23.12.1999

150 hirings more than last year

The METRO AG retail group, with its administrative headquarters in Düsseldorf, is preparing 7,900 young people to enter retail professions. This autumn alone 3,170 young adults were hired upon completion of their education. METRO AG, newly restructured at the beginning of 1999, has 149 trainee positions more than in the previous year. That corresponds to an increase of over eight percent. Media Saturn Holding hired the greatest number of new trainees (771), in front of Kaufhof Warenhaus (757), Real (538) and Metro Großhandel (468). Moreover, there are still over 100 trainee positions to be filled. The reasons for this: double applications, lack of qualifications and in part a lack of interest in certain professions. Human Resources Director Wolf-Dietrich Loose commented on the renewed increase in the company’s commitment to professional training: "The METRO AG Group is making its contribution to ensuring the rise of a new generation of retail professionals, thereby emphasizing once more its social and political commitment through purposeful training in an economic environment which remains difficult ." The METRO AG companies offer training in nineteen different professions, including office administration, accounting, specialist retailing in foodstuffs sales, information technology administration, communications electronics, retail sales and commerce. METRO AG plans to keep its commitment to professional training at the same level in 2000, thereby making an important contribution to professional education of young people in Germany. METRO AG employs a total of 170,000 full-time employees in 2,100 branches worldwide –110,000 thereof in department stores and hypermarkets in Germany.