Vocational Training at Wintershall Dea: 2021 Trainees Are Ready To Go!

• Despite the pandemic, 13 new apprentices and dual work-study trainees were once again recruited by Wintershall Dea from across Germany this year
• An eight-day onboarding offers a behind-the-scenes look at its corporate culture and values

This year, Wintershall Dea is once again fulfilling its responsibility to offer training positions despite the ongoing pandemic. On 1 August, seven dual students started their careers at the company’s headquarters in Kassel. Five of them have opted for the dual work-study program to earn a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. For them, practical assignments in Kassel and Hamburg will alternate with blocks of theoretical instruction at the Hamburg School of Business Administration (HSBA) in Hamburg. Two more dual students are starting in the IT departments as part of their studies to earn a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and will also be receiving theoretical instruction at the University in Kassel.

One special part of the energy-filled newcomers’ programme is that before starting in their first departments or at the university, they undergo an intensive onboarding program. "It is important to us that our dual students get to know the company intensively even before they start their theoretical phases at the HSBA or at the University of Kassel, as this enables them to get their first impressions of our corporate culture, company values and safety culture," says Dagmar Laabs, training coordinator at Wintershall Dea. "This makes them the best multipliers imaginable right from the start."

The onboarding week is packed with exciting presentations from various departments that provide detailed and comprehensive insights into the company. In addition to an introduction to the E&P core business and the corporate strategy of Wintershall Dea, another important component of the onboarding focuses on the issue of "Diversity & Inclusion". "Respectful interaction with one another is anchored in our corporate values and a must at Wintershall Dea. We want to convey this to our trainees from the get-go," Laabs says. The program finishes with a session on "table and business etiquette" as well as a photo shoot, but topics such as data protection and compliance are also covered.

"Another focus is on safety," Laabs continues. In addition to a thorough briefing on safety and fire-safety, the first week for all participants ends with a training course on safe driving. The dual students have already completed the course and had positive things to say about it: "Together with those responsible for the Hertingshausen traffic training area, we were able to learn new things and try them out with our cars. We learned a lot and, most importantly, we had a lot of fun despite the coronavirus-related safety restrictions."

In addition to training dual students in Kassel and Hamburg, Wintershall Dea is also dedicated to vocational training at its Barnstorf site in Lower Saxony. With the start of training on 1 September, the company will be taking on five apprentices there who will work to qualify as industrial mechanics for maintenance, electronics technicians for operating technology, and mechatronics technicians. "Despite the pandemic, we want to maintain this level of training and continue to offer these new apprenticeships in the years ahead. This is a clear commitment to the Barnstorf training site, where we are continuing to invest in modern training infrastructure," says Kirsten Himmelmann, HR business partner and training coordinator at Wintershall Dea’s Business Unit Germany.