The Oldenburg family business BÜFA welcomed twelve new trainees on Monday, August 1, 2022. The trainees spent their first day in the innovation village of ZUKUNFT.unternehmen in the old BÜFA glass hall in Oldenburg. After the new trainees had already made their first contacts at the BÜFA Welcome Day at the end of June, the joy of seeing each other again was great in the morning. While the get-to-know day was all about team building, the first day of training focused on important information about BÜFA: company principles, company regulations and organizational aspects. After this introduction to the BÜFA group and a lunch with the trainers, the new trainees started in their respective teams at the BÜFA sites.
BÜFA is currently training 50 young people at a total of four locations in Oldenburg, Hude and Rastede and in cooperation with Plixxent Oldenburg. In eight professions in the areas of laboratory, production, logistics and in the (digital) commercial sector, those entering the workforce receive a multi-award-winning, versatile and future-oriented training.
"This year, we were once again able to fill all of the trainee positions and are pleased that we will be able to accompany the trainees on their professional and personal paths over the next few years," explains head of training Sabine Hinrichs, who welcomed the new colleagues together with the instructors from the departments. The mix of professional and personal development is at the heart of training at BÜFA. In addition to the skills they need for their professional careers, the young people are given many opportunities to develop personally. During an intensive workshop lasting several days on the North Sea island of Juist, the trainees experience a change of perspective: literally during flight training in a motor glider as well as during experiential education project work. The end result is an auxiliary pilot's license, important key skills for working life, and new impetus for further personal development. Another highlight of the training at BÜFA is the trainee company Grüne Tierwelt, which has now been established for two years. Working independently and on one's own responsibility is a top priority at this agile start-up. The BÜFA trainees sell a self-selected range of sustainable animal products via the online store www.gruene-tierwelt.de. All tasks - from purchasing the products to marketing the store and strategic development - are taken on by the young entrepeneurs themselves. In this way, they learn as a team about the structures and activities of a company not only in their training department, but also on a small scale under their own direction. Their trainers and colleagues from the departments at BÜFA are on hand to mentor them at all times. At regular intervals, the trainees present their results and plans to a panel of specialist experts so that learning successes can be monitored. "It is important to us that the prospective specialists can quickly work independently and contribute their own ideas. The family-like, open corporate culture at BÜFA offers the trainees optimal conditions for this," explains training manager Sabine Hinrichs.
The next application year for the apprenticeship starting in August 2023 will bring innovations at BÜFA. For the first time, the chemical company is training process mechanics in cooperation with the Fassmer shipbuilding company in the Wesermarsch district of Lower Saxony. In addition, after a break of several years, people who have just started their careers can once again train at BÜFA to become IT specialists for system integration. "We remain clearly committed to our training mission and offer young people a professional career start in a future-proof company," concludes Sabine Hinrichs
