Tradition with a Future: 160 Years of Vocational Training at Opel

• Handshake hiring: First apprentice joins Opel in 1865
• Opening up opportunities as a mission: So far, around 27,000 young people have been trained at Opel in Germany
• Innovative training: Today’s focus on electromobility and future technologies

Only recently, young students visited Opel on ‘Girls‘ and Boys‘ Day’ and received valuable insights into a wide range of professions. Offering young people career prospects with a future has been a tradition at Opel for 160 years now. As early as 1865 – three years after the company was founded by Adam Opel – the first apprentice joined. Since then, around 27,000 young people have started their careers at Opel in Germany. The training pathways have changed and developed continuously, and completely new professions have been added. Opel has always kept up with the times, so that the company has been able to offer state-of-the-art apprenticeships with a future to young talents at any time.

"Opening up new career paths for young people and thus opportunities for their lives is both a mission and an obligation for us – and has been for 160 years. We have always offered exciting, forward-looking career prospects in a wide variety of areas. The training is always based on the latest standards. Training is also extremely important for us as a company, especially in times of profound transformation. By rejuvenating our teams, we secure our potential for the future," said Opel Managing Director Human Resources and Labour Director Ralph Wangemann.

As a result, career opportunities in the automotive industry are more exciting today than ever – and with a focus on electromobility and future technologies, they are clearly designed to meet the requirements of sustainable, electrified mobility in the coming decades.

Training in transition: From hiring by handshake to training centre

However, the foundation for all this was laid 160 years ago: In 1865, company founder Adam Opel sealed the apprenticeship contract with the young Georg Klingelhöfer as the first apprentice with a handshake – at a time when Opel was manufacturing sewing machines and equipment for corking wine bottles.

The first written apprentice contract at Opel dates back to 1894 – signed by Adam Opel and the then apprentice Peter Laun. Further years passed before systematic vocational training was established. In 1911, the time had come: 22 young people began their training in a specially built training workshop. At the time, the practice was learned in the factory, the theory in the Rüsselsheim vocational school, the expansion of which had previously been made possible with financial help from the Opel brothers. In 1913/14, a separate factory school was finally built. In 1922, the first vocational school laws were passed in Germany, so that from then on training took place in the dual system under one roof.

The scope of training at Opel has grown continuously over the decades – the first apprentices also started their careers at other locations in Germany. In addition, the work equipment became more and more modern.

Incidentally, one of the best-known former Opel trainees to this day is the former Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Norbert Blüm (*1935, † 2020), who completed an apprenticeship as a toolmaker in the company in the early 1950s.

Training at Opel today: A wide range of opportunities and future opportunities

In recent years, around 170 young professionals per year have started their career at the various Opel locations – at the headquarters in Rüsselsheim as well as at the Eisenach and Kaiserlautern plants and at the Bochum logistics centre. Opel offers its new employees attractive future prospects and career opportunities in numerous apprenticeships, including:

• Electronics technician for automation or industrial engineering
• IT specialist for application development or system integration
• Production mechanic
• Industrial mechanic
• Automotive mechatronics technician for system and high-voltage technology
• Machine and plant operator.

Even training as a firefighter is possible. In addition, cooperative and dual courses of study with a focus on computer science, IT and electromobility also take up the important future topics associated with the transformation in the automotive industry. Opel is showing again this year how a smooth transition from training to regular working life works. As in the past, the manufacturer will once again take on the trainees who successfully complete their training in summer 2025 and winter 2025/2026 on a permanent basis.