One of the federal state’s most sparsely populated regions, the rural district of North Saxony has a great need for well-trained skilled workers. To make the region’s economy lastingly fit for the future, North Saxony needs to cast its net wide and not only recruit skilled workers from among its own populace, but also attract well-educated workers and investors from other regions.
To analyse the skilled labour situation in the region, the Skilled Labour Alliance, established in 2016, meets four times a year at the sites of companies which are particularly affected by the shortage of skilled labour. It asks them what they need and makes decisions on networking and funding schemes which respond to companies’ problems.
Service providers work with the North Saxon companies looking for skilled workers to develop needs-based projects, and the skilled labour alliance also supports associations and municipalities. This support especially focuses on agriculture, the food services sector and the nursing and care sector. Actions such as the "Herzensmensch" campaign have attracted widespread attention on Facebook and in the press, and shown that people in this district are "Passionate. Committed. North Saxon."
The "North Saxon Returnees’ Day", run by the skilled labour alliance, gives commuters and people wishing to return to the district an opportunity to find attractive employment opportunities in the district of North Saxony. Various businesses and a wide range of state funding schemes are presented to encourage workers to settle permanently in the region.
There is an annual skilled workers’ convention day, when entrepreneurs from North Saxony meet to present successful projects, experts hold trigger presentations and participants work on the latest topics at workshops. Apart from this, the skilled labour alliance also runs individual events all year round about skilled workers (separated by sector) and about tourism.
To accompany these activities, the alliance has a website, a Facebook fan page and an Instagram account providing job offers and relevant information about the companies. Special marketing measures are designed to appeal to both prospective workers and their families.
The North Saxon region offers many small and medium-sized enterprises an excellent working environment: many invest in VET themselves, and European Social Funds support young people’s training. The many smaller companies offer trainees good conditions, whether in the trades or in industry. Employees can look forward to flexible working hours and appropriate wages.
The North Saxony district actively helps companies look for staff. Grants from the Federal Employment Agency help them hire new employees. Close connections to higher education institutes in the Leipzig/Halle and Dresden areas generate professional dialogue and a fresh supply of managers, and are of great benefit to companies in the region.
An image campaign aimed at skilled workers, promoting North Saxony’s agriculture and food services sector, aims to improve the somewhat musty image this sector has among young people. More than three quarters of the farmers in North Saxony are involved, organising regular farmyard festivals or holding open days when visitors can explore their stables, pens and barns. Creating and spreading compelling career profiles will help agricultural enterprises present themselves even more attractively in future, drawing in more trainees and skilled workers and showing them the career opportunities which the industry has to offer. The demand for skilled labour also urgently needs to be met in the nursing and care sector. With the help of the skilled labour alliance, this is being organised via a newly established care network and an extensive image campaign to improve the public perception of jobs in the nursing and care sector and develop targeted, needs-based recruitment measures. Realistic, likeable portraits of skilled workers in nursing and care are designed to appeal to the target groups of women career changers and male adolescents.
Every year just after Christmas, the "North Saxon Returnees’ Day" acts as a platform for North Saxon companies looking for suitable skilled workers.
Practically relevant careers guidance helps young people in their career choices and ensures that they stay on in the region after graduating. To this end, the North Saxony skilled labour alliance cooperates closely with the regional coordination centre for careers and higher education guidance (RKO) and with industry. The RKO helps organise the three regional training fairs in Delitzsch, Oschatz and Torgau and connects companies with training facilities.
The project “Securing the future supply of skilled workers in STEM” aims to arouse schoolchildren’s interest in STEM jobs. Science camps, STEM study groups or the FIRST LEGO League demonstrate the career prospects STEM subjects offer, and secure the region’s future supply of skilled workers. The "Querdenken" ("Think outside the box") project targets young arts, humanities and social science graduates from the University of Leipzig. Excursions and discussions at North Saxon companies, regular informal debates, workshops and trade fairs aim to arouse future graduates’ interest in working in North Saxony one day. Those who have worked on image campaigns for nearby businesses while studying are more likely to see them as interesting potential employers.
