Donatella Adami explains how work-based learning becomes a shared journey of growth for the company, students and the local community.
GDA has welcomed several young people into the company through work-based learning programmes, some of whom have subsequently become permanent members of the team.
What strategic value do you see in this type of initiative for a company like yours, and how important is it for the company to play an active role in young people’s training, rather than leaving it entirely to the education system?
We firmly believe that having professionally qualified and motivated staff within a company is never a given: it stems from ongoing, practical collaboration between business and education.
These are two key players that must contribute, in a coordinated and shared manner, to the training of those preparing to enter the world of work, each acting on different yet complementary fronts.
Businesses, in particular, cannot continue to leave such a complex task – one which, by its very nature, is never fully complete – as education and training solely to schools. This is why we choose to play an active part in it, making our working environment available to young people.
How many students have you welcomed into the company as part of these initiatives? How did their placement at GDA actually unfold, and what activities were they able to undertake within the various company departments?
Over the last decade, we have had the pleasure of welcoming several dozen young students. Their induction now follows a well-established process, which we nevertheless keep constantly evolving.
Regardless of their educational background, students are always first given an overview of the company as a whole: how the individual departments operate, but above all the values that guide us, so that they can immediately grasp our distinctive features and strengths.
Only afterwards, depending on their course of study – which naturally determines their placement – do we explain in detail the tasks they will be carrying out and what we expect of them.
We then assign each trainee a company mentor, who supports them on a daily basis and is tasked with integrating the ‘theoretical’ skills acquired at school with the ‘practical’ skills that only hands-on work can provide.
Of the trainees who have completed their training programme at GDA, how many have subsequently been taken on by the company? In your view, what are the qualities and skills that make the difference in turning a work placement into an opportunity for permanent employment?
To date, two employees have completed a work-study programme with us before being taken on permanently.
The number may seem modest, but it needs to be seen in the right context: many of our young people, once their work placement is over, choose to continue their studies, try their hand at different activities or gain experience abroad, and that is only right.
On other occasions, however, those who join us find ‘their path’ almost immediately and decide to grow with us right from the start.
The precision engineering and toolmaking sector demands increasingly specialised technical skills and, as you emphasised in a recent interview, the recruitment and development of human resources represent one of the main challenges for GDA.
How can hands-on experience within the company complement and enrich young people’s school education, whilst helping to bridge the gap between GDA’s production needs and the emerging talent in the local area?
Thank you for your question. That is exactly the case: the skills required are constantly evolving, and acquiring them demands ever-increasing commitment, motivation and perseverance. In this regard, the role of schools and families remains essential: we need to make young people understand that they cannot shirk this effort, nor rest on their laurels.
At the same time, companies have a specific responsibility, and at GDA we are fully aware of this: to give due credit to those who have demonstrated their worth and to continue offering opportunities for personal and professional growth, which is, after all, in everyone’s interest.
And here I am not thinking solely of financial rewards or the provision of the necessary tools. I am also thinking of the internal processes we have put in place to nurture the talents of those who work with us: challenges and problems to be solved that require ingenuity as well as knowledge.
Reaching new solutions through teamwork, whilst seeing one’s ingenuity recognised, brings rewards that substantially complement purely financial ones and which, increasingly, make the difference between those who stay and those who move on.
With the recent move to its new premises in Besenello, GDA now has refurbished spaces and facilities. Does GDA intend to expand its commitment to work-study programmes, and what prospects does it see for continuing its collaboration with the Polo Veronesi and other educational institutions in the area?
As what I have just said reflects some of our deeply held convictions, the answer can only be affirmative. In particular, GDA intends to contribute, in its own small way, to tackling a sad record: that of our country holding the lowest rate of female youth employment within the EU.
Precisely for this reason, being young and female is regarded as a mark of merit here. We are well-equipped to welcome motivated and eager female workers and to invest in them. In this regard,
I can cite the recent and very positive experience of a very young trainee who is attending the course for CNC machine operators at the CFP in Villazzano. We hope that this first step will lead to further, significant developments.
GDA’s vision is echoed by the experiences of those who have been through this process first-hand: read the interview with Marco, who was taken on after his work placement.
