Indian trainees for your medium-sized company? Willi Hahn GmbH shows how it can work

Initial situation

Willi Hahn GmbH is a medium-sized metalworking company with over 200 employees. Although training offers very attractive prospects and a good income after successful completion, the recruitment of trainees in Germany remained difficult for a long time.

The main reason: demographic change – there are increasingly too few young applicants in the region. With this in mind, Wiha decided to recruit internationally.

Requirements profile: What candidates had to fulfill

These criteria were particularly important for Willi Hahn GmbH:

• German B2 completed (compulsory criterion)
• High motivation and personal aptitude
• Important in the process: The final fit was checked in German-language interviews

Recruitment was handled by a partner with a partner language school in Trivandrum (Kerala/India) , which gave us access to a qualified pool of candidates who were already linguistically prepared. A decisive quality factor: the German preparation took place over more than a year – including with teachers who had lived in Germany themselves (including cultural orientation, not just “Zertifikat-Deutsch”).

This is how the process ran end-to-end:

1. Getting to know each other, clarification of requirements & project definition
2. Candidate presentation & selection: 6 candidate profiles were presented to the employer, 3 were selected Selection was made after CV review and personal interviews via MS Teams
3. Visa, travel & entry to Germany (coordinated/supported)
4. Start of training

Onboarding & integration: clear distribution of roles

What Willi Hahn GmbH has taken over:

The employer organized the accommodation, took care of the registration and all registration formalities, helped open the salary account and provided support with medical appointments and the general organization of everyday life on site. These tasks cost capacity, but pay off if the company takes a long-term approach.

What WB has actually achieved:

WB managed and supported the project holistically, with a focus on security, structure and implementation:

• Project structure: Project defined, customer requirements determined, roles/to-dos agreed, clear guidelines set
• Recruiting process: partner management, candidate process, interview coordination
• Entry support: assistance with visa process / flight tickets etc.
• Accompaniment after arrival: personal on-site appointment (WB) in Sasbach incl. discussions with GF, HR, trainers and trainees
• Retention & quality assurance: regular check-ins (approx. 1×/month with employer and candidate)
• Securities/guarantees: until the end of the trial period – optional replacement or money-back option (according to customer requirements)

Results & resonance

• Project satisfaction: Willi Hahn GmbH, candidates, partners and language school rate the process extremely positively
• Quality of the language basis: Start with completed B2 and very sound preparation
• Scalability: Wiha has not “only gained three trainees”, but has built up a reproducible channel – a strategic advantage for the next years of training

Conclusion

International trainee recruitment works if it is properly prepared, clearly structured and accompanied after entry. This is exactly what WB is there for: as a project and implementation partner that not only provides companies with candidates, but also creates predictability and security. Arrange a non-binding appointment.