Successful Integration through First-Class Education at Hectronic
Early this year we already had good reasons to rejoice at Hectronic. In late January, four young people, Lysanne Bär, Alaa Iskandrany, Sandro Büche and Marius Munz, successfully completed their final examinations and are now trained electronics technicians for devices and systems. With Alaa Iskandrany the group of graduates included one of the first refugees from Syria training for this special occupation. For Hectronic, this is a novelty in its company history.
Born in Palestine, Alaa Iskandrany already fled from Syria to Germany in late 2014. The difficult political situation in Damascus forced him to flee. Via a few stops in Hamburg and Mannheim the 28-year-old man finally came to Bonndorf in the South of the Black Forest. As an international company with subsidiaries in Europe, the USA and India, Hectronic is always open for employees from other countries. As a medium-sized company, Hectronic, like many other companies, faces the challenge to find and retain sufficient qualified specialist and executive employees for the further growth of the company. For this reason, it was clear at a very early stage of the wave of refugees from Syria that Hectronic would support the asylum seekers and show commitment by providing training opportunities. Bonndorf’s integration manager Silvia Maier established the contact, so an internship for getting a first glimpse was quickly organised. The enthusiasm for technology and in particular for electronics had already been roused by an interrupted course of studies in mechatronics, and the “chemistry” between trainer and applicant was good from the start. Thus, in 2016 Hectronic GmbH did not spare any cost or trouble and spontaneously added a fourth training place to the three ones already planned. Both parties agreed, and due to the additional training place created Alaa Iskandrany could begin his apprenticeship as an electronics technician for devices and systems together with three other young people in 2016.
As no standard procedures had been established then, no matter if at Hectronic, at the vocational school or at the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, almost all processes and the daily challenges had to be redefined in individual conversations and with great research effort. The new language and the differences in mentality and culture made integration somewhat difficult at times, and both parties had to develop an understanding for the other party’s perspective. With great commitment, however, Iskandrany successfully struggled with the difficult subject matter. Particularly admirable were his motivation and his willingness to learn, especially because immigrants have to cope with problems at vocational school because of incomplete language skills. Hectronic provided additional language training, in particular for technical terms from working life, and support with difficult training contents at school. In Iskandrany’s daily life, colleagues and the training manager also provided practical advice, e.g. when it came to dealing with authorities or opening a bank account. During his apprenticeship in the company Iskandrany naturally got to know all specialist departments, familiarizing himself with the company and the tasks of an electronics technician for systems and devices.
He may not only be happy about the successful completion of his training but, what’s more, about the employment contract allowing him to work in the support department of the Refuelling division as of 01 February. The other three graduates were also taken over and could enter into employment relationships; they may look forward to the new challenges and hopefully many further successful years at Hectronic.
