On 10 October, PENNY hosted a big graduation ceremony at Phantasialand Brühl. Around 250 graduates from training and further education were ceremoniously honoured.
They had given their all for a long time to work hard for their employer - on this day, fun and exuberant celebrations were finally on the agenda: PENNY's training and development graduates met up with colleagues, superiors and PENNY managers at the popular amusement park to spend an unforgettable day together. Stefan Görgens (COO PENNY), Nico Lehm (Head of HR PENNY National) and the heads of management from all regions joined the PENNY management team at Phantasialand.
250 graduates were honoured in a ceremony.
The day started with plenty of action: in the morning, the participants were able to have fun on the park grounds and enjoy the rush of heights, adrenaline and thrills on the numerous rides. After a lunchtime snack, the graduates met in the "Quantum" event hall to celebrate the award ceremony.
This was made very personal by the speeches of the respective regional managers, as some of them reminisced about their own training period. In addition to their certificate, all graduates received an exclusive #teampenny T-shirt, so that many green and gold splashes of colour dotted the hall. All trainees from stores, administration and logistics who completed their training at PENNY in 2023 were honoured, as well as graduates of the dual study programme or internal training programmes such as PENNY Up, retail specialist and trainee programme.
A group photo was followed by a walk to "Wuze Town". The themed world, which is even home to two indoor rollercoasters, provided the setting for the evening event.
An extensive buffet catered for the physical well-being of the guests and a DJ created a great atmosphere on the dance floor. A highlight for the sense of community was the joint karaoke singing. The goosebump moments during the song "Auf uns" will be remembered for a long time to come. Another idea with radiance was the "thank you campaign": the graduates were able to write a postcard to their trainers, market teams or senior managers. This was then sent together with a letter from Stefan Görgens and Nico Lehm and an XXL box of Merci.
How was the "fantastic" graduation ceremony received by the graduates, and what are their plans now? "It's great that we had such a great training programme and now the graduation ceremony at Phantasialand - that puts us in a good mood!" enthused Tobias Herms, who is now working as a first sales representative at PENNY Rosbach after completing his training. Nicole Klammt from the PENNY store in Drebkau also had words of praise for her training: "It was super interesting, our seminar trainer was able to answer all our questions. We were a great team and we all supported each other." And Susanne Machauer from Birkenau has a concrete plan for her future career at PENNY: "I graduated from PENNY Up Erstvertretung in June this year. The training was very demanding, but I can recommend it to anyone! I'm staying in my shop for now and would like to take over a store later on." Björn Peters from Neuss is also pursuing this plan: "I hope to get my own store as soon as possible after the PENNY Up store manager programme. I'm looking forward to the near future!"
Dr Stefan Görgens
How do you feel today when you see the new PENNY generation?
I am extremely proud of the graduates! They have worked really hard to be here today. Now they've made it - and that's a great reason to celebrate!
Why is a ceremony like today important?
Firstly, it's a colourful day where you can have fun together and get to know the trainees from the other regions, but also celebrate PENNY. But it's also a day with impact, because it shows that training is important to us at PENNY and that we invest in it.
What does an employer have to offer these days to be attractive?
Among other things, a competitive salary and flexibility. What also characterises PENNY is that we have values and that we show attitude, for example in our attitude campaigns. It's about community, cohesion and courage. For me, these are important reasons why I like working for PENNY.
In 2023, PENNY has 6.4% more trainees than in the previous year, namely 1,188 trainees. 596 of them started their training at the discounter this year. Why should career starters choose PENNY? And what should applicants bring to the table? one asked PENNY managers for a statement. 
Martina Weinhold
Martina Weinhold, Teamlead Training PENNY National
The good thing about PENNY is that everyone can shape their career as they wish. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. In the store, the typical career path often leads from store manager to retail specialist to district manager.
If you enjoy retail, if you want to take on responsibility, if you're interested in the processes and generally have an interest in commercial topics, then PENNY is a good choice to quickly build an exciting career - and in a really cool team, in my opinion!
Nico Lehm
Nico Lehm, Head of HR PENNY National
PENNY is attractive to young people because we organise events like today's at Phantasialand, and because we offer our trainees something they can't get anywhere else. They experience a great community here. What all of our current graduates have brought with them is joy, but also ambition and perseverance. And of course that's exactly what we're looking for: we need people who want to get stuck in and do their best for PENNY and their own career every day.
