“Then I’ll know if this is my thing—or not”

Julius Henkel, a 11th grader, completed the district’s internship week

Figuring out what career you want to pursue later in life isn’t that easy. Many upper-level students at Steinmühle know this, too. Julius Henkel, a 11th-grader in Dr. Claudia Röder’s class, has found an opportunity he can wholeheartedly recommend: participating in the Marburg-Biedenkopf district’s internship week.

During the summer break, the district, in collaboration with the startup stafftastic, offered the internship week for the first time. The concept is simple: spend five days getting to know five different professions at five different companies. There is no cost to the students.

“The whole process was pretty straightforward,” Julius recalls. “On the website www.praktikumswoche.de/marburg-biedenkopf, you can quickly get an overview of the available opportunities. You register on the site with your name, age, grade, and school, and specify the time period during which you’d like to complete your internship days. If you have a general idea of what topics interest you and where you’d like to spend a day, you can indicate that. The internship team then selects companies that match your preferences.”

Julius had set aside the third week of summer vacation for his internships. In the end, he even spent seven days visiting seven different companies. The 11th-grader proved to be flexible. His choices included skilled trades, an insurance company, a law firm, and the employment agency. “It was all interesting in its own way,” the student reports, “but I quickly realized what was more my thing and what wasn’t.” He said the amount of screen work at the law firm wasn’t really his thing when he imagined having to do that for the rest of his life. He gained valuable insights at the insurance company and now understands how important the fine print is in contracts.

“For him, it’ll probably come down to some kind of manual work,” the student summarized. Paving a new street, manufacturing materials for the automotive industry—“I’m the type who likes to see what I’ve created with my own eyes.” Sure, the tone on a construction site is rougher than in an office. But he’s confident he can handle it.

 

Finding the Right Career Path

For companies, the internship week offers an opportunity to get to know motivated young people with minimal organizational effort and to make a positive impression on them. The one-day internships can be structured independently, allowing companies, for example, to use their own training workshops and integrate the students into their daily work routines.

Partners in the district’s internship week include the Marburg Employment Agency, the Kassel-Marburg and Lahn-Dill Chambers of Industry and Commerce, the Marburg and Biedenkopf District Craftsmen’s Associations, the State School Authority, the University City of Marburg, and the “SchuleWirtschaft Mittelhessen” initiative. According to Nancy Bartholomes, head of the Youth Support Department at the Marburg-Biedenkopf District, plans are underway to continue offering the internship week.

For Julius Henkel, who received a certificate of participation for his week-long internship, there’s no doubt that the time was well spent. During his placement at the Employment Agency, he learned firsthand: “An alarmingly high percentage of young people end up there after graduating from high school and don’t know what to do next.”