Ask the pupils who came to the career choice fair at the Johannes-Brenz-Gemeinschaftsschule this year from Hall or from further afield for their opinion, and you will hear adjectives such as surprising, exciting, versatile or spacious. And rightly so, because with ninety companies and over 200 training occupations and degree programmes in total, it was the largest careers fair in all of Baden-Württemberg. Accordingly, Lord Mayor Daniel Bullinger also stressed the regional significance of the event in his speech.
Some on their own, some accompanied by their parents – but mostly in tow with their group of friends – the young people made their way on Saturday, 21 October, to Schulstraße, the assembly hall and the school courtyard. One pupil, who came to the fair more or less by chance in order to “simply get a few impressions”, as he puts it himself, described the event as “surprisingly big”. “You remember the companies, maybe I’ll come back to one of them at some point?”
A group of young men from Schwäbisch Hall took a similar approach, wanting to be inspired by the wealth of offers: “As a pupil, you really don’t know what jobs there are at all,” explains one of the four.
Some others are far more focused. Two future Abitur students, for example, were looking for a way to earn money during their studies.
Working in a bakery or a pharmacy is what they have in mind.
Two older pupils went about it in a similar way, taking the opportunity to secure a work placement directly with the state police: “Now I just have to apply,” explains one of the two. He was able to make contact straight away.
There seems to be something for every visitor: orientation, inspiration, a work placement, pleasant conversations, or simply a company leaflet that you may well come back to at some point. “That was worth it,” said a school leaver from this year, laden with gift bags and smiling broadly. He now hopes to be accepted onto the dual study programme of his choice.
Now, at the Johannes-Brenz-Gemeinschaftsschule, the stands are being dismantled and school life carries on, until the 2025 career choice fair in two years’ time brings another round of versatile, exciting and surprising experiences.
The thanks are more than deserved, which the headteacher, Frau Fürle, expressed to the teachers Dagmar Zwilling and Jörg Vogt, who once again got this project off the ground.
