KGHM hires graduates of the “Competent in the Industry” sponsored classes!

Exactly 99 graduates of schools cooperating with KGHM under the “Competent in the Industry” program have joined the ranks of our branches this year. The largest group, as many as 30 students, found employment at the “Rudna” Mining Facility.

The newly employed workers in Rudna include Jakub Nowak, a graduate of the Technology Schools Group in Głogów, and Maksymilian Bogus from the Group of Schools in Chocianów.

Both declare that they want to work at KGHM because of the stability of their employment:

“In my opinion, this is the safest place to work in the region and a company where you can develop professionally,” said Jakub Nowak, a newly hired underground wireman.

Maksymilian Bogus, a metal worker-mechanic of underground mining machinery and equipment, added:

“When applying, I was asked to include a statement about being a graduate of a sponsored class, which was certainly an added value in the recruitment process. This is because, as a student, I received an academic scholarship from KGHM twice, as well as an additional scholarship for special achievements. I can say that the Company was a natural choice for me during my job search.”

The objective of the “Competent in the Industry” program is to prepare graduates of technical and vocational schools for employment at KGHM. Students participating in the program can earn an academic scholarship and take part in vocational visits, but also participate in many sports events, competitions, and tournaments.

Most importantly, however, the majority of students in sponsored classes have the opportunity to complete internships at KGHM Branches. This year alone, we accepted more than half a thousand of them in total - for both apprenticeships and practical classes.

“This month of internship is often enough to get to know the student and see that he cares about work,” said Michał Konkolski, a Practical Vocational Training Instructor at the Rudna mine. “Sometimes you get such a great group that you do something more for them: show an additional machine or explain some issues outside of the curriculum. It's encouraging that young people want to work with us,” the instructor added.

The fact that the opportunity to take part in internships in our Branches is of great importance for the students is also emphasized by Paweł Piasecki, the General Director of the “Rudna” Mining Facility Branch:

“Based on the number of apprentices from classes sponsored by KGHM who have been employed at the Rudna mine, one can conclude that the apprenticeships have encouraged young people to tie their future to our Branch. This makes us very happy and shows that we are moving in the right direction.

However, it sometimes happens that due to various circumstances, not everyone manages to get to know the Branch during practical classes. This was also the case for Maksymilian Bogus, who was prevented from completing his internship by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Unfortunately, I did not do an apprenticeship, but I feel that the technical school prepared me well for my job. After I came to the mine, there were no major surprises,” explained the graduate of the “Competent in the Industry” program.

The first graduates of the program’s sponsored classes appeared on the job market in 2019. To date, more than 300 of them have found employment at KGHM’s Branches.

“We hope that each year the number of students from the sponsored classes who would like to take up employment in our Branch will increase,” said Małgorzata Wajszczak, an employee of the Admissions Section at the “Rudna” Mining Facility, who coordinates secondary and college students’ internships on a daily basis. Her colleague in the department, Agnieszka Iwanowska added: “It gives us great satisfaction when we see that our trainees stay with us for a long time. After all, we remember the moment when they first arrived and the road they have traveled since then.”