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31.07.2024

Interview with Claudia Keßner on the Apprentice Campaign, Technoqueens, and Employer Branding at WEIG

Claudia Keßner is the expert of Employer Branding and Recruitment at the WEIG Group. In this interview, she talks about the various strategies WEIG’s recruiting department employs to address current challenges such as low birth rates and the shortage of skilled workers. A recent successful initiative: the large-scale apprentice campaign, which focuses on fostering solidarity within WEIG and enhancing its attractiveness as an employer. Through thoughtful and authentic employer branding, WEIG reaches its desired talents – whether they are “techno queens” or “high-rackers.”

Question: Why has it become so difficult for employers to find good staff these days? What is the challenge?

Claudia Keßner: It’s no secret that the shortage of skilled workers has been worsening over the years. Employers in all sectors are complaining about this issue. Another factor is that the low birth rates are now impacting the labor market. The last time there were more than 900,000 births in a year was in 1990. Since then, there have been years in Germany with fewer than 700,000 births. Consequently, the number of young people entering the labor market – or looking for apprenticeships – is declining. For an employer like us, these conditions mean we have to act. We need to strengthen WEIG as an employer brand and clearly demonstrate the attractiveness of our company and the work we offer. We believe our new apprentice campaign is a step in the right direction.

 

Question: Who exactly is the apprentice campaign aimed at?

Claudia Keßner: We looked at which areas are becoming more challenging to fill our apprenticeship positions and found that the greatest need is for industrial and technical apprentices and young professionals aged 15 to 25. So, this became the primary target group of our apprentice campaign. We wanted to address a variety of job profiles: paper technologists, media technologists, HGV drivers, electronics technicians, warehouse logistics specialists, and machine and plant operators.

 

Question: How did you approach the campaign design?

Claudia Keßner: We knew we had to set this up professionally. Therefore, we secured the support of a specialized agency focused on employer marketing. The actual campaign project began in August 2023 with a workshop. We invited employees from all locations, different hierarchical levels, and various areas of the WEIG Group. During the workshop, they focused on WEIG as an employer, the target groups, and the competition. The insights from the workshop formed the basis for developing the right creative approaches to ensure our campaign effectively reaches the intended audience. An important aspect is the value proposition – the right message. It must be credible for employer marketing to work. For us and our target group, the value proposition was the idea of “solidarity.” Solidarity within our target group, the entire WEIG Group, and across all locations. We wanted to communicate this strength of WEIG in the apprentice campaign. This quickly led to the idea of putting our own employees at the center: with photos of real WEIG colleagues and real testimonials. That was the core idea of the campaign: to have our apprentices entice new apprentices to join WEIG. Authenticity is very important to us.

 

Question: How did you concretely implement the apprentice campaign?

Claudia Keßner: As the photo motifs and portraits form the core of our campaign, we had a professional photo shoot in January 2024. We used these motifs in a cross-media and location-wide campaign: for print ads in daily newspapers, on large posters, in social media advertising, and for new trade fair stands including information material. Basically, we have two different types of photo motifs. On the one hand, there are group motifs. We use these photos generally. On the other hand, we have specific motifs corresponding to the six mentioned job profiles. For these individual portraits, we came up with something special. We designed them like autograph cards, similar to those used by celebrities or top athletes. For example, Anna is an apprentice paper technologist. Her autograph card features the playful job title “Techno Queen.” And Thomas, an apprentice in warehouse logistics, proudly carries the nickname “Hochstapler” (“High-Racker”) on his card.

Question: Has the apprentice campaign been as successful as you hoped? What are the results?

Claudia Keßner: We launched our cross-media apprentice campaign in April 2024 – and the reactions have been definitely positive. Since April, we have seen a significant increase in applications in our applicant management system. It’s clear that our campaign has helped us reach and attract many potential industrial and technical apprentices with our training offers. In Mayen, all our apprenticeship positions are already filled. That’s a very nice success. But of course, we cannot rest on our laurels. We continue to monitor the results and aim to fill any remaining gaps at other locations through the right measures. The apprentice campaign is just one aspect of our employer branding. Building a strong, convincing employer brand requires a comprehensive and sustainable approach. It’s not a sprint; it requires endurance. And above all, it needs a holistic plan.

 

Question: What else plays a role in WEIG’s employer branding?

Claudia Keßner: The careers page is, of course, a very important element in our employer branding. We have completely redesigned it. The purpose of the new careers page is to make our team spirit and sense of community tangible for visitors. We also use a new web address in our communication that immediately conveys this and redirects to the well-known URL “https://www.weig-karriere.de/“: https://www.team-weig.de/. The new careers page is also imbued with the idea of authentic personalization. This means: Our existing staff show their faces. Since WEIG is about people, our careers page is about the people at WEIG. Our motto “driven by care” is not for nothing. It truly defines us: being there for others. For our business partners, for all employees, for the environment, and for society. Team spirit, a sense of community, and the “driven by care” principle – all these aspects are interconnected. That’s why corporate branding and employer branding are closely linked for us.

 

Question: Are there other ways for parties interested to learn more about WEIG besides the careers page?

Claudia Keßner: You have to reach people where they are. And especially for apprentices and young professionals, this means being active on social media. That’s why we have set up a special WEIG channel on Instagram, where you can find all sorts of information about training with us: https://www.instagram.com/weigausbildung/. Naturally, Instagram focuses heavily on photos. That’s why we convey authenticity through portraits and personal stories of people who work with us or are currently in training. We are also present at several training and career fairs every year. We offer student internships where students can get to know us. We also participate in the annual Girls’ Day, the “Future Day for Girls.” Young women get a glimpse into the workday with us and gain a first impression of what it’s like to work at WEIG. Finally, we are also participating in this year’s summer holiday event “Wissen was geht!”, organized by the Middle Rhine Economic Development Corporation. Students from the Mayen-Koblenz district will hopefully find their dream job during their visit to our company on 21st August 2024. We are very much looking forward to this event as well.

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