Young people seeking training occupations and training places encounter numerous offers and stakeholders wishing to point them in the right direction. In light of such diversity, the question is how young people experience the phase of choice of occupation and the search for a training place and which types of provision are productive for them.
Are personal contacts and discussions still very important or is the attention of young people mainly gained via the Internet? Do information and search strategies vary in accordance with selected socio-demographic characteristics? The 2012 Applicant Survey carried out by the Federal Employment Agency (BA) and the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) provides current empirical indications regarding this issue.
Despite a certain easing of the situation on the training places market, even successful applicants continue to find the search for training occupations and places to be difficult. If they are asked how they became aware of their current training occupation, it is revealed that particular significance is attached to personal discussions and specific experiences of work - internships at companies, talking to parents, relatives and friends and vocational guidance provided by the Employment Agency. These are the means via which young people are most likely to make their way.
In contrast to what might be expected from the "Internet generation", web-based information and communication provision are of lesser relevance to vocational orientation. Only applicants in possession of a higher education qualification are more likely on average to be guided to their occupation and training place via Federal Employment Agency (BA) or company websites. It is surprising that the vocational guidance services provided by the BA are in overall terms approximately just as likely as parents and relatives to be stated to be successful orientation assistance measures due to the fact that higher significance has been ascribed to the parental home in other studies (cf. Beinke 2002).
We need to take into account, however, that the statistical population of the BA/BIBB Applicant Survey only includes persons who have voluntarily sought placement assistance from the BA rather than comprising all those in Germany who are interested in training. Young people whose vocational orientation is strongly guided by their parental home are probably under-represented. In retrospect, applicants wish to have access to persons who provide them with comprehensive practical and active support rather than an expansion of advisory provision where the main focus is on the imparting of information.
Career entry support and mentoring programmes have been introduced for young people expected to have difficulties in making the transition to vocational education and training. The analyses show, however, that even many applicants in possession of a higher education entrance qualification feel that they are poorly prepared for the search for an occupation and training place and also experience problems in this process. For this reason, the further development of transition support should not in future be restricted to the area of providing support for disadvantaged young people.