A sense for the international

BARTEC has supported the work of the Young Managers Development Programme for many years. One special project here is the annual awarding of a four-week overseas internship as a prize to one student each from selected business high schools in the Main-Tauber region. This year, the initiative is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

Giving potential young managers experience on the way was the motivation 25 years ago to start a special education project. The Young Managers Development Programme first awarded the prize in 1988 to outstanding students from business high schools in Bad Mergentheim, Tauberbischofsheim and Wertheim. BARTEC was the first company to sponsor the internship in Bad Mergentheim in 1988, assuming all costs. In 2013, BARTEC is sponsoring the overseas internship for the 8th time.

The annual awarding of a four-week overseas internship to students has seen 62 young people honoured in that time. They have taken the opportunity to collect practical experience in the overseas branches of regional businesses in 17 different countries. In addition to destinations in Europe, interns have also been sent to North and South America and even to China.

At BARTEC, education and the prize are not seen as costs, but rather as a good investment for the future, according to Daniela Deubel, Director of Global Corporate Communications at BARTEC: “In the internship, the focus is on giving the interns the chance to get a sniff of a real business, gain a good insight into the everyday work of the company and to get to know the complex processes that go on there.” It also allows the internationally active safety technology provider to pursue yet another goal: “We see this involvement as our duty to the region and its young people. We want the constantly G growing internationalisation of business to be printed onto their conciousness.”

At the same time, BARTEC seeks to motivate the youngsters to gain a more international outlook and to improve their understanding of other cultures. This does not just involve the perfect mastery of foreign languages, but also dealing with other mentalities in order to understand them, explains Daniela Deubel: “In an age of globalisation, the sense for the international is in demand and intercultural expertise belongs to the basic skills.”

One of the lucky winners is Leonie Burkert. Next year, she will be able to spend four weeks abroad getting to know the world of work. The prize winner will spend her internship at BARTEC’s Spanish subsidiary near Barcelona. Like most of our interns, she will stay with a family. “I’m already looking forward to getting to know the Spanish way of life with my host family and to the many diverse tasks that I will able to do at BARTEC,” says Leonie. The positive impressions, both with the family and at work, will help Leonie to gain a more international perspective and help her secure a better foothold in the business environment in future.

The initiative marked its 25th anniversary with a celebration at BARTEC in Bad Mergentheim. In a podium discussion, former interns and those who had just returned from abroad joined company representatives and Rolf Hammer, one of the founders, in looking back over 25 successful years.