At 32 booths, the young people of the secondary school at Lodererplatz were able to find out about apprenticeships. Many people don't really know which career path to take. © Friedbert Holz
There should have been something for everyone at the big job and trainee fair of the Erding secondary school.
Erding – Never before have there been so many apprenticeship vacancies in Germany as there are at present. Nevertheless, the decision is difficult for some young people to find their (educational) path after school. This is where career fairs can help. This took place in the playground of the middle school on Lodererplatz, the second time since the Corona forced break.
After all, 32 booths were waiting for the young people to present their respective career offers in a striking way. Authorities were represented as well as municipal companies, craftsmen from the entire district and beyond, and also a few medium-sized companies. All of them had competent staff with them to inform interested students, there was also a lot of written information material, billboards served as a background, some booths even offered small gifts.
From the middle school, their support association was also involved, drinks and snacks were on offer. After Rector Stephan Treffler had greeted the young people and exhibitors via megaphone, the rush to the various stands began, according to their respective career aspirations.
Some were drawn to the Deutsche Bahn stand, others to the information table of the city of Erding. "We offer two professional lines, such as administrative economist with two and a half years of training or administrative clerk (three years)," explained Madeleine Waldbauer from the human resources department. In addition, an orthopaedic company from Erding advertised its professions, right next to it and for the first time the Office for Rural Development Upper Bavaria. Kristina Klenner, deputy head of training at the authority: "We are desperately looking for young people who are interested in our very different professions."
This is also the case for the Herrmann company from Hohenlinden (Ebersberg district). It manufactures turned and milled parts for the aerospace industry, offers its own company tours and was able to recruit two trainees out of five applicants for its subject matter as early as 2022. That's what Sebastian Haindl, a carpenter from Grucking, is trying to do, who has set up a nail board for great fun, especially for young boys. Here, potential applicants have already been able to try their hand at the hammer, and an apprenticeship there takes three years.
If you are more interested in the profession of a specialist for pool operations – popularly known as a lifeguard – Carola Bock from the human resources department of Stadtwerke Erding was the right person for you. "But there is much more to this profession than just seemingly casual strolling along the edge of the pool. Knowledge of chemistry is also required, as is training as a lifeguard anyway," the expert reported.
Those who prefer to build upholstered furniture could get information at the Himolla stand, where there is also a great shortage of skilled workers, as Johanna Karbaumer explained. And their booth neighbor Christian Westermair from the Riedl company in Erding, which works in the fields of plastics technology and mold making, even offers the young seekers a one-week student internship.
But many young people, briefly asked about their possible plans, are not yet sure what they should do. However, 15-year-old Anesa is already looking for a job as a media designer, and her friend Julia, who is the same age, is even more precise: "I want to work as a receptionist in a hotel, because I speak English, Polish and Russian in addition to German". First, however, the two young ladies would like to take the Mittlere Reife. Her schoolmate Andreas (16) would like to work as a parquet floor installer.
In any case, Rector Stephan Treffler sees such a career fair as a good offer for information, "because many people often don't know what they want to do after the ninth grade. But if you look around here, you will also see young people at the various stands who have already decided on a career path and are now advertising themselves, so the system is showing its first effect." For this reason alone, the career fair was a success from his point of view. Fez