On September 20, 2024, the 15th Long Night of Careers took place at the HCC Hannover, where around 160 companies presented their training occupations and entry opportunities. We also took advantage of this opportunity, ironed our polo shirts, set up exhibition material, prepared give-aways and made fresh popcorn on site.
Choosing a career is not easy these days. There are numerous options open to young people, and deciding whether it would be better to study is not exactly trivial. Numerous dual study programmes have therefore emerged as a good combination option. As a PCB manufacturer, we can first of all confirm that an apprenticeship or a job in the electrical industry offers the best future prospects and development opportunities.
Training to become an electrotechnical assistant is a two-year, initial vocational training programme that is conducted at a vocational school and includes a four-week internship. Our two trainees Johanna and Nikola attend the Berufsbildende Schule Metalltechnik – Elektrotechnik (bbs-me) of the Hanover region for the training and have each secured a traineeship at ILFA. There they learn everything about the production of the printed circuit board and design their own printed circuit board layout for their project work.
The 71st Residenzfest took place in Kirchheimbolanden in mid-August. The wine festival, in the ambience of the historic towers and city walls, was awarded the title of the most beautiful wine festival in the Palatinate in 2017. The employees of ILFA’s Kirchheimbolanden branch did not want to miss out on this festivity and celebrated there with colleagues from TCLAD Europe and Brain4PCB.
They have been with us for about two weeks now and are slowly settling in: Three young men have started their training with us and are learning everything about the production of complex printed circuit boards.
5 days, 5 professions, 5 companies – this is the motto of the “Internship Week”, which is offered at the beginning of the summer holidays in about 100 regions in Germany. Pupils can register free of charge, select their desired occupational fields and are then suggested companies from their region that offer corresponding internships. We also took part as the organising company and were able to offer 3 young people an insight into the typical fields of activity at ILFA.
Last year we had already decided to take part in the B2Run company run in Hanover. The fun was simply too great for us to miss out on the event. With around 11,500 runners from numerous companies and businesses in the Hanover area, the number of participants was even greater than last year. So it was back to the north shore of the Maschsee for us, where the 6.5 km run began for our ILFA runners.
Most of us rarely get to see her, because Susanne Manthey feels very much at home predominantly on the night shift of our surface technology (OFT). She has now been working for ILFA for 35 years and recently celebrated her long anniversary together with her department.
He recently celebrated his 20th anniversary with us and has been with ILFA for almost half his life. But he has retained his ambition and inventiveness throughout. So it’s time to pause for a moment and ask Robert how he has experienced the 20 years of work and the day-to-day business with the printed circuit board: “It’s sometimes amazing how time flies,” he begins looking back. “But I can still remember my start very well. And I can say both ILFA and I have developed very nicely over the years.” In summing up, we naturally want to know a little more.
The weather was perfect for running, the atmosphere was great and you could literally feel how eager the participants were to run together to the finish line. Around 10,000 runners from 410 companies were at the start when, after three years of interruption, they finally returned to the course around the Maschsee lake in the Heinz von Heiden stadium. Of course, we at ILFA didn’t want to miss out!