“Tying a tie is a thing of the past,” announced Sparkasse Marburg-Biedenkopf on its roll-up banner, to prevent any notions of a overly conservative image from arising regarding the banking assistant apprenticeship. It seemed the students in the Steinmühle 12th-grade class had no problem with that anyway. The local bank’s information booth at the Rotary Career Information Day at Steinmühle was consistently well-attended. Banking clerk—a career with many prospects—and who better to confirm this than Dirk Bamberger (CDU), a current member of the state parliament who was also present and who began his professional career in that very field.

Quite Popular: Psychology

But this evening—which takes place every November at the Steinmühle Forum—was not just about the careers of bankers or politicians. The list of representatives from a wide variety of professions was long: lawyers, business graduates, medical doctors, and dentists; the information provided by the psychologist in attendance drew particular interest from the audience. There are also other professions that, as usual, generate particular interest: Several people expressed interest in the German Armed Forces, though slightly fewer than in previous years. The Sustainability Management degree program attracted a lot of attention, and Pharmacy and Physics also drew considerable interest during the three discussion sessions.

Finding My Way to a Trade “Through Detours”

New additions to the lineup included trades such as butchery and carpentry, represented by professionals in those fields. Christiane Harms, herself a goldsmith and project coordinator for “Talent Scouts in the Skilled Trades,” answered questions about whether the skilled trades have any supporters among high school seniors. “Absolutely,” reported the representative of the District Craftsmen’s Association, noting only that people often take a detour first: “Many start something else first and then enter the trades after dropping out.” The need for skilled workers in a wide variety of trades and the comparatively good earnings even in the very early years are often overlooked beforehand. Her advice: “Feel free to stop by and see us.”

Homicide Division and the Press

A new addition to the evening’s lineup was a representative from the homicide division, and many didn’t want to miss the insights offered by this “real detective.” How does a pilot work, and how does one become one? That, too, was part of the new information offerings at the Career Information Day at the Steinmühle. Are these times so interesting from an observer’s perspective—or has the profession’s image actually improved? Whatever the case may be, Carsten Beckmann, deputy editor-in-chief of our local newspaper, the Oberhessische Presse, was delighted to see a room full of people interested in careers as journalists and editors.

Thanks to the organizing team

So far, we have not mentioned the representatives of the professions in human resources development, information technology (IT), and software; tax consultants and certified public accountants; and precision optics. We must also not forget the event’s organizing team, consisting of Dr. Claudia Röder, who is responsible for career guidance at Steinmühle, and Hans-Heinrich Bähr from the Rotary Club Marburg-Schloss, who is in charge of the career information service. Principal Björn Gemmer thanked both of them for their reliable preparation with a small gift.

“Valuable for navigation”

As always, we caught a few comments from the students after the event: “I had a lot of ideas and expectations about certain careers, but now I can assess everything more realistically. This event is very valuable in terms of career guidance,” said Ivo Hamann. Comments from his classmates confirmed this, though they said they would have really liked to hear more about marine research. Otherwise, according to Elsa Stremme and Lia Kraft, it was okay, “…just more sessions and more time—that would have been even better.”