Each employee at 2G has excellent chances of contributing to the success of the energy transition

August 25, 2022

2G exists because of hard-working people who are dedicated to the energy transition. A cornerstone of our business growth is the professional education of young colleagues, the internal development of specialized personnel. Many former trainees have long grown into important roles and therefore contribute to the global success of 2G. This summer, we once again welcomed 17 new trainees who want to kick off their professional careers at 2G. In an interview for the 2G Blog, training manager Christian Vitt explains the significance of these young colleagues for 2G.

 

17 trainees – that’s a strong number in times of specialized personnel shortages. How does that number compare to the previous years?
Over the past years, we had five fewer trainees on average (2020: 13; 2021: 12) compared to this year, but that’s mostly due to the company’s overarching personnel strategy. Basically, we try to reconcile the number of new trainees with the resource planning for the coming years, so that – theoretically – we could offer all trainees a permanent position at the end of their education – provided they are interested. Although we succeeded in filling all advertised openings once again, we also began to notice that the “battle” for trainees is growing tougher.


2G trains technical specialists in many classic fields of work, like mechatronics or electrical process engineering – frankly, jobs that are historically seen as predominantly male. As far as you can tell, is that really the case?
Fortunately, we are seeing real changes, namely that we welcomed four female trainees in technical occupations at 2G this year. That number makes us immensely proud and surely fits perfectly into current social developments. What’s more, you also have to mention that with the company’s growth, the spectrum of training offers grew enormously as well. Where, a couple of years back, we could only offer trainings as industrial sales rep, mechatronics technician or electrician, the offer has now expanded to include trainings as IT specialist in application engineering and system integration, digitalization manager, specialist for inventory administration and technical product designer.

 

How do you even get so many young people to be interested in your training offers? Especially in light of the aforementioned “battle”?
Well, nowadays, as a training officer, I almost feel like a sales rep in my efforts to get new people on board (laughs). But seriously: we also have to make use of a plethora of channels to advertise professional training at 2G. Besides the classic methods of job postings, professional orientation fairs or cooperating with schools, the social media side of things is increasingly important, as one would expect. Internally, we consider the positive experiences of our current and former trainees to be our biggest advantage. If they are happy with their training, they are likely to recommend us to their family and friends. At this point, I would like to take a moment to thank all my colleagues throughout the vocational training team, without them a professional education in so many fields would not be possible.
 

How does the globalization of 2G impact the training of new employees?
This year, the impact is particularly significant! Over the past years, we already sent several trainees to our foreign subsidiaries to give them a chance to stay abroad. This year, the exchange is reversed for the first time: a trainee from England, employed by 2G UK in Runcorn, will be trained by us in Heek. There’s also a colleague from Tunisia, coming to Germany to be trained at 2G.


Is it part of the company’s philosophy to train specialized personnel in-house rather than recruit from the outside?
Oh, for sure! Even though our home region, the Münsterland, without a doubt offers a high quality of life, we can never succumb to the illusion that droves of people from all corners of the world will come to Heek – although there are more and more instances of that actually happening. Consequently, the organic growth of 2G is partially based on the training of new colleagues. Besides the classic combination of vocational school and on-the-job training, there’s also an academic route via universities and a subsequent internship at or a thesis in cooperation with 2G that brings many young people to us. One of the big advantages of this strategy is that the young colleagues quickly develop a high degree of identification with the company during their early years. That, in turn, improves the atmosphere and team spirit among colleagues.


In future, what do you hope for, for you and your trainees?
Besides the professional competence, that I obviously hope to transmit to our young colleagues, I focus on conveying the climate-political aspect of our activities at 2G. Any given day, each employee at 2G has excellent chances of contributing to the success of the energy transition. Creating a consciousness for this fact among our many dedicated colleagues is what motivates in my daily work.

Thank you so much for the conversation, Christian!

FURTHER INFORMATION

2G Newsflash

In our newsflash, we regularly provide you with all the important news about 2G and cogeneration in general.

Press review

Find out about the press coverage of 2G Energy and efficient heat and power generation here.