The Salzgitter Förderkreis for trainees and young direct entrants

The Salzgitter Förderkreis, the human resources development program run by Salzgitter Flachstahl for trainees and young direct entrants, is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. The perfect opportunity to take a look back and assess the program's achievements.

The main aim of the Salzgitter Förderkreis, or promotional circle, is to integrate new employees into the company at the Salzgitter, Peine and Ilsenburg locations and to prepare our young, up-and-coming management potential to take on technical and managerial responsibility down the line.
The program is open to recent graduates, as well as young direct entrants from all companies within Salzgitter AG who have a university degree. Almost 90 trainees and young direct entrants are currently enrolled in the Salzgitter Förderkreis, 40 from Salzgitter Flachstahl and a further 50 from our affiliates such as Peiner Träger GmbH and GESIS Gesellschaft für Informationssysteme.

The program achieves its key objectives of integration and qualification with a wide range of offers. To start with, there is the three-week steel introduction program, giving new employees the chance to get to know all of the main business divisions as well as all companies at Salzgitter within our integrated steelworks. A broad-based program of seminars educating employees in areas outside of their own work sphere, numerous presentations by in-house experts, round-table discussions with top management and department managers, as well as excursions and meetings between program participants are all on offer.

How is the benefit and the success of these events reflected in people's day-to-day work?

From the point of view of participants and their managers, the main benefit is in the network that the young entrants quickly build up. First and foremost, this network helps new colleagues find their feet and get to know the corporate group. But long after the end of the Salzgitter Förderkreis program, former participants are still making intensive use of the resulting contacts with colleagues in other areas, which are often immensely helpful in their daily work.

Furthermore, highly qualified trainers instruct and coach the seminar participants in the fundamental methods and working practices that can optimize the way the future managers and technical experts work. Besides seminars on work or presentation techniques, complex strategic simulations are also offered, where teams of Förderkreis members work together closely over a lengthy period.

Consequently, participants leave the Förderkreis with more than just a long list of personal contacts outside of their department. They also have sound knowledge and capabilities in areas outside of their own sphere to complement their technical on-the-job training.

This is one result that can also be seen in the detailed feedback that the participants provide directly after completing the program elements. Their highly positive assessments show that the tools employed in the Förderkreis certainly help achieve the desired results and are popular with the participants themselves.

To mark their official completion of the Förderkreis, participants attend the human resources development seminar. This event, organized along the lines of an development center, serves as a site-based determination of the level of each participant's knowledge of areas outside of their own work sphere. Against the backdrop of a defined set of requirements, the seminar results are taken as the basis for deriving personal recommendations for each individual employee. These recommendations are developed in close cooperation with employees' managers and they detail the action that individuals should take in the further course of their career. The information is then documented in the form of a human resources development plan. Armed with their plan, participants leave the Förderkreis well equipped for the coming years, during which time they will be given individual support to further their development.

Developing and adapting the content of the Salzgitter Förderkreis over the past 15 years has been a necessary step in continuing to promote young employees successfully. In line with the current needs of participants as well as changes on the company side, the program is constantly being evaluated and updated. For instance, the human resources development seminar now features extensive case studies that are directly connected to the issues that face people in their everyday work. Suggestions and ideas from participants and their managers are also very helpful. Since this is an intensive exchange of ideas, the Förderkreis is sure to remain an attractive and purposeful component of our integrated approach to human resources development at Salzgitter Flachstahl and the Salzgitter Group.