Offering young people prospects locally ensures that regions remain vibrant - with jobs, purchasing power and social cohesion.
Dual vocational training combines practical experience in the company with theoretical instruction, enabling young people to put down roots in the region at an early stage. Apprentices build up a professional and private network during their training. This increases the likelihood that they will remain in the company and in their home region after their apprenticeship. In this way, they make a significant contribution to ensuring that rural areas do not bleed out, but are able to develop.
At the same time, training counteracts the shortage of skilled labour, which now affects almost all sectors - from skilled trades to technology and the food industry. From a social perspective, every trained apprentice means greater security of supply, more innovative strength and greater sustainability.
Training with vision: The Hochreiter Group as an example
The Hochreiter Group shows what modern apprenticeship programmes can look like. The company, which started out as a small butcher's shop in 1958 and has now developed into an international food and convenience company, has focussed heavily on apprentice training for years.
Its own Hochreiter campus in Bad Leonfelden is a central element of this. Here, apprentices not only find workshops with modern equipment, but also everything that makes up a conducive learning and living environment: single rooms with bathrooms, common rooms, a kitchen, leisure activities and even a fitness centre. This is complemented by a language school and seminar rooms where regular training sessions are held. The campus thus creates a space in which learning, working and community are closely linked.
The training programme is broadly based. Apprentices can train in areas such as food technology, laboratory technology or meat processing. They learn how to operate and maintain production facilities, carry out quality controls or help develop new products. The close co-operation between theory and practice also plays a major role here: what is taught at vocational school is immediately put into practice in the company.
Hochreiter attaches particular importance to providing individual support for the apprentices. Regular feedback meetings, internal training courses and additional support programmes ensure that everyone can develop according to their strengths. Those who wish also have the opportunity to complete their A-levels alongside their apprenticeship. Quite a few apprentices have embarked on career paths after successfully completing their training, which have taken them to senior positions within the company.
Added value of modern training for all
A modern apprenticeship provides far more than just specialised knowledge. It creates an environment in which young people learn to take on responsibility, work in a team and at the same time contribute their own ideas. Companies benefit from junior staff who are motivated and well prepared for their careers, while trainees are given real prospects for their future.
#schongenial. Because training not only produces the skilled workers of the future, but also strengthens the company, keeps the region alive and makes society fit for the future.
