It has been designed for all trainees in their first year to help them find their feet in the world of work and get to know their peers. Over the two days, tips on how to be better organised are shared as is important information on business etiquette, or as we call it in Germany Knigge. (For those of you who don’t know, Mr Adolph Knigge lived in the 18th century and his name is now synonymous with the authoritative guide on behaviour, politeness and etiquette.)
My virtual AZUBIT camp kicked off on 15 May with us all coming together to discuss the plan for the two days. This was followed by us splitting into smaller groups to make it easier to work together and get to know each other. It was then time to get down to business in small workshops with the topics of self-evaluation, time management and business attire all on the agenda. Each topic was discussed in the group and we each did individual tests.
Just in case you aren’t sure, here’s an example of the self-evaluation topic.
Get a second person and ask them to keep an eye on the clock, then sit yourself down and treat yourself to five minutes alone. When you think the five minutes are up, tell the other person. How close were you? If you thought the time was up before it really was, then make sure learn from that in your daily business and take more time. If you estimated the five minutes to be up way after they really were, you should probably plan less time in the future.
The evening was also spent as a group as we were all invited to a cookery event which was followed up by a murder mystery dinner ...
This was also online and each one of us cooked in our own kitchens. We had been sent the ingredients needed in the post and prepared our meals under the watchful eye of a chef. As Bechtle is a Swabian company, dinner was naturally a Swabian speciality—lentils with spätzle. 😊For someone born outside the region like me, this isn’t my favourite dish. With bellies full, we turned our attention to solving the mystery of the hotel murder.
Day two continued with seminars dealing with business attire and how what we wear can have an impact.
Did you know that the clothes you wear determine where people will look when they see you? If you wear white shoes and a dark suit, people will not be focussed on your face, but if you wear a bright-coloured t-shirt under a dark cardigan, a person’s eye will be drawn up. Interesting, isn’t it?
We AZUBITS also had a part to play during the AZUBI Camp as the focus turned to social media at Bechtle and how to use it. We also took the opportunity to promote our platforms (YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and our blog) and once we had gone through the social media guidelines, we searched and analysed examples for our Instagram posts.
The final point on the agenda was to review what we had discussed over the two days and wrap up.
I found the event to be a really good experience with great speakers and interesting input. I particularly found the topics of time management and etiquette to be very useful and a lot of what we learned can be applied to our working days. I know now that I should also plan more time to do things!
At the end of the day, it was a very successful seminar.
Greetings Stefan
