Well-founded training ensures the skilled workers of tomorrow. Stadtwerke Gießen (SWG) is well aware of this. The company has been providing training in various professions for many years - and at a high level. In this way, SWG provides young people with a solid basis for their professional lives and ensures that it has a sufficient supply of skilled junior staff.
Once again this year, Stadtwerke Gießen (SWG) welcomed ten young people who are starting an apprenticeship with the regional energy supplier. As usual, all professions that can be learnt at SWG are represented: Plant mechanics in plant construction, electronics technicians for operating technology, pool attendants, industrial clerks and motor vehicle mechatronics technicians. In order to give the career starters enough time to familiarise themselves with their new phase of life, SWG's trainers rely on a tried and tested concept: the induction week. Here, the newcomers get to know the company in a fast-paced way and socialise with the young people already in training. "In this relaxed situation, we encourage the new trainees to scrutinise their personal goals and prospects once again and readjust them if necessary," explains Ruth Biehl-Franze, Head of Training at SWG. Because: "The more precisely you formulate your own expectations and requirements, the greater the chances of achieving these goals."
Team player and committed
Depending on their chosen profession, the new trainees will spend between two and three and a half years acquiring the necessary skills for their future career. In addition to the necessary specialist knowledge and important manual skills, the trainers at SWG emphasise the importance of teaching other skills. "It is important to us that the young people enjoy what they do, that they show commitment and interest and, above all, that they can fit into a team," summarises Ruth Biehl-Franze.
In addition, an important principle of the SWG training concept is to allow the trainees to work independently as early as possible. The prospective industrial clerks, for example, gain valuable and important experience in an in-house junior company in their first year of training. Together with older trainees, they manage the SWG shop. Here they are responsible for all processes - from market analyses to purchasing, marketing and accounting. As a result, they are quickly confronted with having to make decisions.
The technical trainees also work in the junior company. They help to develop products and manufacture various items themselves. "The junior company promotes creativity, teamwork and independence," explains Ruth Biehl-Franze. "Everyone benefits from this, not just the trainees."
Training for others
The industrial trainees find ideal conditions for successful preparation for their future careers at SWG's well-equipped training centre. Word has got around. For several years now, various commercial and industrial companies from the region have been sending their young professionals to the Lahnstraße centre. Training supervisor Georg Erb explains the idea behind this: "The young people complete training modules with us that their own training company can't offer." In this way, SWG gives many young people from the entire region a perspective.