Together, we can achieve more: In 2021, we helped 24 young people who had been unemployed for a long time to get an apprenticeship with our partner JOBLINGE.

For Aykut, Jan and Aliyah, 2021 was a surprisingly good year, despite the pandemic. They are three of 24 young adults who were struggling with long-term unemployed, but succeeded in getting an apprenticeship, partially thanks to BSH. 
"Actually, the impact that our partner BSH has generated in the JOBLINGE program goes far beyond these 24 young people. Because each and every participant passes on the knowledge to friends, information and motivation is shared, and thus helps other young people to find apprenticeships," says Ilse Schmücker, Head of JOBLINGE AG Munich. The success in itself is great news. However, considering the havoc that the pandemic is wreaking and the resulting difficulties in applying for jobs, it is even more remarkable.

Steps JOBLINGE takes and their resulting Success Rate

The 24 young adults all participated in the educational support program of the non-profit organization JOBLINGE, which helps young people in difficult life circumstances break free from long-term unemployment and work their way into an apprenticeship or job. Difficult life circumstances often means: A migration background, difficulties with the native language (in this case, German) or poor school qualifications.

Despite all the obstacles, the JOBLINGE initiative achieves above-average success through tailored qualification, voluntary mentoring and support during apprenticeships. In 2021, 77 percent of participants were placed in an apprenticeship or job – that is a total of around 500 young people. Around 87 percent of them are still pursuing the job they found six months later, making JOBLINGE a truly sustainable organization. This sustainable result was the cue for BSH to kick off its collaboration with JOBLINGE at the end of 2020. 

"What surprised me the most about the program was definitely that it wasn’t so much a teacher-student relationship, we were more like a community, running projects and having fun together,” says Aykut, one of the participants.

Sustainability is also Social

"An important aspect of BSH's understanding of sustainability is taking social responsibility," explains Christine Betz, Chief Sustainability Officer at BSH. "We want to noticeably improve people's quality of life in the long term by leveraging our core competencies. That's why we not only supported JOBLINGE financially, but also provided our expertise as a good employer to help with the application process," says Christine Betz. 

The cooperation so far has been impressive. Robert Ullrich played a key role in coordinating the collaboration with JOBLINGE and is delighted with the great success in 2021: "Thanks to the great support of many colleagues, 24 young people have been offered an apprenticeship and thus the prospect of a self-determined life. Especially noteworthy is the commitment of the Global Graduates, who organized an application marathon with JOBLINGE, as well as the commitment of the four BSH mentors, who provided advice and support to the participants as personal contacts, even in their free time."  

Stephanie Boese coordinated the job application training with JOBLINGE and knows that "personal contact is particularly important for young people, because there is rarely a family environment at home that provides support on the way out of unemployment. Most of the time, unfortunately, the opposite is the case."   

The Kitchen is the Heart of a Home

But it is not only the 24 young people who have benefited from the collaboration between BSH and JOBLINGE. BSH also contributed the complete kitchen equipment for the new JOBLINGE location in Berlin and donated coffee machines to all 14 JOBLINGE locations. 

What the Future Holds

"After this successful start, I am thrilled that we will continue working with JOBLINGE in 2022 and that our partnership will make a lasting contribution to improving the quality of life for participants," said Christine Betz.   

"In addition to a financial donation, the focus will be primarily on placing as many young people as possible in an apprenticeship or job again - if possible also at a BSH location," adds Robert Ullrich.