New Program Helps Airbus and Lufthansa Technik Scout and Shape Future Workforce

January 21, 2015  | Written by Maryann Simson

Share

Airbus Germany has no shortage of CVs to sift through when it’s time to bring in new people. But who to choose? With more than 5,000 annual applicants to apprenticeship programs and internships, it can be a challenge for the airframer to identify prospects with the most potential for success in such a dynamic organization.

“We are innovators in global aviation, designing, creating and perfecting technology that keeps millions of people on the move,” says Jan Blacke, head of vocational training at Airbus Germany in Hamburg. “This passion drives our employees and people applying for a job at Airbus.”

Airbus and Lufthansa Technik have joined forces in Hamburg with the Ministry of Schools, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Hamburg Centre of Aviation Training (HCAT) and cluster group Hamburg Aviation to “achieve a closer institutional intermeshing of schools, universities and the aviation industry in the context of training and developing specialist personnel.” Together, these key industry organizations have launched a pilot program called Career Orientation Aviation.

Students who follow this program through to the end, and who are successful in their studies, will be offered an internship and integrated recruitment test by Airbus or Lufthansa Technik.

Students aged 12 and 13 from six different schools around the city are participating in the pilot, which begins with a visit to their classroom by someone already apprenticing at Lufthansa Technik and/or Airbus. After talking with the apprentices about the aircraft mechanics and aircraft electronics fields, interested students get to visit Hamburg Centre of Aviation Training (HCAT) for two hands-on workshops where they complete tasks that are typical to these career paths. The third step of the program sees the students visiting Airbus and Lufthansa to observe how the companies operate day-to-day.

If, at the end of these exercises, the student is keen to pursue a career in aviation, they will get the chance to speak one-on-one with Airbus and Lufthansa Technik about specific future perspectives. The young people, at around age 14, will then be offered a follow-up internship with an integrated recruitment test.

“In Germany we are already facing the challenge to find the right apprentices out of the high number of applications,” says Blacke. “The new career orientation concept helps all parties: It supports the pupils in finding out what kind of job they would like to learn at the end of school and offer them the possibility to get a better understanding of what kind of apprenticeships and dual studies we offer at Airbus. For us as an employer, we get the chance to find out if the pupils have the right skills and a passion for the jobs offered at Airbus. In addition, we use the one-to-one talks to align their performance in school with our selection criteria.”

This approach, where schools, trade organizations and large enterprise companies collaborate to guide successful pupils through career orientation across various year levels, is currently unique in Germany.

For more on Hamburg’s aviation history and the Centre of Aviation Training, check out “Hub and Bespoke” in The Education Issue.