Together with the Chamber of Commerce and kronehit, the “Krone” has stimulated the talent turbo with the campaign “Student seeks apprentice” and had hundreds of students present their company via video. After the online vote at krone.at, it’s now time for the final: our reporter Sarah Jahn was on site with the ten companies that our readers voted in the top 10. Today she is at Fundermax, where Esraa introduces us to her company and internship.
Esraa is 20 years old and is in the first year of her training as a chemical laboratory technician at FunderMax. With krone.tv reporter Sarah Jahn, she gives us exciting insights into her internship and her job – and she explains what an internship at FunderMax has to offer.
FunderMax is one of the leading European suppliers of exclusive wood-based materials and decorative laminates. The company has five production facilities at three locations in Austria. Anyone interested in an internship in the lab should have “a certain sense of humor and perseverance in addition to an interest in science and technology,” as krone.tv reporter Sarah Jahn said during her visit when asked by Esraa’s trainer, project manager Andreas Amsüss, learns.
Various tasks for the interns
What does a typical working day for Esraa at FunderMax look like? Her day starts at the office, where she first reads her emails, and then moves on to the lab, explains the 20-year-old, who also takes our reporter to the lab, where she prepared a small experiment. The company’s development department deals with very different topics, explains trainer Andreas Amsüss. “Starting with new raw materials to new surfaces, our students’ tasks are as diverse as the subjects we work on,” says the project manager.
Incidentally, Esraa found her internship at FunderMax through youth coaching at the center for adult education in Vienna. According to her trainer, Esraa “fitted very well into the team in a very short time, she has taken on tasks and she also comes out on her own and has made great strides”. Esraa’s student wow moment? The group-wide learning school. In the first week of work, the 20-year-old got to know the other students from across the company and was able to make friends right from the start of their training.
The student can shape his apprenticeship at FunderMax himself
But students like Esraa don’t just complete their training in the lab, as we learn during our visit. In FunderMax’s apprenticeship workshop, for example, apprenticeships are trained in the technical field: mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, process engineering and now also production measurement technicians. “You can help shape the apprenticeship with us, and we have the best examples. We have factory managers, maintenance managers, a wide variety of positions that started as an apprentice and then made their way to where they are today,” as the head of the training workshop, Michael Kopetzky, noted in an interview with Sarah Jahn and Esraa.
The benefits as a student at FunderMax? According to Esraa, there are many different benefits and “my special benefit is the workshops and team events and also the business trips where we can visit other companies”. The 20-year-old also appreciates the opportunities for further development in the company. She can complete her apprenticeship with a high school diploma and then complete her studies at the university. In doing so, she can count on the support of FunderMax, who allows her to continue working as an ordinary employee, Esraa concludes.
This commitment from the company to the students is paying off. Most students stay with the company after their training.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
