Recruiting Apprentices -The Experience of On-boarding Practices in the Swiss Public Transportation Sector

Summary

The professional socialization in a training company is a great challenge for young people. At the same time, they have to adapt to new organizational structures, integrate into a new workplace and competently master new tasks. Successful vocational socialization depends not only on the interests, abilities, and expectations of the young people but also on the company and its on-boarding practices. The aim of on-boarding measures is to help newcomers to get to know the company's structures and to facilitate their socialization into the culture of the company. Based on findings of an in-depth explorative case study within the public transportation sector in Switzerland, that included interviews with all stakeholders involved in apprenticeship training, the paper will address the practice of on-boarding in apprenticeship training and arrive at conclusions about innovative approaches.