Information needs: Study: Companies inform too little before training

Companies could score with attractive offers for prospective trainees. However, according to a joint study by Bertelsmann Foundation and the Institute of the German Economy (IW), many companies do not meet the information needs of potential applicants.

For example, 95 percent of young people between the ages of 14 and 25 state that they are important to information on the training allowance, as the Bertelsmann Foundation in Gütersloh announced. In contrast, however, only 60 percent of the companies surveyed also provide them before an interview.

Nine out of ten respondents want information about the course of the application process. But here too there is a gap between what companies offer and how they inform about it. Nine out of ten companies offer simple application processes. But a little less than half inform the applicants in advance.

More orientation at school or through internships?

If apprenticeships remained vacant, this was mainly due to a lack of orientation for the potential applicants, the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry said. “It is important to start here, especially during the last school years.” Professional orientation must be mandatory at school and the companies must be involved as much as possible. In addition, companies would have to use more support offers for training young people with special needs.

Young people would have to be able to try out an apprenticeship, said Bernd Fitzenberger, the director of the Institute for Labor Market and Vocational Research in Nuremberg, the radio wave Bayern 2. “We just have to get together much better in bringing young people and companies together, sometimes making trial internships or even longer internships, which are then also discussed and that are tailored to the individual situation of young people and businesses.”