More than 60 students attended the Young Talents Night to learn about the wide range of entry and development opportunities at Haufe Group and to exchange ideas with our young talents. The first career event of its kind was developed and organized by seven motivated apprentices and dual students from Haufe Group. They show how young colleagues can actively and independently shape their future with us.
“I could throw my application as a paper airplane through the window.” — “Or program it as a website.” — “Or record it as a rap video? “ The group of students laughs heartily and sticks more and more post-its to the office wall. Today, there are no limits to their application ideas; everything is allowed. They are part of an interactive workshop for creative idea development at the first Young Talents Night of Haufe Group.
Today, students from the ninth grade onwards have the opportunity to learn about entry options at Haufe Group – whether through an apprenticeship or a degree program. Additionally, they can strengthen important skills for starting a career in interactive workshops. More than 60 visitors made their way to the Freiburg campus on this gray November afternoon to be part of it.
“An event like this would have been really helpful for me after high school,” says Loïc Dörr, a dual student in the field of business informatics. “And that's exactly why we teamed up to create such a format for young people.” By “we,” he means a group of seven apprentices and dual students from Haufe Group. They met in a project management module during their “Skill Safari” — our development program for young talents.
The Haufe Group Skill Safari
In this development program, our apprentices and dual students learn important key competencies that are significant both professionally and personally. Modules in project management, communication, and presentation complement their technical training and provide our young colleagues with a platform to network across teams and disciplines.
“Learning how to plan and implement a project in this module was really interesting,” says Loïc. “But we also wanted to apply what we had learned in practice. So, after the seminar, we put our heads together and brainstormed ideas — and that's how the Young Talents Night was born.”
“I found the idea exciting right from the start,” remembers Yara Mutschler, an apprentice event manager at Haufe Group and part of the project team. “But I also had respect for such a big event, because I experience firsthand every day in my apprenticeship how much work goes into something like this.” In the end, all seven seminar participants decided to implement the idea and set up the first Young Talents Night — from conception to organization and implementation.
An evening full of information, networking and fun
Today, the time has finally come and visitors are streaming into the event space The Cube. “Seeing the rows slowly fill up is a mix of joy and excitement,” says Yara. The young colleagues have spent six months preparing for this event alongside their studies or apprenticeships. “It was a rollercoaster,” Yara and Loïc agree. “It was a lot of fun, but there were also some challenges. Especially because everyone's daily work routine is so different: some could go full throttle for the project during their practical phases, while others were busy with vocational school or university exams. Coordinating all that and moving forward together wasn't always easy.” Nevertheless, the colleagues managed to grow together as a team, seek advice from experts at the right moments, and ultimately create a successful event.
They focus on interaction rather than one-way communication: with a joint warm-up, the moderation duo welcomes the visitors and tests their knowledge about Haufe Group with a participation quiz. Even the CFO Harald Wagner is present today. He has to answer 35 either-or questions without much time to think. “I just don't want to choose between tradition and innovation, because both define Haufe Group,” says Harald. He openly shares his career experiences with the students. “I am glad that we can welcome so many young people here today — because you are the foundation for the successful future of Haufe Group.”
That's well received: “So cool that even the management is involved in such an event and everyone speaks so openly,” says a student leaving The Cube. She heads to one of the information booths. Here, visitors can learn about the various apprenticeships and degree programs and talk to young talents from Haufe Group who are currently in the middle of their training. They can also participate in exciting workshops on topics like prompt engineering, creative methods, motivation factors, and crafting a compelling application. “You can tell that young people organized the evening,” says the student. “Everything sounds interesting, and I can hardly decide which workshop I want to go to first.”
Her enthusiasm immediately brings a broad grin to the project team's faces, and their relief is palpable. “We are thrilled to receive such positive feedback,” says Loïc. “It shows that our work has paid off and that we are offering real value to young talents with the event. That is just an amazing sense of achievement for us. We've all learned a lot and are happy that we had the opportunity to try something like this.”
