Highly rewarding: Training at Karl Knauer
Druck&Medien Awards 2023
At a time when companies are finding it ever harder to interest young people in training, packaging specialist Karl Knauer has received a boost to its efforts to attract applicants – at the Druck&Medien Awards 2023, the tradition-conscious company based in Biberach was nominated ‘Training Organisation of the Year’. In an average year, 20 trainees and students will start their careers with Karl Knauer, the packaging specialist from Biberach in Baden. The young men and women are a highly diverse group, and the trades in which they train are equally varied. Looking ahead to 2024, for example, Karl Knauer is advertising 10 technical courses, three commercial courses and three work-study programmes.
“We want to give those people launching their careers with us much more than just technical knowledge,” says Marco Manna, Head of HR at Karl Knauer, outlining the family-run company’s approach to its training programme. “It’s all about giving them whatever they need to put their lives on a solid foundation.” That’s why during their induction week, Karl Knauer trainees not only receive structured and individual flowcharts for all company departments, but are also assigned personal mentors. Elsewhere they benefit from a wide range of advanced training options, seminars and courses, and may even take advantage of health schemes. Trainees also run their own sustainability projects: the focus here is on independence and accountable actions on the part of the young professionals, who take full responsibility for their projects. This has benefits on both sides: practically all those who complete training with Karl Knauer embark on promising careers based on permanent contracts. Those currently in charge of the punching, gluing and financial accounting divisions, for example, are all former trainees.
