Jump-in: getting started in yellow

In summer 2016, 687 apprentices successfully completed their training at Swiss Post. At the same time, things really got going for another 800 young people with Swiss Post’s “jump-in” introductory week.

An apprentice is trying to do up his tie in front of the mirror, while two others are practising how to greet customers in a friendly and correct manner in a role-play. Next door, young Swiss Post employees are becoming acquainted with a company organization chart. This is a typical snapshot of the “jump-in” introductory week at Swiss Post, with which 800 young people started their training in the summer of 2016 at ten locations across Switzerland.

“The young people ‘jumping into’ their working life together bring a very wide range of different experience with them,” says Roland Scheidegger, Head of Basic Education at Logistics. “This interdisciplinary mix ensures a lively exchange and expands the horizon of all participants for our products and services and the way we work together at Swiss Post.” During the five days together, there is as much time for basic topics such as communication with the customer as for information about Swiss Post, an introduction to rights and obligations, learning and reading techniques, scheduling and budget planning, movement and much more. “Particularly valuable are the numerous contacts that are made – among each other and with the vocational trainers from the Group units that are present here,” emphasizes Roland Scheidegger, who as Regional Manager for Vocational Training organized jump-ins for several years. The feedback he has received after the five intense days of each jump-in confirms that they are a hit: the apprentices find them either “cool” or “just brilliant”.

Vocational training

Of the roughly 61,000 people employed by Swiss Post, more than 2,000 are apprentices training in 15 professions in the fields of logistics, retail trade, commercial occupations and maintenance, and a practically-oriented Bachelor’s degree in IT is also on offer. In summer 2016, 687 apprentices successfully completed their training, with 8.5 per cent of them attaining an overall mark of 5.3 or above.