Looking forward to working together: (from left) Carsten Sühling and Karin Spaleck from SPALECK, Melanie Vennemann from the IHK and Achim Schäffer and Norbert Schmidt from Rhede Comprehensive School.
Bocholt/Rhede – Rhede Comprehensive School and Spaleck GmbH & Co. KG in Bocholt are official cooperation partners in the “School-Company Partnership” project of the North Westphalia Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK). Representatives from the company and the school signed an agreement to this effect on February 7, 2018.
The main aim of the IHK project is to support pupils in their career orientation and companies in securing the next generation of skilled workers. “Many young people have only vague ideas about vocational training and the good career opportunities it offers,” explains IHK project employee Melanie Vennemann. Companies like SPALECK are ideally suited “to show pupils the diversity and reality of the world of work, with its opportunities, but also its requirements,” Vennemann continues.
SPALECK is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of recycling technology and a supplier to the metalworking industry in North Rhine-Westphalia. The company offers a dual study program and six apprenticeships, for example as a technical product designer, industrial mechanic and construction mechanic.
Head of Human Resources Karin Spaleck: “For us as a fifth-generation Family-owned business, training young people is still something very special: it is the common basis for success for the future of our trainees and our company.”
However, the “School-Company Partnership” is not just about career guidance. With this project, the IHK also wants to support companies in securing the next generation of skilled workers, explains IHK project employee Vennemann. “The key to success is getting to know each other personally: the pupils recognize their interests and the company finds talents that are worth promoting, even if the report card initially says otherwise.”
Managing Director Carsten Sühling emphasizes the need to leave no talent undiscovered in view of the declining number of school leavers: “Early and direct contact with pupils helps us to discover talented and motivated young people time and again and to promote them as part of their training.” According to Sühling, this is the only way a company can remain competitive.
Principal Achim Schäffer emphasizes: “The IHK project offers our students, but also the teachers, the opportunity to get to know companies up close and get excited about training occupations and Efficiency in the long term. Personal contact is established in teaching units with SPALECK employees, which makes it easier for pupils to find their way into working life.”
