Hi Lena, how do you spend your personal time? Are you an active person?

I would say that I am an active person - yes. Of course I like to meet my friends. I also like to go on spontaneous trips and travel the world. My biggest dream is to see the island of Hawaii with its beaches one day and to learn how to surf there.

You are apprentice industrial clerk at RAUMEDIC. Can you explain the job in more detail?

The apprenticeship as an industrial clerk is multifaceted with a focus on commercial and business administration tasks. It´s organized in the dual system - in the company and at vocational school.

Through a regular change of department and area of responsibility, each apprentice passes through the entire company during the apprenticeship. That way, you get to know the entire company and the individual departments from the ground up. In addition, these department changes later help me to decide in which department I would like to be permanently employed.

In addition, so-called "shadowing" gives you the opportunity to get a taste of other areas, such as production. This involves accompanying employees as a "shadow" and looking over their shoulders for a while as they go about their work.

My tasks as an apprentice vary from department to department: In Sales you prepare quotations. In marketing, you'll help with advertising campaigns or manage social media channels. In the supply chain you'll help with purchasing raw materials, preparing bid comparisons, taking orders and creating shipping documents.

What is the timeline for your apprenticeship? Total Duration? Working hours?

The apprenticeship as an industrial clerk takes 3 years. However, the duration of training can also be shortened by prior schooling, which is why I am only learning for 2.5 years. If you have an intermediate school leaving certificate, you can shorten your training period by up to 6 months. If you have a eneral university entrance qualification or a college entrance qualification, you can shorten it by up to 12 months.

Since I'm still a minor, my weekly working hours are still an even 40 hours and I have 30 days of annual leave. A special feature at RAUMEDIC is that our regular working hours after turning 18 years are 40 hours and 40 minutes per week. In return, we then have 34 days of vacation per year. I'm really looking forward to the 4 extra days. In the future, I'll be happy to use them for an extended wellness weekend.

The department changes at RAUMEDIC were scheduled in a training plan at the beginning of the training. The length of stay in the respective departments varies depending on the relevance of the training content to be taught.

Tell us about your time in vocational school?

I have one day of vocational school every week in Münchberg. Every other week, I have a second day of vocational school. During the school vacations in Bavaria, the vocational school is also on vacation. I then work 5 normal weekdays at RAUMEDIC.

There are about 18 students in my class from various companies in the region. The industrial clerks in the 2.5-year program are taught separately from the ones with a 3-year training period. Due to the shortening, the teaching material is more compact, but the weekly learning effort is still ok. However, when there are impromptu assignments or school work to be done, you have to learn a bit more. But that's spread out very well over the school year.

At the vocational school, I have subjects like "Business Processes" (BGP), "Commercial Management and Control" (KSK) and "General Economics“.

In BGP we discuss topics such as

• environmental protection
• the organization of a company
• legal basics concerning delivery and payment, stock-keeping and payroll accounting.

In KSK we deal with:

• accounting
• calculations of product prices
• calculation of profit and loss of a company.

In addition, I have general education subjects such as "German", "English", "Religion" and "Politics and Society".

What is a typical working day like for you at RAUMEDIC?

It always varies, depending on which department I'm working in at the time. At the moment I'm in the purchasing department. There I support the department with daily fixed tasks, such as ordering production material, entering order confirmations or obtaining quotations. In addition, I'm given various individual tasks or projects.

Has the apprenticeship so far met your expectations?

Yes, definitely. I think the department changes are great, because I get a detailed insight into all departments. At the same time, I can already start thinking about which tasks I particularly enjoy and which match my strengths.

I also feel very comfortable at RAUMEDIC. My colleagues make a great effort to look after me and always take the time to explain my tasks to me.

What makes the apprenticeship at RAUMEDIC special?

As a trainee, you are given responsibility for projects. As part of a project, we are currently creating our own intranet page on the topic of "Apprenticeship at RAUMEDIC". We simply get the opportunity to try out new things and work independently.

In part, we organize events together, such as our trainee dinner, which takes place once a quarter.

How did you find the application process with RAUMEDIC? Obviously it went well for you - do you have any tips for anyone interested?

What I really liked about the process was the relaxed way of getting to know each other with my trainer. We took a tour around the company premises and got to know each other very well.

My tips are: Be yourself, be honest and be open to new things.

Why did you ultimately decide to train at RAUMEDIC?

Commercial professions are strongly represented in my family, so I was already able to get very involved with the job and get first-hand information, so to speak.

I also like the idea of helping people with my daily work. Medical technology is a future-proof industry and RAUMEDIC is therefore a future-proof employer.

Therefore, the decision for an apprenticeship as an industrial clerk at RAUMEDIC was very easy for me.

Thank you very much Lena! We wish you continued fun and success in your training and that you will surf the waves in Hawaii someday.