We need more apprentices like highly-motivated Yusuf - says company head of training

Yusuf Rashidi arrived in Switzerland as a refugee from Afghanistan six years ago. Earlier this summer, the now 24-year-old finished a pre-apprenticeship course in bricklaying with a grade of 5.6 no less, 6 being the top grade.

It was as an 18-year-old that, on arrival in Zug, he was allocated a place at the transit centre in Steinhausen and then began to learn German through one of the schemes provided through the cantonal authorities, before going to gain work experience at the Gebrüder Hodel AG company. This in turn led him to embark on an apprenticeship course as a construction technician with a state- recognised qualification, a course he has just completed, as mentioned, in exemplary fashion.

Not only does this augur well for the young asylum-seeker, it augurs well for the construction industry, too, as there is a shortage of such qualified employees in central Switzerland, as Ivan Rust, the head of training at the afore-mentioned company, said, adding how firms were taking great trouble in seeking out the right young people to embark of apprenticeship courses, many of whom were to be found among asylum-seekers.

Speaking about hardworking Rashidi, Rust said how the young Afghan had shown a great aptitude for bricklaying from the outset and was as capable of working as independently as any Swiss apprentice, if not more so. Fortunately, he had able to bring eighteen months’ experience in doing the job in Iran prior to coming to Switzerland. Indeed, this was how he earned the money to be able to come here.

Not that he is the only refugee to have done well in obtaining qualifications since he came here. One of his friends, Payman Qasemi, completed a similar course with a grade of 5.3 having trained at the Landis Bau AG construction company. Then there are two other refugees who have been working at the Hodel Brothers’ company, too, namely Adam Moussa and Said Isaq Husseini, both of whom successfully completed integration bridging courses, the former now in his second year on a construction technician’s course, with Husseini about to start his apprenticeship in a different area of construction, both courses leading to state-recognised qualifications.

In Rust’s view, there is no doubt that the bridging courses offered by the canton contributed much to the success of the young asylum-seekers. “In so doing the canton, with whom we are in regular contact, took a lot of weight off our shoulders,” he said, as it was explained how, though the courses it provided, the refugees were able to benefit from tuition not just in German but also in subjects specifically needed for their future work, such as mathematics, IT and home economics.

For its part, the Cantonal Office of Vocational Training is equally pleased with the progress the refugees have made, thanks in no small way to the cooperation it has enjoyed with the companies which take them on for work experience, and those who train them on their various courses, as Roger Augsburger, who is responsible for such liaison and coordination, explained. He mentioned how such projects have been operating for two and a half years now. In fact a success rate of 100 per cent has been achieved, all of the 14 refugees who embarked on such bridging courses now able to start on apprenticeships leading to state- recognised qualifications.

Of note, too, is that no other canton has been as successful in this area as Zug, as the demand for such places on courses starting shortly shows, 15 young refugees about to start on such shortly. What is more, some 30 companies have expressed their interest in providing work experience and working with the cantonal authorities and some 20 asylum-seekers are already in gainful employment.

Indeed, Yusuf Rashidi is to stay on at the Gebrüder Hodel AG company, doing an additional two-year course in bricklaying leading to a further qualification, “I like working here,” he said. “And it is so much better now I can speak German.”

In conclusion, Rust said, “We can always make use of people as highly motivated as Yusuf. It is well worth the extra effort involved if we end up with such good apprentices.”