Twelve young people have started their professional careers at Stadtwerke Gießen. They are being trained as skilled workers in five different professions.
Offering young people prospects and giving them the best possible start to their careers with sound training - this has always been part of Stadtwerke Gießen's (SWG) corporate strategy. And for good reasons: In this way, SWG fulfils its social responsibility as one of the largest employers in the region. At the same time, they provide urgently needed skilled labour. "With our practical and varied training programmes, we secure the next generation of employees that are so important to us," explains Doreen Möstl, who is responsible for training at SWG. After all, acquiring qualified personnel on the labour market is increasingly proving to be a real challenge.
Competition for young people who want to start an apprenticeship is also becoming noticeably tougher. This is why those responsible at SWG have initiated a number of measures in recent years to make the company more attractive to school leavers. With success: "This year we were able to fill all vacancies again," says Doreen Möstl happily.
Two-week introduction
Before they start their specialised training, all newcomers to SWG complete the "Trainee Start Weeks". During these ten days, overarching topics are on the agenda, such as data protection and IT training, project work in the training workshop, telephone training, rights and obligations in training, occupational safety training, company health management and company integration management. "By the time the young people have completed these two weeks, they are already relatively confident in their new, still unfamiliar environment," says Doreen Möstl from experience.
Particularly worth mentioning: the start week itself is part of the training programme. In fact, trainees who have already been with the company for one or two years take over the organisation. This year, budding industrial clerk Ahmed Rama and future IT specialist for system integration Christoph Serguhn were responsible for organising the event. "They both did a great job," says Doreen Möstl.
In addition to Doreen Möstl and the various trainers from SWG, the foremen from the SWG training workshop were of course also present at the introductory event. And there will soon be a change here: next March, Hagen Luh, who is responsible for the electrical department, will retire after 32 years. During this time, he has helped well over 100 graduates to successfully complete their degrees. His successor Erik Schmidt is already on board. Plenty of time to pass on the expertise he has accumulated over the decades.
Five professions with a future
Three of the twelve young people are training to become electronics technicians for industrial engineering. Three others have decided to train as plant mechanics in plant construction. Two would like to work as swimming pool attendants after their training. The team is rounded off by a prospective automotive mechatronics technician, two future industrial clerks and a future IT specialist for system integration.