Karl Knauer KG’s education partnerships

Trainees are tremendously important to every company. The Covid-19 pandemic meant the training market was faced with restrictions, and many companies had to contend with losses too. Since 2022, the number of training contracts has increased again slightly to 468,900 in total, according to Germany’s Federal Statistical Office. Many young people are still uncertain about which profession is the right one for them because opportunities to intern with or interact with companies were few and far between during the coronavirus crisis. Added to this is the shortfall for demographic reasons.

So it is all the more important to seek out direct contact with pupils and to encourage young people to give professions a try. The German state of Baden-Württemberg already established an agreement for this purpose in 2012 – with a view to further developing education partnerships between schools and companies. The goal of this endeavour is to increase awareness of companies and the training opportunities they offer. Pupils can get a taste of the training available at a variety of events.

Karl Knauer – a company based in Biberach, Baden-Württemberg – has been an active education partner for several years already. Its partners include the likes of the Ritter von Buss Education Centre in Zell am Harmersbach and the Heinrich Hansjakob Education Centre in Haslach. The Astrid Lindgren School in Offenburg and the Robert Gerwig Grammar School in Hausach have also been Karl Knauer’s education partners since 2023.

Training at Karl Knauer

Karl Knauer currently offers 13 technical and commercial traineeships, not to mention three dual study programmes. The mid-size company, which employs around 400 staff at its Biberach site, still has vacancies for 2024 – and there are still a few places free for 2023 too.

Having been awarded the title ‘Training Company of the Year’ several times over, Karl Knauer has a varied training plan to offer trainees. Attractive remuneration, modern workstations and a free-to-use electric car are all provided at Karl Knauer, as is social support for trainees. This includes apprentice afternoons, further training opportunities, proprietary projects in the sustainability segment and in corporate communications, plus mentors who assist apprentices in every department.

How do pupils benefit from the education partnership with Karl Knauer?

Pupils gain an insight into the different skilled occupations and gain experience with respect to the jobs’ requirements profiles, how the training is organised and the further training opportunities available in the company.

“We like to visit our partner schools and explain on site how packaging production works in the first place”, commented Kilian Vollmer (an HR Officer who is responsible for apprentices training at Karl Knauer to become commercial consultants). “Many people don’t realise just how diverse the professions in our field are, or that we can also offer a secure future due to the sustainable aspect of packaging.”

Karl Knauer also offers its potential trainees company tours and industrial placements. These opportunities allow pupils to take an even deeper dive into the company, so they can see for themselves just how diverse – and to what high-quality – the training at Karl Knauer really is.

General information about Karl Knauer

What do beverages, food, consumer goods and technical products all have in common? They all need to be packaged! Whether packaging is used for protection, brand presentation, retail display or online shipping purposes, it is playing an increasingly important role in today’s society. Many of these cardboard packaging solutions are Karl Knauer creations, made in Biberach, Baden-Württemberg. Karl Knauer is one of the leading and most successful companies for packaging, promotional products, gift packaging and packaging machinery construction in both Germany and Europe.

Following the slogan ‘Impressively different’, just under 800 employees at the Biberach and Pniewy (Poland) sites develop and produce packaging solutions for almost all industries. Karl Knauer is considered particularly innovative and has already been awarded countless international accolades. Another of the company’s key priorities is the responsibility it shoulders for people, the environment and nature. The likes of sustainability forms a central part of Karl Knauer’s strategy, so the goal with every single product is to increase process efficiency, conserve resources and minimise emissions.