It’s an exciting time for Europa Worldwide Group, the UK’s largest independent freight forwarder, which is announcing its RAPID Career Development Programme class of 2019.
The campaign is the brainchild of Europa’s Managing Director Andrew Baxter. As a successful business owner who didn’t go to university and started working straight from school, Andrew is a passionate advocate of learning on the job.
Keen to give school leavers the opportunity to follow in his footsteps, Andrew set up a pilot scheme and offered student Max Holbrook a training programme at Europa’s Nottingham branch, to start in August 2018.
Max comments:
“I knew in the sixth form that University wasn’t the best option for me, I wanted to get into a career straightaway rather than continue in education. This is a great opportunity, I feel like I’m learning every day – this isn’t an apprenticeship, it’s more unique. I’m glad to be part of such a great team here in Nottingham.”
Following the success of the pilot scheme, Europa made a hefty investment and launched its own innovative recruitment programme – RAPID Career Development Programme. The first of its kind within the logistics industry, the four-year programme offered passionate school leavers a career in logistics.
Originally led by Sales Director, Dionne Redpath and Group Recruitment & Talent Manager, Vanita Dass-Puri, the search for the countries brightest and most passionate students interested in a career in logistics began in April 2019.
To manage the programme going forward, a Talent team was recruited including Head of Talent, Laura Watkin and Early Career Talent Manager, Lana Jay. Together they whittled down hundreds of applications to find the final 19 recruits who will be split across the Europa Road and Europa Air & Sea divisions. Bigger branches will have up to three recruits, with smaller branches taking on one.
The Road and Air & Sea teams are part of four dedicated divisions operating under Europa Worldwide Group. Europa Road’s network of branches across the country are linked to the company’s groupage hub via scheduled, daily, round-trip trunking which allow customers’ shipments to connect to Europe daily. Europa Air & Sea cover all aspects of air and sea freight and are strategically located to allow access to all UK gateways.
To kick-start the RAPID recruits new careers, Europa recently held a RAPID Assessment Day – a two day intensive training programme where Europa Worldwide Group Directors explained the brand’s key vision and values whilst offering training, guidance and advice.
Laura Watkin, Head of Talent, comments:
“The programme was created to offer a unique, fast track scheme for bright and passionate young people aged 18 – 21 to reach senior leadership roles within four years of joining the organisation.
“As a completely new campaign it’s unknown territory, so we knew it would be hard work to get to this point. I fully believe that we have some amazing candidates who when given the training and guidance provided will become promising individuals.”
Andrew Baxter, Managing Director of Europa Worldwide Group, comments:
“It’s a time to celebrate as we introduce 19 new recruits into the Europa family. As someone who went straight into work instead of going to University, I value giving others the opportunity to do the same.
“It’s been a long process to get to this point – from creating the idea to running a pilot scheme and holding assessment days – we’ve spent a lot of time and investment to ensure the programme is successful. Most importantly, we wanted to make sure we had the right people for the job. I believe we’ve hired some really strong individuals and I’m looking forward to see what they can achieve in the years to come.”
Europa Worldwide Group is a specialist road, air & sea and warehouse operator, with a £180m turnover which employs 900 staff across 16 sites in the UK, plus Belgium and Hong Kong.
Photo caption: RAPIDs 2019 with Head of Talent Laura Watkin, Sales Director Dionne Redpath, Managing Director Andrew Baxter, Regional Managers Tom Jenkins and Adrian Redmile
