When Mohammed Halloum talks about his training, he always ends up at the cash register. Where the heart of every supermarket beats. Here he chats with the regular customers, sometimes, if that’s the case, he comforts them. Here he observes how his Pappenheimers rush in at 7:58 p.m. and quickly get something for dinner.
“I like talking to people,” says the 17-year-old with short black hair and an Adidas sweater. Since September he has been training to become a salesman at a large chain in Landshut. On this morning at the end of April, however, he is visiting his old special needs school in the east of the city. He still has a few questions for Ms. Huber. Sandra Huber is a social worker and his mentor for starting a career.
Sandra Huber has been working as a divisional manager at the Catholic youth welfare organization in Landshut since 2015. At the same time, she looks after several disadvantaged students when they start their careers.
(Photo: Viktoria Spinrad)
The two have known each other for three and a half years. She arranged internships for him as a chef and warehouse clerk. Showed him how to write a resume and encouraged him as he neared high school. He learned that you should bring knowledge about the company to job interviews and then keep an eye on your calls and e-mails. Huber is a career entry supervisor. Still, because it’s unclear how long this role will be around. After the EU pot, from which the money came, was cut, the concept was repeatedly sidelined in politics. A double-digit million amount can be saved with the stroke of a pen. Recently, however, the opposition and business representatives were so audibly indignant that the Ministry of Education found money for the next round of financing for the entry-level supervisors at short notice. 3,500 people like Mohammed Halloum are to be accompanied again for several years from 2023. What follows after that is open.
“Everything can change if you want it!”
Why should disadvantaged young people in middle and special schools have a right to one-to-one care? Is that even necessary? Back in the compact office of Sandra Huber and her colleague in the Landshut-Stadt support center. What are you talking about here? On the wall are 20 densely printed pages with the addresses of local training companies. On a white board is a mind map of trades, from bakery salesman to metal worker. In the corner is a poster from the sponsor, the Landshut youth welfare organization, with young people posing and the title “Everything can change if you want it!”
Can it really? Studies show that brittle CVs often reproduce themselves, children of disadvantaged parents often struggle on the job market. Last but not least, the Bavarian economy suffers from this. Every sixth apprenticeship position advertised remained vacant in the fall, and the shortage of young people is getting worse. At the same time, thousands of applicants are looking for the right job – at least on paper.
Mohammed Halloum was also a seeker once. His parents come from Lebanon, work a lot, both are building cleaners. They couldn’t help him. He also went through measures such as “promoting talent”, in which schoolchildren are to be introduced to their career choice in three one-week modules. Halloum says, “I had no idea what to do.” Critics also complain that this is only selective and not nearly as sustainable as the “Bereb” career entry program.
For six months, Mohammed Halloum did a so-called entry-level qualification through the employment agency. One year late shift in the supermarket, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Arrange shelves, new goods at the back, older goods at the front, and everything nice and straight. After that, they were convinced that the boy could do it. On Mondays and Tuesdays he always drives to Munich to the vocational school. Math tutoring, cost accounting, accounting. On the other days he is in the supermarket.
When the political debate about the future of “Bereb” began, the Ministry of Education drew up a list of the existing aid. Career orientation, youth social work, practice at secondary schools, training fairs and, and, and. In Landshut that is less convincing. “Young people wouldn’t go to the fair at all without our support,” says Huber. Headmistress Gabriele Lohmüller speaks of a “highly effective” measure with regard to Bereb: “No other manages to accompany young people in this quality.”
In Landshut they have their very own track record
In fact, assessing the cost-benefit of bereb is not easy, especially since it is a preventive measure. In the last systematic evaluation researchers complained about the large fluctuation among supervisors. The program does not transfer everyone seamlessly into an apprenticeship. In the long term, however, it helps, especially people with a migration background. The evaluation is not entirely new, dating back to 2015: a disadvantage when the question of continuation was last discussed in the political rounds. Negotiations between the CSU and Free Voters, the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry of Education initially led to the program being abandoned. A protest ensued, and in the end the Free Voters managed to scrape together the millions they needed. The money came from a Corona emergency fund from the Ministry of Education.
Last but not least, there is a business calculation behind it. “If 3,500 young people fail, it will end up being significantly more expensive,” says Tobias Gotthardt, who heads the education committee in the state parliament. The Free State is now investing around 18 million euros again, the same amount comes from the federal government. That’s a total of 10,000 euros per capita – 300 euros a month in three years. What does it matter if a young person is integrated into society for this, Lohmüller asks rhetorically. In Landshut they have their very own record of success. More than every third participant has started an apprenticeship here, 14 percentage points more than the average middle school student in Bavaria (57 percent).
“Everyone wants to be part of the program,” says Mohammed Halloum. He’s exhausted everything now. He can still get advice from Ms. Huber until July, after which he will have to manage without her. He’s still lucky: Under the current funding conditions, it would have been over for him long ago. Would you rather sponsor 3500 people over 36 months or a few over 48? One of the beneficiaries is now his younger cousin. He also wants to go to the supermarket, says Halloum. “He couldn’t write an application by himself.” And yet he could be one of the last if no long-term solution is found. Are you threatened? Mohammed Halloum can only shake his head. Everyone needs someone like Ms. Huber, he says.