Stories

JA Company Programme: supporting personal development & vocational orientation for young people

I had the pleasure to work with JUNIOR (JA Germany) for the past 2 years and I must say it has been a great experience!

In Germany, Barclaycard and JUNIOR established a strong partnership. In the past 2 years, we are proud to have engaged over 2,100 students in the JUNIOR company program all over Germany.

We also had close personal contact with a lot of student companies, thereby focussing on disadvantaged students. We mentored the students, ran workshops, invited them to our community marketplace and visited them at school. While accompanying the students through their year as an entrepreneur, we noticed an outstanding development of their skills and were happy to see how they gained self-confidence!

Working in a student company helps young people to discover their personal skills and strengths. The hands-on learning under market conditions enables the students to receive important insights in economic processes and labour situations. Thereby soft skills as capacity for teamwork, sense of responsibility and the motivation for learning are encouraged. These are key skills which are especially important in an apprenticeship and on the job – by participating in the company programme these skills are imparted subconsciously along the way. Therefore student companies support the personal development and vocational orientation of young people. JA Germany provides a crucial contribution to accomplish these goals. We are happy to support them!

Written by business volunteer, Michael Thomsen, a Community Investment Manager at Barclaycard Germany.