Whether mechatronics technicians, IT specialists, or industrial business management assistants – Audi has been helping young people successfully launch their careers at its Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm sites for more than 70 years. This year, AUDI AG is once again welcoming numerous new members into the Audi family. At the Ingolstadt site, for example, 426 vocational trainees and 24 cooperative education students are starting their careers; in Neckarsulm, 268 vocational trainees and 18 cooperative education students are taking their first steps into the working world.

“Around 700 young people will be starting a new, exciting chapter in their lives in the coming days. This new beginning is one marked by anticipation and curiosity, but perhaps also a bit of anxiety about what will happen during the next three years. The Works Council and the youth and trainee representatives always have an open ear for the concerns of young Audi employees and are available to offer advice and support,” said Peter Mosch, chair of the General Works Council.

Today’s working world is undergoing a dynamic transformation process, and Audi is continuously aligning its training to the ever-changing requirements. As a result, young people at Audi have the opportunity to take on responsible tasks in future fields such as e-mobility or digitalization. This year, 66 of them are beginning a training program to become an IT specialist. IT specialists specializing in “digital connectivity,” for example, learn to help develop and optimize complex processes at the interface between IT and vehicle production, which will shape automotive manufacturing in the future.

“Our focus on career fields of the future begins during training. In this way, we help young people develop the elementary skills that will be crucial for tomorrow’s work right from the start,” noted Sabine Maaßen, Member of the Board of Management for Human Resources and Organization at AUDI AG. Today, 25 percent of the vocational training programs at Audi are now focused on digitalization. In addition to “IT specialist specializing in digital connectivity,” good examples also include “IT specialist specializing in application development” and “digitalization management specialists.”

Audi is also taking a systematically digital approach to the way in which content is conveyed to trainees. Remote learning was enshrined in the training curriculum in a labor-management agreement that came into force on September 1.For this reason, all new trainees and students will receive laptops or tablets from Audi that will allow them to learn in a flexible manner even when they are not on the factory premises. In this context, the trainees will participate in guided digital teaching units or work on assignments independently via the Moodle learning platform. Depending on the training program, the aspiring Audi employees will be able to spend up to 20 percent of their program learning remotely. In general, however, training will continue to take place on site – both at the Audi Academy training center as well as the relevant job rotation stations throughout the plants.

In addition to vocational training, the premium manufacturer also offers cooperative education programs. In these programs, students apply the theoretical knowledge gained from classroom-based instruction in practical assignments at the company’s sites. Here, too, the brand with the four rings is training specialists early on in key future fields, with bachelor’s degree programs such as Electrical Engineering and Information Technology or master’s degree programs such as Robotics, Cognition, and Intelligence preparing students for the company’s progressive digitalization. This year, 42 young people are starting a cooperative education program at Audi.