Spar is challenged

Recruitment for delicatessen is difficult

The retail chain is looking for employees in all areas.(Bild: SPAR/PG Studios)

Spar has hundreds of vacancies in Upper Austria! Managing Director Jakob Leitner reveals how the food retail chain wants to take advantage of the stuttering job engine in other sectors and score points with apprentices. And he also talks about where it is particularly difficult to find new employees.

The construction industry is in crisis, and things are also getting noticeably tougher for industrial companies, leading to internal short-time working, increased vacation cuts and, in some cases, job cuts.

Will companies that have not filled hundreds of jobs for some time now be able to take advantage of this situation? "We are seeing a slight improvement", says Spar Upper Austria boss Jakob Leitner, "but we still have around 250 vacancies".

Spar Upper Austria boss Jakob Leitner.(Bild: Markus Wenzel)

The retail chain is looking for employees in a wide variety of areas. Where is it particularly difficult to get new colleagues on board? "Where service happens - that's the delicatessen departments", Leitner knows, "special training is needed here". The aim is to make it easier for new colleagues to settle in with a more intensive and better organized start-up phase.

We have done a lot to improve the situation - from the working and general conditions to the financial aspects. We are optimistic that this will take effect this year and make it easier for us to find employees.

Jakob Leitner, Geschäftsführer Spar Oberösterreich

"We are already managing to fish in the market of the dissatisfied"
What makes it difficult: "There are very few trained delicatessen staff on the job market, even though we are already managing to fish in the market of the dissatisfied." The 63-year-old explains: "Our focus is therefore on getting lateral entrants and then training them well."

"People won't make a decision based on a Tik-Tok video"
In the battle for apprentices, Spar is increasingly relying on job tours that take young people directly to the stores, where they in turn get to know the apprenticeship managers: "You won't make a decision based on a Tik-Tok video - it's the personal contact that makes the difference."