News › Intern­ship week · Call for participation

Pupils invi­ted to intern­ship week in summer

Voca­tio­nal »tas­ter weeks« await inte­res­ted stu­dents from Jena and the sur­roun­ding area during the sum­mer vaca­ti­ons. Young peo­ple aged 15 and over can get to know com­pa­nies and dis­co­ver a wide range of care­ers at the »Intern­ship Week Jena«. Anyone who wants to take part can regis­ter free of charge via the web­site www.praktikumswoche-jena.de. The young peo­ple are asked online about their inte­rests and talents and auto­ma­ti­cally assi­gned to the par­ti­ci­pa­ting com­pa­nies. Since the for­mat began three years ago, nearly 140 local and regio­nal com­pa­nies have regis­tered. Until the vaca­ti­ons, com­pa­nies can still regis­ter or reac­ti­vate their online access and post »last minute« offers fle­xi­bly and free of charge.

»Young peo­ple can take a look at a variety of fields of work during the vaca­ti­ons and thus, for exam­ple, get to know a poten­tial trai­ning com­pany in ever­y­day life,« says pro­ject mana­ger Daniela Drilltzsch from the Jena Eco­no­mic Deve­lo­p­ment Agency (Jena­Wirt­schaft), explai­ning the aim of the ori­en­ta­tion weeks. Since the for­mat began two years ago, Drilltzsch says a total of 391 young peo­ple have taken part and com­ple­ted a total of 501 intern­ship days.

»With the intern­ship week, we sup­port the tran­si­tion of young peo­ple from school to the pro­fes­sio­nal world,« said Jena­Wirt­schaft Mana­ging Direc­tor Wil­fried Röpke. He added that this is one com­po­nent in a cata­log of mea­su­res deri­ved from the »Jena 2030 Skil­led Work­force Study« published in 2019. »Trai­ning is a very important topic for us as an eco­no­mic deve­lo­p­ment agency. We want to make sure that young peo­ple get the best pos­si­ble over­view of the com­pa­nies with a strong future and great entry-level oppor­tu­ni­ties here in Jena.«

In addi­tion to Jena­Wirt­schaft, the Jena/ Saale-Holz­land-Kreis dis­trict craftsmen’s asso­cia­tion and the Opto­Net e.V. indus­try net­work are also part of the orga­ni­zing team. Accor­ding to Manuela Vogt, mana­ging direc­tor of the Kreis­hand­wer­ker­schaft, the one-day intern­ships are ideal for see­ing that »you don’t neces­s­a­rily need a high school diploma or a uni­ver­sity degree for your own pro­fes­sio­nal self-rea­liza­tion.« The young peo­ple can expe­ri­ence for them­sel­ves – wit­hout a cover let­ter, resume or job inter­view – »how wide-ran­ging the oppor­tu­ni­ties are in the skil­led trades and how proud you can be to create some­thing with your own hands every day.«

Prac­ti­cal expe­ri­ence is also the pro­ver­bial »be-all and end-all« in app­ren­ti­ce­ships in the optics and pho­to­nics indus­try, says Natalja Baj­kov­ski from the Opto­Net indus­try net­work. »What do pre­cis­ion opti­ci­ans, phy­sics lab assistants and micro­tech­no­lo­gists actually do all day? The best way to find out is an intern­ship. Jena’s pho­to­nics com­pa­nies are loo­king for­ward to wel­co­ming the stu­dents and will show which future topics are being rese­ar­ched and worked on.« Num­e­rous exci­ting offers await the poten­tial trai­nees of tomor­row during the intern­ship week.

Taking part is defi­ni­tely wort­hwhile, accor­ding to those who took part last year: 93 per­cent of the stu­dents sur­veyed said they were bet­ter able to assess their own career path after the intern­ship week. And around 89 per­cent of the par­ti­ci­pa­ting com­pa­nies said they could ima­gine at least one of the interns beco­ming an apprentice.

Voices on Intern­ship Week 2023:

Dr. Tho­mas Nitz­sche, Mayor of Jena:
»Spen­ding intern­ship days in com­pa­nies and get­ting a taste of prac­ti­cal expe­ri­ence far away from the daily school rou­tine is a won­derful for­mat from which both stu­dents and com­pa­nies in our region can bene­fit enorm­ously. I am the­r­e­fore deligh­ted that the Jena Intern­ship Week is ente­ring its third round during the Eas­ter vaca­ti­ons and hope that as many long-term cont­acts and also trai­ning con­tracts as pos­si­ble will come about as a result.«

Manuela Vogt, Mana­ging Direc­tor of Kreis­hand­wer­ker­schaft Jena/ Saale-Holzland-Kreis:
»Trai­ning in the skil­led trades is a mat­ter of the heart and the key to main­tai­ning the cen­tral infra­struc­ture for Jena and the Saale-Holz­land dis­trict. The­r­e­fore, it is important and right to pass on know­ledge over gene­ra­ti­ons. Try­ing out skil­led trades in par­ti­cu­lar helps young peo­ple decide to train in the trades. That’s why we’re deligh­ted to be invol­ved in Intern­ship Week 2023 as well. It’s a great for­mat for brin­ging young peo­ple clo­ser to the skil­led trades.«

Nora Kirs­ten, Mana­ging Direc­tor Pho­to­nics Net­work Opto­Net e.V.:
»The many pho­to­nics com­pa­nies in Jena and the sur­roun­ding area offer great future oppor­tu­ni­ties – many peo­ple don’t even know that. That’s why we think it’s exci­ting that stu­dents get to know pro­fes­si­ons and com­pa­nies during the intern­ship week that they might not have thought of before. We invite ever­yone to look behind the sce­nes, meet peo­ple, try things out and gather ideas.«