ÖIF brings companies into schools to inform students about career opportunities in teaching / young people without Austrian citizenship are underrepresented in teaching
Vienna (OTS) – The career platforms of the Austrian Integration Fund (ÖIF) now also provide information in schools about career opportunities with apprenticeships: On Thursday, February 15, 2024, more than 200 students took part in the first career platform with a focus on teaching for young people at Vienna’s Leibnizgasse Middle School . Middle school students in the 3rd and 4th grades had the opportunity to get to know apprenticeships and career opportunities at the Austrian Pharmacists Association, Lidl, REWE Group, ISS Austria and magdas Hotel. Through personal exchanges with employers who take on and train apprentices, students with and without a migration background were able to find out directly on site about various apprenticeship training and entry opportunities after completing compulsory school. According to statistics, young people with non-Austrian citizenship are underrepresented in apprenticeships; they account for less than a sixth of apprentices in Austria. The integration ambassador initiative TOGETHER: AUSTRIA focuses on career orientation with career platforms and company school visits, shows young people with a migration background concrete career profiles and motivates them to seize their opportunities in Austria.
School director Rico Hirschbeck: “Students with a migrant background often do not consider the possibility of an apprenticeship, so it is very important to make perspectives understandable for young people. We are very pleased to open the doors of the New Leibnizgasse Middle School to the career platform with a focus on teaching.”
Andreas Schneider, Group Manager Recruiting at Lidl: “We are very pleased to be part of the ÖIF career platform. We very much welcome the opportunity for students to get an idea of various teaching options. Lidl Austria offers young people a very safe, competent and, above all, exciting environment to start their professional career. Many former LIDL apprentices have embarked on impressive career paths and we are proud of that. Teaching is an important and future-oriented responsibility for the LIDL Austria company.”
Arnd Riehl, Group Human Resources Director of the REWE Group in Austria: “The REWE Group is one of the most important training companies in Austria with around 2,300 apprentices at BILLA, BIPA, PENNY, ADEG and the REWE Group central companies and therefore trains over 15% of apprentices in retail. We are pleased to be part of the career platform because cultural diversity is in our company DNA, is what makes us successful and the recognition, appreciation and inclusion of people with disabilities is a matter of course for us. We currently have employees from over 100 nations, and at the same time we have around 3,000 open positions, we are always looking for workers and would like to take on more staff. This year we are also offering around 900 young people the opportunity to start their careers through an apprenticeship. People with a migrant background are an important target group for us, whom we can integrate and train socially even better and faster by integrating them into professional life.”
Daniela Colleoni, Director People and Culture at ISS Austria: “We have been successfully cooperating with the ÖIF for a long time. We not only welcome the new career platform with a focus on teaching, but see it as an excellent opportunity to inspire and recruit apprentices – especially for the career as a cleaning technician – at ISS.”
Lena Weithaler, head of the ZUSAMMEN:ÖSTERREICH initiative: “With the career platform focusing on teaching, the ZUSAMMEN:ÖSTERREICH initiative focuses on career orientation for young people in addition to company school visits. The insight into different job profiles, apprenticeship opportunities and career paths that companies provide on this career platform is intended, above all, to support young migrants in recognizing opportunities and finding their own path.”
Foreign apprentices are significantly underrepresented
According to statistics from the Austrian Economic Chambers, almost 108,300 apprentices were registered in Austria last year. Of these, only around 15 percent were apprentices without Austrian citizenship. The majority of apprentices with non-Austrian citizenship received training in the areas of trade, crafts and trade. On behalf of the ÖIF, the Economica Institute for Economic Research surveyed the potential of highly qualified workers for the Austrian labor market in 2022 and, among other things, examined the training of young immigrants in Austria: According to this, apprentices without Austrian citizenship are underrepresented in apprenticeship training. The group of young migrants has significant potential to contribute to reducing the shortage of skilled workers, as 62 of the 101 listed occupations with a shortage can be pursued through apprenticeship training.
TOGETHER: AUSTRIA initiative: New focus on career orientation and labor market integration
As part of the TOGETHER:ÖSTERREICH initiative, volunteer integration ambassadors with a migrant background visit schools throughout Austria and talk to the students about the requirements for successful coexistence and the opportunities in Austria, talk about their personal careers and raise awareness of equality and self-determination Genders. In this way, the integration ambassadors break down prejudices and create integration. With the career platforms focusing on teaching and company school visits, during which students visit volunteer integration ambassadors directly at their workplace in the company and can thus find out about possible careers and industries on site, the TOGETHER: AUSTRIA initiative focuses on career orientation and Labor market integration of young people with a migration background. So far, company school visits have taken place at Austrian Post, Siemens AG Austria, Microsoft Austria and PORR AG. The TOGETHER:ÖSTERREICH initiative has already reached over 90,000 people throughout Austria. More information at: www.einander-oesterreich.at.
Questions & Contact:
Austrian Integration Fund
+43 17 10 12 03 375
presse@integrationsfonds.at
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