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Hamburg, 7. September 2020 – The HIH Group is pushing forward with the expansion of its workforce. The number of employees on the group’s payroll, which stood at 740 at the end of 2019, is supposed to have grown to 800 by year-end 2020. “Our recruiting processes are moving ahead at full speed, despite COVID-19,” reported Stephan Peters, Head of Human Resources at HIH Real Estate GmbH. “Even during the coronavirus crisis, the shortage of skilled labour remains an issue, especially for the specialist functions in the investment- and property-related environment,” said Peters.
Having taken stock of the labour market, the HIH Group stepped up its recruiting initiatives, and now focuses increasingly on the in-house professional training and continued professional development of skilled workers and young talent. To this end, it pursues three different approaches: combined work/study programs, trainee programs, and combined work/training programs. The HIH Group offers attractive job opportunities to newly hired staff. “As a mid-market company providing end-to-end services to the real estate economy, we take a flexible decision-making approach. We let young talent very quickly advance into positions where they engage in fascinating projects and activities. And a large number of positions of responsibility open up individual career paths,” said Peters.
The HIH Group is considering the option to offer career starters just out of school the chance to enrol in its professional training programs in other cities, not just in Hamburg. This would apply particularly to estate agents and office management clerks. The group also trains IT specialists in-house. The various IT-related professions are centrally trained in Hamburg in collaboration with the ITECH trade school in Wilhelmsburg district. “In the IT sector, the HIH Group currently employs 40 staff, ten percent of which are still undergoing professional training. Another two IT trainees are enrolled in combined work/study programs at the Wedel University of Applied Sciences for a degree in information systems or IT management, respectively,” as Peters reported.
“The combination approach in training and higher education comes with benefits for both sides,” Peters emphasised. “Theory and practice go hand in glove, and you quickly find out what a candidate’s fortes are and what the best way for us is to mentor and challenge him or her.” At the Hamburg School of Business Administration (HSBA), two HIH employees are enrolled for a degree in business administration, majoring in financial management. As of the 2020/2021 winter semester, HIH Group will set up, for the first time, a combined work/study program in industrial engineering—the major being construction and real estate—for another two employees. Here, the collaboration partner is Hochschule 21, a private university of applied sciences in Buxtehude near Hamburg.
At the same time, the HIH Group attends recruiting fairs to woo graduates of bachelor and master’s degree programs with the offer of a traineeship. “A trainee program tends to run for 18 months, and includes intensive and general training in virtually all aspects of the value chain. Afterwards, the young professionals are assigned to the most suitable units within the HIH Group to start their careers,” said Peters. At present, three university graduates are enrolled in the trainee program, which starts afresh each year with new candidates, and which the group plans to expand. The objective of all young talent initiatives is to hire these young professionals permanently after their training or graduation, and to support them on their in-house career paths.
There is also an additional program that is intended to close a certain skill gap in the area of property management. Peters elaborates: “There is currently no initial vocational training to become a property manager. But at the HIH Group, every employee who completed trade school or a degree program, regardless of whether it is technical or commercial in nature, is given the chance to upskill to become a commercial property manager, certified by the Chamber of Industry and Commerce.” Following the certification, skilled workers face attractive in-house career prospects. While ensuring the continued professional development of its junior talent, the HIH Group also contributes to the general effort to mitigate the skilled labour shortage.
“Our recruiting process is moving ahead at full speed despite COVID-19. Even during the coronavirus crisis, the shortage of skilled labour remains an issue, especially for the specialist functions in the investment- and property-related environment.”
“A trainee program tends to run for 18 months, and includes intensive and general training in virtually all aspects of the value chain. Afterwards, the young professionals are assigned to the most suitable units within the HIH Group to start their careers.”
“There is currently no initial vocational training to become a property manager. But at the HIH Group, every employee who completed trade school or a degree program, regardless of whether it is technical or commercial in nature, is given the chance to upskill to become a commercial property manager, certified by the Chamber of Industry and Commerce.”
Stephan Peters, Head of Human Resources
HIH Real Estate
info@hih.de