A Little Apprentice Takes a Big Trip

We apprentices really get around. Trade shows, visits to schools, and a variety of other events gives us a chance to proudly present SMA and recruit potential colleagues. In June, I had the opportunity to visit the lovely town of Schwalmstadt. Destination: a secondary school, a school for university-bound students in grades 5 to 13. The school itself was nice, though I’d rather not say anything here about the condition of the boys’ bathroom. 😀

A Marathon of Presentations

The program called for four 45-minute presentations, one after another, with NO breaks , a very full schedule. Before an audience of surprisingly attentive students, we (one training supervisor, one commercial/technical apprentice, and yours truly) took the stage to “show and tell”the potential benefits of an SMA apprenticeship. Of course, my main focus was the commercial field. Ever loyal to my own apprenticeship as a service specialist for dialogue marketing, I naturally emphasized how terrific this was. 😉

“SMA Goes to China”

When I came to what I like to call the “elite” of the career opportunities for apprentices, that is, wholesale and international sales, I highlighted the advantage of being fluent in several languages. The last round of students included a girl whose family came from China. I asked my listeners which languages they spoke well. She told us she could speak five languages (including Chinese). I told her she should apply for an apprenticeship at SMA as soon as possible because one of our subsidiaries is in China. She got so excited that I’m pretty sure she started filling out the application on the bus on her way home from school! 😉

Long story short, as an apprentice in the best program (my favorite), I hope that I persuaded some students who intended to pursue general studies after their “Abitur” (high-school diploma) to consider an apprenticeship instead.