Isabella Rau brought a wheel of fortune and an egg timer with her to the trainee speed dating in the building of the Frankfurt Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Börsenplatz.

Both are symbols for what this day is all about: winning an apprenticeship position with a convincing brief introduction, even if the apprenticeship year has already started.

Representatives of the management or HR departments of companies who would like to hire trainees straight away sit at around 30 tables.

Patricia Andreae

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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A young man takes a seat on the chair in front of the head of the travel agency, Rau; he has specially marked the travel agency in his flyer.

The training offered to become a tourism clerk would interest him, he says, but even more that as an e-commerce clerk.

He looks shy and speaks in a very low voice, it quickly becomes clear that he has not been in Germany for too long.

In doing so, he also explains why he failed to graduate from secondary school.

With that he has actually already lost in the competition for the two apprenticeship positions.

Hotel management is more popular than waiters

Rau advises him to get a school leaving certificate first, but asks for his application documents anyway. After all, after two hours, the head of the travel agency has not convinced any candidate so much that she would have already given up both of her positions. The travel industry, one of those that was hit particularly hard by the pandemic, had significantly fewer applicants this year, says Rau.

For a similar reason, the chair in front of Anton de Bruyn should not be permanently occupied. The head of the Frankfurt restaurant "Emma Metzler" wants to train restaurant specialists. The fact that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find offspring is not only due to the corona pandemic: "The waiter's job is not highly regarded in Germany," he says. Many said that this was only a job for students, and that it offered good opportunities for advancement, whether as a sommelier or later in management. The training to become a hotel clerk seems to be more popular, at least the two recruiters at the Intercity Hotel have already given two of their four positions by midday.

The fact that, despite all efforts, not every pot finds the right lid, applies to job advertisers as well as to those looking for training.

This is one of the reasons why, despite the currently 9100 vacant apprenticeship positions and 7200 apprenticeship seekers in Hesse, the right candidate or the desired position cannot be found for everyone.

In general, reports Brigitte Scheuerle, the IHK's managing director responsible for training and further education, that of those who registered as training seekers with the employment agency, only 30 percent actually took up an apprenticeship position.

The rest of them studied, worked or did internships.

Fewer school leavers through grammar school reform

By the end of August, 17,400 contracts had been signed in the district of the Frankfurt Chamber of Commerce, which also includes the Hochtaunus and Main-Taunus districts, 16 percent fewer than in 2019 when 20,600 apprentices were hired. According to Scheuerle, this is not just due to the pandemic. "We have halved the number of places in the hotel and hospitality industry, significant declines in the area of ​​logistics around the airport, but also among the metalworkers," she reports. This is partly due to Corona, for example because companies did not know how to look after trainees in view of contact restrictions; concepts are now being developed for this.

But it is also due to the fact that some companies that have found too few trainees in the past few years are now also offering fewer places. However, this is increasingly exacerbating the shortage of skilled workers. The sharp decline this year is also due to the fact that due to the change from G8 to G9, i.e. one year more high school level, there were no high school graduates at some schools, so the number of graduates is lower than usual.

Overall, however, Scheuerle is worried about the downward trend in training. She hopes that the employment agencies, which have withdrawn many employees from student counseling to deal with short-time working, will soon be able to do more here again and that the schools will deal even more closely with career counseling. And some companies could do more too. "Above all, however, the attitude in society must change and it must become clear how good the chances and earning potential are with an apprenticeship, sometimes even better than with a degree," emphasizes Scheuerle.