Steven Köhler has been working at Marius Gläß's store for around a year. Steven Köhler has no training qualifications and was unemployed for around six years. REWE store manager Gläß supports the partial qualification project not only because he believes that people who do not have a straight CV deserve a second chance.
one: How did you become aware of the partial qualification in sales project?
Marius Gläß: I was asked by the HR partner in our region whether there was any interest in the project and whether I could imagine employing a candidate in my store.
one: How did you react?
Marius Gläß: I was immediately enthusiastic about the idea of giving people a chance who don't have a straight CV.
one: How did you find "your" candidate?
Marius Gläß: During application days, interested candidates introduced themselves at REWE stores near their homes. Steven Köhler chose the store in Berlin Lichtenberg, which I run as store manager. Although Mr Köhler was very shy at first, I liked him straight away. I showed him around the store, showed him everything and explained what was important to me. Then Mr Köhler told me something about his ideas.
one: And what are his ideas?
Marius Gläß: Steven Köhler has no qualifications and was unemployed for around six years. He has made various attempts to gain a foothold in the world of work, but without success. He sees the partial qualification project as an opportunity to gain a foothold in the labour market.
one: How did Steven Köhler manage to integrate into working life?
Marius Gläß: At the beginning, he was still very reserved and didn't have much confidence in himself. But that changed quickly. Once he had got used to working in the store, he really "thawed out". He's had a huge learning curve and is building up more and more self-confidence.
one: And what happens now?
Marius Gläß: Mr Köhler has already been with us for a good year, has successfully completed the first two modules and will be starting the next ones shortly. Once he has completed the four modules and the subsequent examination at the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, he will be qualified as a retail sales assistant.
one: What are your experiences with the programme? Would you recommend it to other store managers or to others?
Marius Gläß: Absolutely, because I have had very good experiences with the programme. You can tell that the participants see the partial qualification programme as an opportunity that they really want to take advantage of. This is definitely reflected in their work ethic. I find my participants to be punctual, reliable and polite. If I become self-employed in the future, I will continue to support this programme.
Marius Gläß started his high school diploma programme to become a senior manager at REWE in 2017. He then completed his retail management qualification. He has been managing the REWE store in Berlin Lichtenberg as a store manager since October 2021. His next big goal is to become self-employed with REWE, having passed his retailers assessment centre in Cologne in January.
Back to working life
The shortage of skilled labour is reflected in falling numbers of applicants. At the same time, there are around 1.5 million people who are unemployed and low-skilled, i.e. who have not completed vocational training. This is precisely where the Recruiting Centre's pilot project comes in: Together with the Federal Employment Agency, local job centres and educational partners, long-term unemployed and low-skilled workers are being trained for sales jobs in REWE and PENNY stores as part of a partial qualification (TQ).
We wanted to know from project participants how the project has helped them get back into work. We asked retailers, district managers, store managers and HR partners how it is helping them locally to combat the shortage of skilled labour. Employees from the Federal Employment Agency and training providers explain how they support the project.
Here, Sabine Förstel-Busler, HR Partner at REWE Region Ost, explains her role as a link between the project participants and the stores and why she hopes the project will become even more popular.
