Careers in food and drink
A career in the Scottish food and drink industry offers varied opportunities, good pay, exciting prospects and a bright future.
Why work in food and drink?
If you are a scientist, an ideas person or want to work in a dynamic and
innovative
business environment that offers fantastic progression opportunities food and
drink can offer the
career for you.
What career opportunities are available?
The Scottish food and drink industry is known across the world for our high
quality, nutritious
products and we are a vital part of the economy. To maintain this, we need
innovators, scientists and
engineers to develop and make new products, reformulate existing products, and
ensure that we are
environmentally responsible. We also need sales, marketing, finance, IT and
other business skills.
New markets and trends are creating many opportunities for new business
startups.
View our
careers case studies
How do I get into a career in food and drink?
Opportunities to enter the industry exist at all levels. You can gain work
experience while you are
still at school by studying a Foundation Apprenticeship. You can get a job straight from school and train as a
Modern Apprentice. Or there are qualifications at
college and university that can help access a career in food and drink. You can
also apply directly to
work in the industry and work your way up, our employers offer good training and
development
opportunities.
View our careers route map
A Future in Food
Our skills initiative, A Future in Food works with partners across Scotland to
raise awareness of
the career opportunities available in the Scottish food and drink industry. We
help young people,
educators, career influencers and parents understand these opportunities and the
skills needed by
employers.
View
our careers resources
The Scottish Government fund this work through the Scotland Food & Drink
Partnership. Our
Skills Manager Moira Stalker is on the Scotland Food & Drink People & Skills
Board.
20 for 20
Our innovative programme 20 for 20 is supporting our ambition to make food and
drink a career
destination of first choice. Facilitated by FDF Scotland, our food and drink
companies are leading the
way by offering work placements, internships, industry specific projects and job
opportunities.
The experiences of these individuals and their host companies will help to
inform how we can
better support the industry recruit their workforce of the future.
If you are a food and drink company interested in finding out more, please
contact our Skills
Manager Moira Stalker.
Resources
Our range of free
resources can be used by educators and career influencers when talking to students about
career opportunities. Many of these resources can be used as teaching aids and
lesson plans can be
built around them.
Food and Drink Skills Ambassadors
Our ambassadors inspire young people to consider a career in food and drink. If
you work in food
and drink and would like to get involved you can sign up as a food and drink
ambassador.
More Information
For more information please contact Moira Stalker, FDF Scotland's Skills
Manager, at skills@fdfscotland.org.uk.
Last reviewed: 24 Feb 2020