Zug - Lucerne,23.04.2014

Time running out for youngsters seeking apprenticeships

Time is getting short for young people hoping to start an an apprenticeship this year. In an interview with a journalist of the Neue Luzerner Zeitung, Peter Gosteli, the manager of the AMAG Audi Centre Luzern, who has been head of training for those hoping to work in the automotive industry for over twenty years and an expert in final apprenticeship examinations, talks about what is required of apprentices, what needs to be changed and what parents can do to help. Every year the AMAG Group trains some 700 apprentices.
 
When asked what had changed in all the years Gosteli had been working with apprentices, the 61-year-old said very little with regard to the youngsters themselves. "You still get the cocky cheeky ones as well as the reticent shy ones," he said.
 
Gosteli felt it was in the training itself where most changes had been noticed and of course, in the car industry, this meant that apprentices were no longer involved with a purely mechanical machine but with complex mechatronics.
 
This has led to vocational schools demanding levels in mathematics not far off those demanded by higher institutions. "In my opinion these levels are too high and no longer appropriate to the practical work the apprentices will be expected to do. I think the curricula need to be changed to be closer to what the trade associations feel is right."
 
As to the individual apprentices he has interviewed in his time, Gosteli said that he had encountered both eager and enthusiastic applicants as well as those who were far too casual with very little interest, "other than they wanted a job to do with cars".
"Who is responsible for such pupils coming along so clearly unprepared?" asked the journalist.
"On the one hand it is the schools they have attended, though I must say many schools do an excellent job in preparing their pupils thoroughly before they attend an interview. Then it is also a responsibility of the parents, too. You can soon tell who has and who hasn't been well prepared prior to the interview stage."
 
Gosteli went on to explain that, at AMAG, they insisted pupils do a trial period beforehand, and on five days a week, too, not just three. "Then they get to know what it is to work longer than eight hours a day from Monday to Friday," he said.
 
During this period, applicants spend time with various employees, who give them practical tasks to do and observe them to see how well they carry them out. "Naturally, if you want a job in car mechatronics, then pupils' achievements at school play a role and the Swiss Car Trade Association has its own aptitude test, too. All of these aspects are taken into consideration," he said.
 
One other aspect Gosteli mentioned was that those applicants who were involved in a sports club, for example, may have an advantage over others who were not. "This means they are less likely to get involved in causing any trouble," he said.
 
With May round the corner, had some applicants already left finding an apprenticeship too late?
"There is still the opportunity with some small-to-medium sized companies who can perhaps be a little more flexible, unlike larger companies," he explained.
 
"What apprentices need to realise, too, is that, once they qualify, it does not mean they have to spend all their working life with the firm where they trained."
 
What Gosteli also wanted to emphasise was that it was up to parents to start talking about what their child might like to do as a career as soon as the 5th and 6th classes. "I think it is a big mistake for parents to impose their own wishes on their child in regard to what job he or she should do, though of course this is very common. What is more important is that they teach their children certain values and that they set an example by behaving accordingly. It is not good for youngsters to be put under pressure to find an apprenticeship in this or that area. As parents, it is our duty to help them find their own way in deciding on a career which is right for them."