Since the end of September, BFI (Vocational Training Institute) and R.U.S.Z have been jointly training repair specialists. The pilot project is intended to set the course for a regular nationwide training programme, because the circular economy repair infrastructure of the future needs its skilled workers!
Since its foundation in 1998, the R.U.S.Z. has experienced how difficult it is to find trained repair technicians. Until now, we have helped ourselves with apprenticeships and work training for unemployed mechatronics technicians. Talks with people interested in our eco-social franchise system have confirmed the bottleneck of staff recruitment as a central problem. That is why we - together with BFI - designed the pilot project "Future Profession Repair Technician" and successfully submitted it to AMS (Employement service Austria) Vienna.
In a six-month training course, the trainees are to acquire knowledge in the fields of electronics, electrical engineering and mechatronics and gain practical experience in the repair and maintenance of household appliances at R.U.S.Z.. Teamwork, customer orientation and sustainability education are just as much a part of the program as the repair know-how from our everyday workshop.
After a clearing week at the end of September, in which the interests, competencies and aptitudes of the interested parties were surveyed and discussed, 10 trainees will get down to the nitty-gritty of household appliance repair, alternating between theory at the BFI and practice at R.U.S.Z Wien/Lützowgasse. Our neo-anglers bring along a lot of commitment, team spirit and sustainability awareness and we are happy about the good cooperation!
The pilot project will run until March 2022 and will be handled by R.U.S.Z through R.U.S.Z - Verein zur Förderung der Sozialwirtschaft. If successful, this further training opportunity is to be offered regularly throughout Germany - ideally as an option for specialization in mechatronics apprenticeship training. We are in talks with the WKO about this.