Companies help out

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I was 15”

The association run by Monika Sandberger has more than 230 members: "From small craft businesses to large industrial companies."(Bild: Markus Wenzel (2), Krone KREATIV)

With the association Zukunft.Lehre.Österreich., Monika Sandberger is stirring the drum for vocational training. She herself did an apprenticeship after dropping out of the HTL, which opened doors for her. A conversation about failure, reorientation and opportunities.

She had passed the entrance exam for the HTL and the path to the Matura was set - but in the end, things turned out differently for Monika Sandberger. Because the Linz native soon began to have problems in several subjects, she dropped out of school and did an apprenticeship as an office clerk for money and credit management.

"I quickly enjoyed working properly," recalls the 46-year-old, who has been the Managing Director of the independent association Zukunft.Lehre.Österreich. (z.l.ö.), which promotes vocational training.

With 22,567 apprentices, Upper Austria is the number one apprenticeship province in Austria.(Bild: Krone KREATIV)

From apprenticeships that begin after the ninth grade to those that start after graduating from high school: Sandberger and her team point out opportunities, talk to schools and parents' associations and also help companies and apprenticeship trainers.

"Get a taste and then decide"
"We're not saying that everyone should do an apprenticeship. We want young people to have the opportunity to look at companies, get a taste of them and then decide which path they want to take," says the woman, who later also completed the Berufsreifeprüfung and worked at Raiffeisenlandesbank Oberösterreich for a total of 26 years.

What is her advice to young people? Take advantage of careers advice! "At 15, I didn't know what I wanted to do, what I could really do and what I was good at." And further: "An apprenticeship is not a dead end. You can do anything after graduation."