Trainee shortage: difficult search for young people in the district

Created: 09/29/2022, 07:40

By: Catherine Brumbauer

Lone warrior: master hairdresser Rainer Herrmann currently runs his men's salon in Garmisch-Partenkirchen alone.

There is a lack of staff, including a trainee.

Two part-time employees support him in the women's division.

For weeks we advertised with a sign in front of the shop: Apprentice wanted.

Not one application came.

Master butcher Leonhard Fink from Garmisch-Partenkirchen © brumbauer

The craftsmen in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen were spared the feared slump in the number of trainees.

Nevertheless, some divisions are desperately looking for new blood.

These include hairdressers, butchers and bakers.

The exploding energy prices add to this.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen – Rainer Herrmann is standing alone in his newly renovated barber shop on St-Martin-Straße in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

In his men's salon, the hairdresser is currently a lone wolf.

In the affiliated women's area, he works with two part-time employees.

One of the employees is just cashing in on a customer at the new marble counter, the next one is already in the door.

After a long period of closure during the Corona lockdown, business is starting up again.

Herrmann has to handle the men's area solo.

One reason for this: a trainee is missing.

"It's very difficult to get apprentices for the hairdressing trade," says Herrmann, board member of the Oberland hairdressers' guild.

Most recently he had a young man in training.

A native Greek who cut the hair of the customers with temperament, passion, enthusiasm and thoughtfulness.

"I think the problem is that many people take the services of a craftsman for granted." In addition, there is the belief that an office job will earn better money and have more regular working hours.

What is often lost in the process is the appreciation for trades.

In a trade that is very much geared towards the individual service provider, this is fatal.

“People come for someone they want to cut their hair.

If they don't exist, they won't come." District master craftsman Michael Andrä admits: "As far as the number of trainees for hairdressers is concerned, we are not where we would like to be." But 18 apprentices compared to eight in the previous year speaks for a positive trend.

The total number of apprentices – 347 in the districts of Weilheim-Schongau and Garmisch-Partenkirchen (we reported) – also gives reason for confidence.

"Exact statistics are difficult because many contracts were concluded at very short notice after September 1st," explains Andrä.

At the present time, however, the district master craftsman can report

that at the start of the new training year at the beginning of the month, about as many young women and men in the district started their apprenticeship as in 2021. "There are slightly fewer, but very important: We are not experiencing a slump in the number of apprentices." It is still popular the "perennial" car mechanic.

Andrä was also able to find an apprentice in his carpentry shop in Eglfing without any problems.

One area that gives the district master craftsman a headache is the food trade, bakeries and butchers.

They have to operate cooling systems or ovens and are particularly affected by the exploding energy costs.

The response to apprenticeship postings could also be greater.

"For weeks we advertised with a sign in front of the shop: Apprentice wanted.

Not one application came,” explains master butcher Leonhard Fink from Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

"It doesn't just affect our division, but the entire trade," says Fink.

There is also a lack of staff in retail.

"We also try to create incentives," emphasizes the master butcher.

He had set the working hours for the trainee commodably, two out of five days a week the young man or young woman would have the afternoon off.

Salaries have also improved.

A trainee receives 1100 euros gross in the first year of training at Fink.

That's more than the standard wage.

In the Corona years, the craft was not very visible.

Apprenticeship fairs were cancelled, as were internships for the most part.

Hermann used the lockdown to redesign his salon.

The barber, who learned his craft in its classic form – haircut, beard trimming, wet shave – from scratch, has given his salon a new, inviting look.

The hairdressing industry is under competitive pressure.

Cheap barbershops are springing up everywhere.

But Herrmann also knows: "There are customers who recognize the quality of a good craftsman," he says.

They keep the business going.

Your word of mouth is the best advertising.