Companies and young people run past each other on social media
Apprenticeships remain unfilled, young people without a job – this is also due to misguided communication, according to a study.
Job advertisements for training positions and potential trainees often don't match up on social media.
(Image: ALPA PROD/Shutterstock.com)
Companies and young people often miss each other when looking for a training place. Companies advertise in places where potential trainees are not even looking for a place – or only to a limited extent –, for example on Facebook. The German Economic Institute (IW) and the Bertelsmann Stiftung have investigated why companies and potential trainees do not find each other.
In September, many young people start an apprenticeship. However, the number of unfilled training places recently reached a record high of more than 73,000. This contrasts with 63,000 young people who did not get a training place or were looking for an alternative.
Every second person looks on the notice board
Apart from unsuitable qualifications or interests, as well as too great a distance between home and place of work, both parties are evidently already looking for each other. According to the study, 87.1 percent of 14 to 25-year-olds looked at online job advertisements, for example on digital job portals or on company careers pages. However, only 73.1 percent of companies did this. 55.5 percent of young people also look for job advertisements in newspapers or on notice boards. However, only 42.4 percent of companies do this. A similar number of young people and companies rely on placement through the Federal Employment Agency and social media channels.
However, a closer look shows that a lot of communication here also comes to nothing: according to the study, for example, 70 percent of companies searched for trainees on Facebook. Of the young people surveyed, however, only 25 percent searched for corresponding positions on this platform. Instead, almost one in two young people (46.9 percent) use the video platform YouTube –, but only one in five companies (18 percent) advertise their apprenticeships there.
Young people search on Instagram
Young people and companies are most likely to search on Instagram. This channel is used by 57.9 percent of young people and 75.6 percent of companies. WhatsApp, TikTok and Snapchat are also used by significantly more potential trainees looking for a training position than companies: WhatsApp has 38.3 percent young people versus 20.9 percent companies, while 19.4 percent young people look on Snapchat and meet 3.4 percent of companies there. There is also a large gap in the use of TikTok: 30.4 percent of the young people surveyed use this channel to search for apprenticeships, but only 3.6 percent of companies also provide information about their apprenticeships there. On LinkedIn and Xing, the ratio is more balanced again: 41 percent of companies advertise here and 28.3 percent of young people are active there.
For the study, the market and opinion research institute iconkids & youth international research GmbH surveyed a total of 1729 people aged 14 to 25 in February and March. The basic population is the resident population of this age group in Germany. The companies were surveyed as part of the IW Personnel Panel from March to May. A total of 895 companies took part. Of these, 441 answered the questions on the topic of vocational training and 885 answered the questions on the image of vocational training.
(are)