19.11.2024 – 15:41
Zurich career fair / MCH Group
Zurich (ots)
At the opening of the 19th Zurich Career Fair, there was a lot of talk about the role model function of training companies, but also the fight for attention. Coop CEO Philipp Wyss spoke about the diverse career opportunities in retail, Jeremie Levy about the modern, youth-friendly and interactive implementation of apprenticeship marketing using the electrical trades exhibitors. And Michael Ryter, the best plasterer in the world, was honored.
Thomas Hess, Managing Director of the Canton of Zurich SME and Trade Association, welcomed around 100 guests from vocational training, industry associations and politics to the 19th career fair today, Tuesday, November 19th. Artificial intelligence, the macro topic, will no longer disappear from the scene, said Hess. The fear that AI will rationalize jobs is real, especially for routine work. But jobs in many SMEs that require craftsmanship, creativity, flexibility and practical experience would not be replaced so quickly. A practitioner cannot be replaced by artificial intelligence, even if many professions – including skilled trades – already use AI or digital tools. And the professional professionals are trained by the many training companies, professional associations and vocational schools. On behalf of the KGV, he thanked everyone who worked day after day to support young professionals. And the Zurich career fair, the largest career show in Switzerland, is an important piece of the mosaic in the career choice process of Zurich secondary school students.
Inca Dellai, trade fair manager at the Zurich Career Fair, said she saw the career fair develop into a pulsating event. This opens the door to a world of new opportunities with over 240 apprenticeships for over 24,000 young people. 110 committed exhibitors bring the professional world to the exhibition with passion and expertise. What makes the trade fair special is the interactivity, the direct encounter with the professions, the opportunity to try things out. Here the young people experienced first hand what awaits them in the professional world. “A real springboard into choosing a career and starting adult life.”
Director of Education praises role models in teaching companies
Zurich education director Silvia Steiner said there was no better place than the Zurich career fair to feel the pulse of vocational training. If you want to find a suitable career path, you also have to find a suitable company – and vice versa. With the Zukunft.Zürich project, the secondary school and vocational training office supports companies in finding the right apprentices. The project is an important pillar of medium and long-term planning at this school level, as around 10,000 new training places will have to be created over the next 10 years. “We have to prepare for that.” The canton of Zurich also contributes financially to training places.
The most important partners, however, are the Zurich training companies and industry associations. They showed this every day with their strong commitment to the learners. “You say to yourself: Young people are the greatest capital a company can have,” says Steiner. The training of skilled workers strengthens companies, but also for the respective industry.
Learner sales points at Coop
Philipp Wyss, CEO of the Coop Group since 2021, gave an insight into his “store”, i.e. Coop as a training facility, as a guest speaker. “From apprentice to CEO – everything is possible with the dual training system” – the motto of his presentation matched his own biography: Wyss himself started his professional career with a commercial apprenticeship and followed that up with an apprenticeship as a butcher. For him, a teaching is “the beginning of life, the beginning of something great.”
When he asked young people what was important to them, many said (in addition to wages): “That we offer them a future.” The retail sector is – also thanks to the dual education system – suitable for later taking on responsibility in a wide range of positions and functions. It is therefore not surprising that 70 percent of Coop’s apprentices continue to be employed after their apprenticeship and that 75 percent of management positions are filled internally.
The retail trade is generally the second largest private employer (after the construction industry) and offers 10 percent of all apprenticeships. “The retail trade is the glue of society,” said Wyss, referring to the diversity of training courses. Coop, one of the largest employers in Switzerland with almost 60,000 employees, provides training for 2,791 apprentices. But innovations are also needed as an incentive for learners. After a pilot, new apprentice sales points would be offered step by step in all regions, with the district manager changing every month. “You are really responsible until the checkout.” This means that 2,044 of the almost 2,800 learners would be employed in these. Bakers and confectioners are increasingly being trained in stores themselves, i.e. on the sales front.
Worlds of experience around the electrical professions
The elaborate design of the electrical professions EIT.zürich showed that individual sectors and companies have to fight for young professionals – and thus for their attention. Their stand makes the apprenticeships in the electrical industry tangible in an interactive way. Jeremie Levy, media specialist and founder of Baker Street GmbH, presented the creation and design of the stand “New worlds of experience for the Zurich electrical industry”. The professionals from the digital creative agency took the “DNA of apprenticeships” to heart as a guiding principle, such as: How does a building IT specialist bring a building to life?
First the heart, then the head. The core activity of a job should be translated digitally or manually into experiences according to the motto: Experience it and decide whether it suits you. The network electrician finds himself at a tram stop in the summer using VR glasses to experience maintenance. Building information technology is simulated through a 3D rollercoaster ride through the profession. At one station, cables for home use are assembled in an assembly workshop. Another experience world, the E-Scape Room (electrical installer), gives young people interactive tasks to avert the energy crisis in 120 seconds. “We had a lot of fun with the project because we all felt it made sense,” Levy summarized.
World professional champion Michael Ryter (plasterer-drywaller) from Grüt (Gossau ZH) was introduced by KGV President Werner Scherrer as an ambassador for his profession and the dual vocational training system. Ryter said he prepared for the WorldSkills for around three months, mostly after work or on weekends. In contrast to Asian hopefuls who had been trained for years, he felt less pressure to deliver and simply did his job with pride, Ryter said authentically. His motto: “Represent Switzerland for joy.” The regular top rankings at professional championships despite this short preparation time are proof that “we are the best,” concluded Scherrer.
The Fiddle Jammers, young musicians from Winterthur, opened and closed the event with some folk music pieces from Romania, Bulgaria and Macedonia as well as their own medley piece, inspired by three cultures.
Strong partners
The Zurich career fair is organized by the SME and trade association of the Canton of Zurich (KGV) and Messe Zurich. As the largest employers’ association in the canton of Zurich, the KGV is particularly concerned with vocational training in order to permanently improve the conditions for SME training companies, which train 80 percent of apprentices. The sponsors of the Zurich career fair include the Zürcher Kantonalbank, the vocational training fund of the Canton of Zurich and the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation. Media partners of the Zurich career fair are SRF, Energy Zurich and the Tages-Anzeiger.
Press contact:
Patrizia Ciriello, Marketing & Communications Manager
MCH Messe Schweiz (Zurich) AG | CH-8050 Zurich
Tel. +41 58 206 22 58 | [email protected]
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