education

Strong young professionals

A guest contribution by Ingo Goschütz

Spring time is travel time. At least for me. I'm always looking forward to it. When the yellow rape fields float past me, the lush green of the landscape and the blue sky invite you to enjoy, I feel a little privileged. I'm not angry at all if my destination is at the northern or southern tip of the district. The priceless country is always worth a trip. Not just because of the landscape and the lovingly tended villages and towns, but also because of the young people I meet on my trips.  

Career opportunities on 100 pages

The reason for my trips is the INSIDER training atlas. The 11th edition will be distributed to all schools in the district in autumn with a circulation of 8,000 copies. Pupils from the seventh grade use the atlas for their professional orientation and the graduating classes also use it for their application for an apprenticeship. An average of 100 companies, vocational schools and institutions as well as the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences present their training and study offers in INSIDER. On many pages, current trainees report how they found their way to their profession and to the company and how they assess their apprenticeship. And that's where I come in.  

Talking to INSIDERS

I visit the trainees on site at their training place. The range of facilities visited in one day ranges from a hotel and a hospital to a metal construction company. It's always a roller coaster ride of emotions. I always find it exciting to hear the stories of the trainees. Some are real chatterboxes that I have to put the brakes on. With others, I have to break the ice and first calm the excitement with a little small talk. Most of the time this works quite well. It works best when the bosses of the trainees are not in the same room.  

Tangible enthusiasm

I am often totally impressed and enthusiastic about the pride and enthusiasm with which the young people talk about their profession. They always radiate self-confidence and optimism. When I ask them about special challenges, many usually shrug their shoulders. Of course, some subjects are not easy at school. Of course there are sometimes really tricky tasks in practice. But that's part of it. There is nothing that cannot be mastered. When I hear such confidence and resilience in the words of the young people, I'm always really happy. A new generation that likes to face challenges, that doesn't give in to problems and is proud of being able to contribute to the success of its own training company - what more could we want?!

And if I'm lucky, I'll still have some time between appointments to enjoy Priceless Land. Then the car becomes the home office and the surrounding landscape becomes inspiration.