This year’s training survey by the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) shows that it is becoming increasingly difficult for many companies to find new trainees. Despite increased…
This year’s training survey by the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) shows that it is becoming increasingly difficult for many companies to find new trainees. Despite an increase in training opportunities, many positions remain unfilled – including in Mainfranken, as stated in a press release. When it comes to recruiting young talent, companies are increasingly relying on cooperation with schools, among other things.
The survey, conducted in May 2024, records the opinions of 13,077 companies at the federal level and 315 companies from the district of the IHK Würzburg-Schweinfurt.
The results provide information about the challenges in recruiting young talent and the strategies of companies. At the federal level, the DIHK survey shows that the lack of suitable applicants is the main problem for training companies. In 2023, an average of two out of eight training places offered remained unfilled.
Internships and cooperations
“This gap shows how difficult it has become to get young talents interested in dual training,” explains IHK department head Stefan Göbel. To counteract this trend, companies are increasingly relying on internships and cooperation with schools in order to attract potential trainees to their own company at an early stage.
For example, 44 percent of the companies surveyed work actively with schools to provide students with practical insights.
The situation in Mainfranken
Compared to the national average, the participating Main Franconian companies offered more apprenticeships in 2023 – an average of eleven per company. However, many of these remained unfilled in the region; on average there were three apprenticeships. This underlines that the lack of suitable applicants is also the central challenge for many companies in Main Franconia, explains Stefan Göbel.
In order to increase their attractiveness as a training company, 64 percent of companies in Main Franconia rely on flat hierarchies within the company. In addition, they use modern IT technology as well as financial and material incentives to make themselves more interesting for potential trainees.
The distribution of apprenticeships offered by regional companies is also interesting, the press release continues. According to this, the proportion of commercial apprenticeships at 57 percent is roughly in line with the national average. In contrast, the industrial and technical professions are represented slightly below average at 30 percent.
In contrast, the proportion of cross-sector occupations – particularly in the IT sector – is 13 percent, which is above the national average.
For this year, the Würzburg-Schweinfurt Chamber of Industry and Commerce expects a stable number of newly concluded training contracts, similar to last year. The figures will be published at the end of August.
“Training Scouts”
According to the statement, the training survey underlines the need for nationwide measures and regional initiatives to recruit young talent. One successful example is the “Training Scouts” project promoted by the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs. It provides authentic insights into the variety of training occupations by having trainees report on them in school classes.
65 percent of Main Franconian companies rate this project as a very good to good recruitment measure, thus confirming the success of the project, which has already reached 200,000 students. red
