New recipes against unfilled apprenticeships
Training companies are finding it increasingly difficult to find apprentices. In mid-August, thousands of apprenticeship positions were still open. Karriere-Lehre supports companies with cost-effective coaching or customized projects. In this way, companies find the right apprentices for them.
Thousands of training companies offer around 250 apprenticeships every year. However, fewer and fewer companies are finding the dedicated apprentices they want. With the retirement of the baby boomers, the existing gaps in recruiting young talent are now becoming even more apparent. A little word-of-mouth, makeshift advertising, a presentation at the local school or a video on an online platform are no longer enough. The committed and talented apprentices, i.e. the urgently needed specialists and managers of tomorrow, will rarely be found by training companies in this way.
Young talent challenges training companies
Today's young talents want to be addressed professionally. They have expectations of the employer's style and appearance. They are looking for trainers they can trust. They have ideas about how the company should support them during their apprenticeship. They want to see perspectives on how they can make a career after the apprenticeship. They also need to convince their parents and their environment that an apprenticeship is the right path to a successful life and not a dead end.
Parents, family and friends are the most important decision-makers when it comes to choosing a career. The study "Career Choice Today" has made this clear. The total of 1,400 qualitative interviews among young people, parents, teachers, experts, vocational trainers, apprentices, politicians and the media showed that one-third of young people are interested in craft and technical professions. However, only 1 % of the respondents felt that success was possible along this path. Success was defined as work-life balance. There is also still far too little awareness among young people, parents and teachers of the good training, further education and career opportunities offered by skilled trades occupations. That is why the Career Apprenticeship project supports training companies in recruiting.
Filling apprenticeship positions: Project offers support for recruitment
Jeremias Wirz, project manager of Karriere-Lehre explains: "Many training companies would prefer to delegate the search for apprentices to their industry association. But as useful as such campaigns are, they cannot replace the concrete recruitment of the individual company. The ideal situation is when the company can tie in with industry communications. Many SMEs do not succeed in this, because employee marketing is rarely one of their strengths. Those who look for an apprentice in the same way every three years perhaps fail to realize how young people, parents and teachers now tick. This is where we at Karriere-Lehre can provide concrete help. We start with interviews in the training company and get to know the company well. If desired, we coach the responsible persons in the company, who thus acquire know-how and experience. Depending on requirements, we also carry out tailor-made projects with the training company."
Behind the Career Teaching project is a team with over 30 years of experience in communication for educational topics. The spectrum ranges from seminars for international executives to a school project for the environment and health, summer courses for children, and wage-relevant continuing education for unskilled workers to graduation ceremonies, open days, SwissSkills, and campaigns for young talent for entire industries. Career Teaching is a sister project of Bausinn, a long-standing initiative that draws attention to the attractiveness of construction professions.
Source and further information: Career Teaching
In a other articles (chargeable for non-subscribers) we asked companies about their experiences with hard-to-fill apprenticeships.
