An Ilkley business is doing its bit to tackle youth unemployment by offering an apprenticeship to a local student.

Pitscards, a long-standing business in Leeds Road, Ilkley, has been producing promotional marketing cards and informative business cards for over 20 years, turning the business card into an all-powerful marketing tool.

Its main markets include schools, colleges, academies in education along with tourism, professionals, SMEs, charities and sporting organisations. Pitscards have also produced cards for the Red Arrows since the mid 1990s.

Now, with nearly a million young people unemployed in the UK, and the North particularly badly hit, Pitscards is searching for a keen apprentice to help drive forward expansion plans.

Owner of Pitscards, Vernon Young, said: “Taking on an apprentice is a win-win situation – we’re helping a young person forge a career, learning from an experienced team and picking up the key disciplines of sales and marketing, which are vital to all businesses.

“We’re looking for someone with enthusiasm and ambition – someone who wants to make a difference. It’s an ideal opportunity. We want to expand and share our ideas with a much bigger audience and this apprentice can be part of that.”

In North Yorkshire, the rise in long-term youth unemployment has been particularly steep during the recession, with the number of under-24s claiming Jobseekers’ Allowance for at least six months increasing from 175 to 935 between 2008 and 2012.

For more information about Pitscards, or to enquire about the apprenticeship, contact Vernon at Pitscards, 34 Leeds Road, Ilkley, LS29 8DS, call (01943) 603600, visit pitscards.co.uk or e-mail sales@pitscards.co.uk.