OREANDA-NEWS. A total of 122 school-leavers throughout Germany start their training at Talanx today. “Integrated training programmes are and remain for us the ideal way of overcoming the current shortage of skilled employees”, explained Dr. Christian Hinsch, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Management and Labour Relations Director at Talanx AG.

Of the 96 traditional vocational trainees, 51 will pursue commercial qualifications in insurance and finance, two will qualify as office workers and two as chefs. They are joined by 26 integrated degree students, 19 of whom will have the additional opportunity to gain a Bachelor of Arts degree in insurance and seven a Bachelor of Science in business computing.

For Talanx, a good education is one of the foundations of business success. The insurance group’s educational programmes are tailored to its own needs, ensuring that it is well positioned for the future. “Our young talent recruitment activities primarily focus on integrated training programmes, in addition to university graduates. We don’t mind whether applicants go for traditional vocational traineeships or an integrated degree programme”, said Hinsch. The company is meeting the challenge posed by increasingly intense competition for young talent by continuously updating its vocational training content and also, for example, by integrating new media and technologies. At the moment, for example, Talanx trainees are working on a smartphone app for their successors. All future trainees will be able to download the app to automatically access the full range of information they need for the onboarding process, during their training and, ultimately, for their Chamber of Commerce and Industry exam. The project has already been nominated for the education prize (InnoWard 2015) to be awarded at this year’s German insurance industry training congress.

Talanx trainees in Hannover are running their own mini company, known by its German abbreviation – MAP. Here, they advise internal and external customers on issues relating to retail insurance lines and run their own projects, such as the Young for Young campaign to increase road safety for young road users.

In addition to a solid, practical education, Talanx offers its trainees a wide range of attractive perks. “For example, our integrated vocational training and degree students can spend three months working at one of our branches or subsidiaries abroad”, said Hinsch. “All trainees are offered jobs once they successfully complete their training. The majority take advantage of this offer, while a few opt to pursue an academic course of study.”

Applications can now be submitted for both the integrated vocational training and integrated degree programmes at Talanx to start in 2016. For the training year 2015 a few positions are still available throughout Germany.