MDS Members help shape the leaders of the future by providing our Trainees with a range of challenging secondments over the course of their chosen programme. Our membership includes forward-thinking businesses from the food supply chain, including growers, manufacturers, processors and retailers. Combined with industry-specific apprenticeship training, the experience gained in the secondments develops talented individuals into people you want to employ.
Why Join MDS?
MDS Members can take part in three highly effective training programmes to suit their business requirements. You may choose to take Trainees from our Graduate Scheme rather than running an in-house graduate programme, reducing both cost and risk. Our Leadership and Management programme, on the other hand, gives opportunities to more experienced people retraining for a second career or returning to work after a break.
Whichever scheme you choose to take part in – and you can mix and match as appropriate – you can be confident that all MDS Trainees are talented, hard-working and highly motivated to succeed. Carefully selected for their potential, they bring fresh ideas to each role. We employ the Trainees and as such we cover National Insurances and pension costs, whilst Members are charged a daily rate.
At the end of each programme, Members have the opportunity to recruit Trainees into permanent roles. You will have had the opportunity to meet all our Trainees during the programmes at our Annual Conference and, of course, the abilities of those seconded to your business will be well known to you. Every Trainee that has ever completed MDS has been offered a permanent role, which reflects the quality of the knowledge, experience and skills developed during the programmes.
MDS alumni now number over 500 and hold senior positions in many leading businesses. We keep in touch with our alumni through regular updates and networking opportunities. Part of our alumni communication includes publicising vacancies within our member companies, which many Members find to be a useful and low-cost recruitment option.
How to Join
MDS membership is diverse and growing. New Members must be involved in food, fresh produce, agriculture or horticulture and be committed to developing talent in the sector. Applications are subject to approval by the Board of Directors after full consultation with the membership and must fulfil the following criteria:
- Have UK offices and at least five years’ trading and three years’ audited accounts
- Have a team of at least ten, with a named director or senior manager responsible for the MDS relationship
- Commit to providing at least two secondments each year in a range of management, operational or leadership positions
- Make Secondment Managers available for training as required
- Provide appropriate job-specific training, risk assessments and health and safety policies for any activity involving an MDS employee
- Agree to MDS’s terms of business.
If you would like to find out more about the membership and how we can help you protect your leadership pipeline, complete our contact form and a member of the team will get back to you.
What are the costs involved with membership?
- £800 joining fee
- £2,800 annual subscription
- £137 first year Trainee daily rate
- £151 daily rate for Trainees after their first year
- The transfer fee for Members to employ a MDS graduate after they have completed the scheme is:
- £2,500 for Members providing regular secondments
- £3,500 for inactive Members (no secondment provided within two years)
