Swiss Industry Goes to Music Festival to Recruit Young Workers

Swiss industrial firms are stepping up their efforts to attract young talent, facing a persistent shortage of apprenticeships in sectors like machinery, electrical, and metal industries. To combat this, companies are adopting unconventional recruitment strategies, including a recent initiative at the Open Air Frauenfeld, Europe's largest hip-hop festival.

Four prominent companies, Schindler (elevators), VAT Group (vacuum valves), PB Swiss Tools (tools), and Huber+Suhner (connection technology), sent a combined team of 15 representatives to the festival. They set up engaging activities such as a photo booth, a prize draw, and races with remote-controlled cars. Festival-goers could participate in the races for a chance to win vouchers for food stands, all while interacting with company representatives.

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Are you ready?

The primary goal of this festival presence was to showcase the companies as attractive employers. They aimed to demonstrate to young attendees that diverse career paths and apprenticeship opportunities exist within their organizations. By highlighting that industries involving cables, elevators, tools, or antennas can be "cool," they hoped to encourage sign-ups for talent newsletters and ultimately fill numerous open apprenticeship positions.

While the overall Swiss apprenticeship market appears stable, with a significant percentage of young people securing contracts or verbal commitments by April, the industrial sector faces specific challenges. Over 11,000 apprenticeships remain advertised on berufsberatung.ch and more than 15,000 on Yousty, indicating a gap between available positions and successful placements. This situation prompts organizations like Swissmem, the industry association, to explore creative solutions to connect with the next generation of skilled workers.

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Show them that industry, that cables, elevators, screwdrivers or antennas are cool.