![[Translate to English:] Demographischer Wandel](/fileadmin/_processed_/5/f/csm_agoform.de-wb-demographischer-wandel-ist-thema_f9f5f96d16.jpg "Demographischer Wandel ist Thema")
“Training: if not now, then when?“ – This is the motto under which the Herford Employment Agency presented its half-yearly assessment of the apprenticeship market. Yesterday the AGOFORM premises in Löhne served as the venue.
District of Herford (LZ). “Fewer applicants, fewer training places and still no mathematical balance on the apprenticeship market“, reports Frauke Schwietert, Chairwoman of the board at the Herford Employment Agency. With 65 registered training places for 100 young persons the apprenticeship situation for vocational training in the Wittekind district continues to remain unbalanced und only negligibly improved compared with the previous year. In March 2013, there were even no more than 62 training places available to 100 young persons.
“Besides the purely numerical gap, there is a further challenge on the regional labour market: demand and supply are finding it ever more difficult to align”, Schwietert was at pains to point out. In view of the demographical change and the threatening loss of skilled personnel associated with it, precisely this poses an enormous problem.
Michael Ruprecht, Managing Director of the Löhne-based company AGOFORM, confirmed these statements. “We are already on the lookout for skilled workers. However, here in our region the market has since become exhausted. In cooperation with other companies we are already looking out for workers also in southern European countries, such as Spain and Portugal, but also, for example, in Poland. If there’s no change in the situation, in three to four years’ time we will be forced to fall back on these skilled workers“, Ruprecht emphasised. Petra Chevalier, employer service broker from the Bad Oeynhausen Employment Agency, is in the picture about this so-called “incoming procedure“ and offers companies corresponding support in this area.
The AGOFORM Managing Director pointed out that thanks to their higher education qualifications more and more trainees are going abroad and overseas on completing their training, or take advantage of advanced training. “And they are then lost to us as potential employees.” AGOFORM currently employs ten trainees. “One of them is pursuing a dual study programme. Six training places are allocated to the industrial sector and four to the commercial sector“, says Ruprecht. We are seeking above all young people who are interested in training to become a Process Mechanic for plastics and rubber technology. “Very few people know what this entails, and yet it’s a profession offering excellent career prospects.”
As Frauke Schwietert emphasised, year on year Agoform GmbH is committed to all aspects of training and apprenticeships. Practical work experience places and collaborations with schools are offered on a regular basis. “In addition, we participate in the “Step One” vocational training fair. And, of course, the employment agency’s employer service helps us a great deal as well”, Ruprecht emphasised. Georg Hartsieker, Works Manager at AGOFORM GmbH, and Dirk Wehking from Agosol GmbH & Co. KG, are already on the lookout for suitable trainees for 2015. “We will continue our endeavours to secure tomorrow’s skilled workers. Because these young people play a decisive role in our company’s success“. This is something that the company representatives were all in agreement about.
By Sonja Töbing
You can retrieve the original newspaper article (in German) in the Westfalen-Blatt here.
