Taking courage and successfully completing retraining as an industrial clerk
When their children are grown up, many women see greater opportunities for themselves in the job market. Serpil Akcay always knew she had a head for numbers. A strength she can now put to good use after completing a training programme.
Every person has special talents. Once their children are grown up, many women ask themselves how they can make better use of their skills in their careers now that they have more freedom.
This was exactly the case for Serpil Akcay. She was approaching 50. Her son had left home. She wanted to make better use of her talents in her career. She was aware that this would require a period of training. Now she had the time to do this – after having spent a long time doing support work.
Akcay knew she was good at juggling numbers. She had studied natural sciences in her home country of Turkey. Now it was a matter of plucking up enough courage and starting with a viable plan.
Today, she works in financial accounting and is visibly satisfied. As she tells her story, she is sitting in a meeting room at Lödige Industries GmbH's administrative headquarters in Paderborn.
‘It couldn't have gone better,’ says Akcay. She has completed German language courses and successfully retrained as an industrial clerk. She wears business attire. ‘Suddenly, there were more opportunities on the job market again,’ says Serpil Akcay.
Retraining later in life is a big step: ‘I had my doubts. Of course I asked myself: Does it make sense to go down this path now?’ says Akcay. She decided to discuss possible retraining with her employment advisor from the Paderborn Employment Agency, Nicole Soloducha, during a consultation appointment. Soloducha gave her a lot of encouragement: ‘You still have 15 years of working life ahead of you.’
Akcay completed tests at the Employment Agency. These showed that she is well suited to working as an industrial clerk. ‘The Employment Agency supports women in adapting their skills to current labour market requirements – for employment commensurate with their qualifications and high labour force participation,’ says employment agent Nicole Soloducha. With the support of the Employment Agency, Serpil Akcay has successfully embarked on her path to becoming a skilled worker. As a result, she is now able to work in the financial accounting department at Lödige Industries.
The projects at Lödige Industries that Serpil Akcay supports in an accounting capacity include the manufacture and assembly of highly developed semi- and fully automated lifting and conveyor systems. The internationally active medium-sized company is a specialist in, among other things, space-saving automatic parking systems in underground car parks and automatic transport and handling systems for large airport hubs, and today occupies a leading market position. ‘International projects raise complex issues, for example in tax law – which also makes it interesting in financial accounting,’ says Serpil Akcay about her professional work for the hidden champion.
Lödige Industries got to know her during her retraining. She completed an internship as part of this and proved herself. According to Helge Reinck, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Lödige Industries, Serpil Akcay is a good fit for the company for several reasons: "In addition to mathematical skills and economic understanding, a strong hands-on mentality and willingness to learn are important to us. When we establish new operating sites and implement projects in third countries, we have to comply with applicable national tax law and accounting standards. We often have to familiarise ourselves with these at very short notice. We chose Ms Akcay because she has demonstrated strong skills in this area and shows great potential," says Helge Reinck.
Serpil Akcay found her way into financial accounting with Lödige Industries. She says she couldn't have found a better place. ‘I am really grateful that my employment agent Nicole Soloducha supported me. It was a very motivating experience,’ says Serpil Akcay, after setting sail for international shores with the Paderborn Employment Agency.
