Crafts in the Pinneberg district: Master complains about customer interior!

Crafts in the Pinneberg district: Master complains about customer interior!

A unique view of the challenges and opportunities in the craft is currently enabled by a new series of articles about craftsmen in the Pinneberg district. The first article contains an revealing conversation with Norbert Lanz, the master craftsman, and Claudia Mohr, the managing director of the district craftsmen. Topics come up with not only in Pinneberg, but also in other regions, such as high school graduates in the craft, problems with dubious customers and the effects of invoice issues on the mood and cooperation.

In a conversation, Lanz complains about the recurring difficulties with “black sheep” that make life difficult for the companies. "The real manual work is essential when building a house," he emphasizes. But there are not only challenges on site, but also an image problem that affects more and more craft businesses, it is necessary to be tackled.

a serious image problem

In the district of Gießen, numerous craft businesses are desperately looking for trainees for the coming training year. Many young people decide to continue their school career instead of starting a craft training, which the district craftsmen sees as questionable. She plans to advertise more aggressively for the advantages and possibilities of training. It is no secret: Traditionally, the training begins in many places on August 1st or September 1, but the situation has changed in recent years.

The employment agency Gießen registered a whopping 691 applicants without an apprenticeship as of July 15. In contrast, there are 519 vacant training positions, which illustrates how urgently the successor is sought. The decline in the training positions is due, among other things, to the restrictions during corona pandemic. Internships and school presentations could not take place, which led to uncertainty among young people, who may be starting their training.

The urge for offspring and a better education

The importance of a well -informed youngsters is becoming increasingly clear. A study by Hanebutt GmbH shows alarming knowledge: In 2023, 35% of the training positions offered remained vacant in the craft. In addition, 84% of the young people surveyed felt poorly informed about craft professions. These facts emphasize the urgent need for improvement in clarification and information about the attractive professions in the craft.

The study illustrates that 72% of the respondents require an improvement in the information in schools. Two thirds of the study participants also miss a social appreciation for craft professions. However, craft professions offer many development opportunities, especially for high school graduates and dropouts. After all, 75% of the parents recommend their children a career in the craft, which emphasizes the successful perspectives.

In order to tackle these challenges, the association "Handwerk Mittelhessen" was founded, which is intended to improve the contact between schools and companies. The goal: to convey practical information about apprenticeships in schools and to reduce the prejudices via craft professions. This initiative could help to significantly improve the image of the craft.

The district craftsman Norbert Lanz and Claudia Mohr from Pinneberg are committed to better image design and education about the opportunities in the craft in the new series of articles. It remains to be hoped that both companies and schools will pull together to win future specialists and to position the craft as an attractive career path.