and offer support also mattered.
The discussion also raised concerns about automated recruitment and the lack of personal contact when applications are unsuccessful. Participants wanted clearer information about interview and assessment stages, the time involved, salary and progression. For employers, this is a reminder to consider the application process from the applicant’s perspective: technology should not obscure the person behind the CV.
“There is a person behind every CV.”
—
Turn shared ambition into practical action
The conference discussion connects directly with the questions at the heart of the Milburn agenda: how to prevent disconnection from education and employment, and how employers can help create more accessible routes into work. The examples shared show that businesses do not need to wait for the review’s full recommendations to examine their own approach.
Four practical priorities emerged from the discussion:
Build stronger school connections. Make opportunities easier to find and work with education and community partners to widen access.
Design meaningful experiences. Combine preparation, practical tasks, exposure to different roles and a named person for support.
Make recruitment transparent. Explain the stages, timings and expectations, alongside honest information about pay and progression.
Connect experience with progression. Show how a placement could lead to an apprenticeship or another route into employment, while helping participants make informed choices.
Nearly 100 companies are already involved in Feeding Britain’s Future, working together to help young people discover opportunities across food and consumer goods. Businesses can contribute through school workshops and opportunities to involve colleagues. The discussion also highlighted the value of sharing practice across companies, rather than each employer developing its approach in isolation.
The opportunity is to turn the food industry’s breadth of roles into pathways that people can understand and access. By reviewing their own work experience and recruitment practices, employers can help make that connection stronger. Your business can get involved too: Get involved in Feeding Britain’s Future.