I am Julia, 18 years old and I am currently completing my apprenticeship as an industrial clerk at the Haidlfing site.
On my first day at work, I was given an intensive introduction to the company, including a tour of the premises and a safety briefing. In addition to all the information about the company and the training programme, I was assigned a mentor.
My godmother, Luisa, also completed her training as an industrial clerk at VEDDER and was about to take her final exam at the time. She really empathised with me and helped me a lot when I started my career. She was able to provide me with some documents and answer a lot of my questions, both in terms of office procedures and school-related topics. Especially at the beginning I was rather shy and reserved - but with Luisa I found it increasingly easy to approach other colleagues.
My first department was Purchasing. I got to know the team there and was able to complete my first tasks. My colleagues explained a lot to me and were always there for me, so I quickly settled in here, although the first few weeks were quite exhausting for me. In terms of content, working life is very different to school. I had to memorise many, many work steps and needed some time before I could work reasonably independently. To be honest, I was always very exhausted after work and went to bed early.
After just under two months, I had my first change of department, although I would have preferred to stay in Purchasing, as I already knew my way around there really well and felt comfortable.
I was then assigned to the quality management team for a fortnight. My main task there was to support our safety officer in the assessment and categorisation of hazardous substances in the company. A really exciting topic.
Then it was time for production - completely new territory for me. It was very unusual to stand all day and do physical work, because as an apprentice in an office you're not used to that. I got really sore muscles from the work. But it was definitely worth it for the knowledge I gained! Everyone looked after me really well and I got to know a lot of new people. It's really interesting to see how everything is connected and what each individual does on a daily basis. You also get to know the apprentices in production better, which I really enjoyed.
In my next department, incoming goods and dispatch, I had a lot of contact with both production and the office. As I had already got to know many colleagues through my work in the other departments, it was already easier for me to complete several tasks independently.
MY CONCLUSION
The more departments I go through, the more I have the confidence to act independently and learn new tasks much more easily. I'm always being given new tasks and I'm really looking forward to new challenges.
