StartUp Europe

Objective

To provide young people from Southern Europe with a career perspective by offering them international work experience and training in Germany to subsequently jump-start their career.

Overview and Main Activities

StartUp Europe is Volkswagen’s international trainee programme for young Engineers and IT specialists from Spain, Portugal and Italy. Participants are initially employed for two years, where they spend the first few months in their home country, followed by up to 21 months in a Volkswagen Group company in Germany.

In Germany the programme includes on-the-job training provided by operating departments, e.g. research and development, production planning, IT-services, and off-the-job sessions like special StartUp seminars for newly hired graduates and provided by the internal training academy of Volkswagen AG. Language courses are also provided. StartUp seminars help participants get a better overview of topics like group activities and project management, and obtain a basic knowledge about automobile production at Volkswagen.

Departmental on-the-job training is supported by a mentor from the specific operational area. The main goal is to integrate the trainees, involve them in projects and enlarge their experience in their special field of studies. Mentors give feedback to the trainee on a regular basis. Volkswagen uses a standardized process to ensure comparability and fairness for all participants.

Ideally, at the end of the programme participants receive a contract with one of the Volkswagen Group countries. Approximately 90% of participants receive a permanent employment contract.

Throughout the programme Volkswagen AG in Germany and the Group company in Spain, Portugal or Italy are in close contact to ensure that at each single point of the training everybody is well-informed about the performance of the participants. This is also necessary to ensure that the recruiting process conducted abroad is targeted and in line with requirements.

Participating Group companies include Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Audi, SEAT, Lamborghini, Ducati, Volkswagen Navarra, Volkswagen Autoeuropa, Volkswagen Group Italia and Italdesign Giugiaro.

Success Factors and Challenges

Most critical success factors:

• Career perspectives due to unemployment rate in home country
• Reduction of skilled labour shortage in Germany
• Qualification of the participants (language, intercultural training, seminars)

Main challenges:

• Setup and trial of the overall concept
• Financing
• Recruitment of participants

Replicability and Scalability

How easily could other organizations implement this initiative?
Difficult: Difficulties include the number of involved companies, in-house training, a high financial investment, and low employee loyalty at end of programme.

How easily can this initiative be expanded to include a larger number of participants?
Difficult: Due to the aim of offering jobs after the programme the number has to be defined carefully.

About the Organization

Website: www.volkswagen.de
Sector: Automotive
Size (number of employees): 100,000+
Headquarters: Wolfsburg, Germany

For Further Engagement

Contact name: Andrea Claus
Contact position: Global Assignments
Email: [email protected]