Collaborative school and business partnership broaden career pathways for local students

“You can’t get a job without experience, and you can’t get experience without a job.” How often do we hear this?

Finnebrogue is trying to address these concerns through its collaborative school and business partnership programme.

As the largest private employer in Downpatrick and one of the largest manufacturers in Northern Ireland, the business has an enormous responsibility within its community. They are a state of the art facility based in a rural part of Northern Ireland with limited large scale private sector employment. The creation of valuable opportunities for people in the community – especially young people – will always be a priority of the business.

Working in partnership with seven schools and colleges over the last two years has enabled the UK food producer to change the perception of the agri-food sector locally. It’s no longer viewed as a food production environment, but rather a progressive place to work, where talent can prosper, develop and be rewarded.

Recently, Finnebrogue welcomed a group of students from Queen’s University Belfast for a day of work-shadowing (pictured). They were given the opportunity to meet with department heads, understand the different roles in the business, and enjoy a tour of the high-tech production facilities to see what a UK award-winning food production site looks like!

Within the group pictured could be our future accountants, NPD technologists or procurement managers!