It’s no longer a secret that Germany chronically lacks skilled workers – a fact, many companies realized way too late or didn’t take too seriously. Now there’s a large gap companies slowly become aware of. But we think we’ve found a way strengthen our team from within the company: Our apprentices of today are the skilled workers of tomorrow.
The first day in a new company
It’s the morning of your new life: the first working day, a new company, you’re nervous with many questions swirling around in your head. How will the colleagues treat me? How will it be working with them? How will the work be? After the first few days or weeks in the new company, you will have found an answer to all of these questions. As time goes by, you will get used to the working life. But what if you are assigned with tasks that have nothing to do with your actual work? Endless hours of coffee-making and xeroxing will only get you frustrated and bored. And that’s exactly why our apprentices will never be found doing anything of the aforementioned.
Apprentices get to know all departments
We want to train our apprentices as best as possible. Not only do they learn anything required for their apprenticeship, but they are also prepared for the working life. That’s also the reason why, during their three-year apprenticeship, they get to know all departments within the company.
For three to six weeks, our apprentices stay in the departments, get to know their way around and work together with the team members. But this doesn’t mean that they are thrown at the deep end. Mentors in each department are always available and provide help wherever they can.
Even after the final examination we stand by our apprentices
It goes without saying that we help our apprentices with their final projects. Prior to their final oral examination, our apprentices get the chance to give their final presentation in front of their colleagues and mentors where they get valuable feedback about their general appearance and presentation.
Being criticised isn’t always fun, but in this case it’s better if you’re criticised by your mentors and colleagues instead of the examination board. After the final examination, our fully trained apprentices always got the chance to continue working at G&D.
At the moment, we have three apprentices who work in various departments. Year after year, we train new skilled workers as well. But what’s a blog post about apprentices without talking to them directly? And that’s exactly what we will do in another post so stay tuned.
And what about your company? Do you employ trainees? How do you prevent a lack of skilled workers?
by: Cennet Gülmen
Editor, translator and blogger at Guntermann & Drunck.
You can find me on LinkedIn.
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