Apprenticeships in Switzerland

After the four-week school block, my "Vinto" apprenticeship in IT began in the group purchasing department.
At the beginning, I found it very difficult to find my bearings, but the minor task of handing out the mail helped me to get to know everyone quickly. As I got to know people, I quickly found my bearings at the company. Naturally, my colleagues gave me a lot of support in the process.

I am aiming to do well in both my work and at school, while also performing well at sport. It isn't easy to find a balance between all of these activities. However, if I manage it - which I really hope will be the case - maybe one day I will fulfil my dream of playing in the NHL.

I spent the first 2 weeks of my apprenticeship in the mailroom. In order to get to know the location of the departments and the staff better, I started out by helping to distribute the mail. Distributing the mail in the morning gave me a small insight into the tasks which each department carries out. It was a good introduction to the apprenticeship.

In the seven-week basic block at the school, I learnt a lot of new things too, while also starting subjects such as Economy & Society or IKA (Information, Communication and Administration) for the first time. It was very exciting, but also very tiring, to learn so many new things.

I am currently working in the Service Center and I am already looking forward to finding out about the other departments during the course of my apprenticeship.

Apprentice trip 2010, Interlaken

On Saturday, 17 April 2010, we met at the main train station in Zug at 12:20. We took a train towards Lucerne, where we then switched to a regional train towards Interlaken Ost. The journey was very long but we had a great view of the Swiss countryside. It was definitely a welcome change from daily office life.
When we arrived in Interlaken, we continued on directly to the resort, which was no more than 10 minutes' walk away.

There we were greeted by a nice receptionist, who explained some of the resort procedures to us. After settling into our rooms, we had until the evening to take a closer look at Interlaken.
The village in the Bernese Oberland has a lot to offer for young and old - whether you like to stay active or take it a bit easier. This makes it a perfect destination for families too.
At 19:00, we met in the foyer before heading out to Restaurant DaRafmi, a pizzeria. The restaurant was only a few minutes' walk away. After eating we thought about what to do next. So we looked at the map which the resort employee had given us. There was a very wide range on offer. We decided to go to a bar in the style of an English pub.
After having fun there, we returned to the resort and, since the hotel bar also closed early, we decided to retire to our apartments.

Breakfast the next morning was at 09:00, which gave us plenty of time to get up and organise our rooms.
After a hearty breakfast we were given a tour of the resort. It was amazing how much the resort had to offer.
Straight after the tour we took a bus to the Mystery Park/Jungfrau Park. Since it was fairly empty we were able to visit the individual themed pavilions very quickly. However, as we were in somewhat of a rush, we left the theme park soon after midday. After picking up our luggage at the resort, we headed with a packed lunch towards the station, where we took a train straight away.
The journey back to Lucerne ended up being more strenuous than the journey to the resort because work was being carried out on the track.

On behalf of the apprentices, I would like to thank supervisors Erna Drljic-Puric and Silvia Stadelmann, who came along with us and helped to make sure we had a great time.
Heartfelt thanks also go to Ms. Rico, Resort Manager Interlaken, and her great team, who supported us throughout the two days and made sure everything ran smoothly.
We would also like to thank Hapimag AG for making the apprentice trip possible.

Gingerbread biscuits for our trainers

On Monday afternoon, we went out on a secret mission with the apprentices from headquarters. We wanted to once again give the trainers a home-made present by way of thank you.

The Confiserie Speck confectioner's shop had already agreed in advance to help us with our mission and put the necessary means at our disposal. After a brief introduction into the world of the confectioner by Mr Speck, we were invited into the work area where we started work straight away. First, we all worked on the head of our "Santa Claus" and then each trainee was able to demonstrate their creativity by individually designing the decoration. Once our Santa Clauses were finished, we had the opportunity to talk about the afternoon and our attempt at making confectionery in Café Speck.

With this little present, our apprentices wanted to thank our great trainers for their time, patience and cooperation.

Andrea Iten
Human Resources Assistant