Record number of young people want to enter the industry
Only 3% of applicants to this year's Seafood Trainee program were offered a place, and that's far from enough. We need to give more of the record number of young people who want to enter the seafood industry an opportunity. During a panel discussion, the students made a clear call for the industry to be more directly involved and visible. They want to see the industry represented at career fairs and gain insight into what jobs are available.
New venture
NCE Seafood has started a new, targeted talent attraction concept called Seafood Case Days . The concept combines visibility for the industry with student engagement. Here, the industry and academia are linked through case solutions. Seafood Case Days will contribute to targeted talent attraction within fields of study that are particularly relevant to companies in the seafood industry.
A new Industry Insight report on talent attraction and competence will be released this fall. The report comes with a clear message: The more students know about the industry, the more they like it. Frida, a student from NHH, was on the winning team during the Seafood Case Days pilot at NHH, and can confirm this. She became more curious about the seafood industry after this case day, but wishes she had learned about the industry earlier than in her fifth year of study.
Academia provides theory, the seafood industry provides relevance
Professor Steffen Juranek at NHH also sees the value of Seafood Case Days for his students at the Innovation School. He says: “We bring theory, you bring relevance”, and emphasizes the importance of seeing role models in the industry. When Lerøy, together with NCE Seafood, held Case Days at NHH, the students met engineers at Lerøy who work on relevant cases at the company and they saw a model of a real cage. This aroused curiosity and gave the students the opportunity to ask questions directly to the source.
To meet the growing interest in the seafood industry and meet the need for increased expertise, it is clear that the industry must open its doors further to young talent. Seafood Case Days marks a significant milestone in this movement.
