HZB is one of the best trainers in Berlin
Christina Herold (right) accepted the award on behalf of the instructors at HZB. Together with the HZB, eight companies in Berlin were honoured by the employment agency for outstanding training. © Agentur für Arbeit, Berlin-Süd
The Berlin-South Employment Agency has awarded the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin for an innovative procedure to select applicants for apprenticeships and dual studies not only on the basis of their grades, but also to include communicative and social skills. A total of eight Berlin companies were awarded the Certificate for Young Talent Promotion 2019/2020.
In addition to the outstanding quality of the training, the decisive factor for the award was an innovative selection procedure, which was first introduced in the field of IT and now also for training in office management. All applicants receive an invitation to the selection procedure, without regarding the school certificates. The trainers get to know the young people in group discussions and observe how they solve tasks in a team.
"In doing so, they can get a good idea of their social skills, but also their motivation," says Christina Herold, training coordinator at HZB. This interest, also in applicants "who are only convincing at second glance" was expressly recognised by the Employment Agency.
Due to the Corona regulations, Christina Herold accepted the award certificate on behalf of her colleagues. "Training has a high priority for us at HZB," she says. "We have found that this selection process gives us great Auzubis who fit well into the teams and with whom we are very satisfied," emphasises Christina Herold. The selection procedure is to be extended to the other apprenticeships at the HZB in the future.
The HZB offers apprenticeships/dual studies in nine professional fields. The instructors are:
IT specialists: Manuela Eckert, Heiko Kreth
Office management: Cornelia Reuper, Juliane Siegmund, Sven Hinzer
Precision mechanics: Christian Remus, Katrin Tietz
Gastronomy: Mariola Nadolski, Edwin Junginger
Mechatronics, Electronics: Uwe Grabe
Physics laboratory assistant: Jörg Beckmann
Dual Informatics: Olaf-Peter Sauer, Anita Zahr
Dual radiation protection: Guido Buchert, Peter Kate
Dual Mechanical Engineering: Lars Drescher
- New Helmholtz Young Investigator Group at HZB on perovskite solar cellsSilvia Mariotti is returning to HZB as head of the new Helmholtz Young Investigator Group ‘Perovskite-based multi-junction solar cells’. The perovskite expert, who was previously based at Okinawa University in Japan, aims to advance the development of multi-junction solar cells made from different perovskite layers.
- Excellent work-life balance continuesOn 17 June 2025, the certificates for the ‘berufundfamilie’ audit were awarded in Berlin. HZB received an award with distinction for its long-standing efforts to promote a work environment that supports work-life balance. The audit is regarded as a seal of quality for the systematic design of family- and life-phase-conscious HR policies.
- Georg Forster Research Fellow explores photocatalystsDr. Moses Alfred Oladele is working on photocatalysis for CO2 conversion in a joint project with the group of Dr. Matt Mayer, HZB, and Prof. Andreas Taubert at the University of Potsdam. The chemist from Redeemer's University in Ede, Nigeria, came to Berlin in the summer of 2024 with a Georg Forster Research Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and will work at HZB for two years.