Industrial clerk

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This article only presents the situation in Germany . Help us to describe the situation in other countries.

Industrial clerk / woman is in Germany recognized training occupation by the Vocational Training Act (Vocational Training Act). The mono job is generally offered in industrial companies without specializing according to subject or focus. As of September 30, 2019, 17,220 new contracts for training as an industrial clerk were concluded in Germany. On the ranking list of apprenticeships after new degrees in Germany, the apprenticeship is in fifth place.

History of the profession

The profession of industrial clerk was first recorded as a recognized apprenticeship in 1936. In 1957 the job description was changed by decree . The current training regulations for industrial clerks have been in effect since 2002. Key points include a. the increased business process orientation and the imparting of cross-field qualifications such as B. Business English and the use of Microsoft Office .

Training content / job description

Industrial clerks are employed in companies of all types and sizes for the planning, implementation and monitoring of the various commercial, business management and economic tasks. The aim is to train prospective industrial clerks so that they are able to complete all commercial tasks. This is a prerequisite for small companies in particular to get a permanent position. An additional qualification that is becoming more and more important due to globalization is advanced foreign language skills. Further training contents are the professional advice and support of customers, the use of modern communication and media technologies, business management content, the analysis of market potentials as well as the determination of needs for the purchase of products and services. In larger companies, specialization is increasingly focused on very specific functional areas, e.g. B. materials management , sales , purchasing , human resources or accounting .

Places of work

Industrial clerks work in offices where they process and analyze business processes on the computer. They create and compare offers and statistics. In meeting rooms they discuss sales promotion measures or purchasing strategies. Workplaces are also production halls, where they check machine occupancy, coordinate production orders or check stocks, for example .

Duration of training / retraining

The training / retraining usually lasts three years, but can be shortened to two and a half years. This shortening must be approved by the training company and requested in good time from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK). All requests to shorten the training period are processed as individual decisions. There is no nationwide regulation (e.g. very good grade point average). In some training companies, the successful completion of the higher commercial school (with the school leaving certificate of the technical college entrance qualification ) is taken into account, so that the training / retraining in the company and vocational school only lasts 2.5 years or 2 years.

In order to be able to complete the training as an industrial clerk, no specific school-leaving certificate is required by law. Most training companies, however, require applicants to have a good secondary school leaving certificate (overall grade average 2.4 or better) up to a high school diploma .

IHK external examination according to § 45 Abs. 2 BBiG

Even without regular dual training , a commercially experienced employee can be admitted to the final examination for industrial clerks according to Section 45 (2) BBiG (Vocational Training Act). You just have to be able to prove that you have the appropriate professional experience (which corresponds to the job description of industrial clerks). Foreign educational qualifications can be taken into account, but are subject to a case-by-case examination by the responsible IHK. The minimum period of professional experience required for an IHK external examination for long-term employees is at least 42 months of professional experience. The examination content and requirements are identical to the regular IHK final examination.

Bundeswehr soldiers are also admitted if the Federal Ministry of Defense or a body designated by it certifies that the required knowledge and skills justify IHK approval.

Contents of the vocational school

The following job-related learning fields are taught in the vocational school :

Learning field content subject
1 Orientation in training and career Economic and social processes
2 Record market-oriented business processes of an industrial company Business processes
3 Record and document value flows Steering and control
4th Analyze and assess value creation processes Steering and control
5 Plan, manage and control service creation processes Business processes
6th Plan, manage and control procurement processes Business processes
7th Perform human resource management tasks Business processes
8th Analyze and evaluate the annual financial statements Steering and control
9 Classify the company in the macroeconomic and global economic context Economic and social processes
10 Plan, manage and control sales processes Business processes
11 Plan investment and financing processes Steering and control
12 Implement corporate strategies and projects Economic and social processes

IHK exams

midterm exam

In accordance with Section 48 of the Vocational Training Act (BBiG), every trainee must take an intermediate examination during their vocational training . Participation in the intermediate examination is a prerequisite for admission to the final examination and is used to determine the level of training. The examination time is 90 minutes.

After testing, the trainees received from the competent Chamber of Commerce or Chamber a certificate of attendance.

The certificate of attendance states how many points the exam participant has achieved and how many points were achieved on average by all exam participants in the training occupation in the chamber district. A comparison of target and actual values ​​for the functions (test areas) can be used to determine in which areas there are deficits.

Examination areas of the intermediate examination:

final exam

The final examination is subject to public law - the training regulations are uniform nationwide and are issued by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology . It consists of four examination areas:

  • Business Process Examination Area - 180 minutes (counts 40%)
  • Examination area commercial management and control - 90 minutes (counts 20%)
  • Examination area economics and social studies - 60 minutes (counts 10%)
  • Examination area operational area - 45 minutes (counts 30%)

Examination areas 1 to 3 are examined in writing. The area of ​​application is examined orally.

Business Process Audit Area

The final exam in the business processes exam takes 180 minutes and is carried out on the first day of the exam at 8:00 a.m. It contains situation tasks or case studies from the areas that focus on processes and complex issues

When working on the tasks, business processes should be analyzed and problem solutions should be developed in a result and customer-oriented manner. The tasks are set conventionally, i. H. the examinee must formulate his answers freely.

Examination area economics and social studies

In the examination area of ​​economics and social studies, the examinee should work on practical tasks in 60 minutes and show that he can present and evaluate general economic and social relationships in the world of work.

Examination area commercial management and control

After the exam in the subject of economics and social studies, there is the 90-minute final exam for the examination area commercial management and control. Four practice-related tasks (with additional subtasks) from the area of ​​service accounting and controlling must be processed.

When working on the tasks, the candidate should show that he can record costs, analyze the operational cash and value flows and derive business conclusions. The tasks are also set in a programmed form.

Examination area Application area

The oral exam (area of ​​application) consists of a presentation and a technical discussion.

The examinee creates a five-page report on a technical task in the field of activity as a basis for the presentation and the technical discussion. In the presentation, the examinee should show on the basis of the report that he can explain facts, processes and results of the specialized task being worked on and present them using standard means. In the subsequent technical discussion, the examinee should show that he can place the presented technical task in the overall context, explain the background and evaluate the results. The presentation and technical discussion should together take a maximum of 45 minutes.

The candidate will be informed of the result of the final examination after the technical discussion. The vocational training relationship ends when the final exam is passed. The passing date is the day on which the result of the examination is announced.

Oral supplementary examination

If the grade "poor" was achieved in up to two examination areas in the written examination and at least the grade "sufficient" was achieved in the other examination areas, the written examination can be carried out by an oral examination of 15 minutes can be added if this is the decisive factor in passing the final examination.

The examination area is to be determined by the examinee. The written and oral parts of this examination area are combined in a ratio of 2: 1 to form one grade.

Passage regulation

The IHK final examination for industrial clerk is passed if the following conditions are met:

Exam area Examination achievements Overall result
Business processes at least sufficient performance at least sufficient performance in the overall result
Commercial management and control at least sufficient performance in one of the two subjects
Economics and Social Studies
operation area at least sufficient performance

If the grade “unsatisfactory” is achieved in an examination area, this will lead to a failure of the final examination - regardless of all other examinations.

Repetition of the final examination

The failed final examination can be repeated twice, at the earliest at the next possible examination date ( Section 37 (1) sentence 2 of the Vocational Training Act ).

Upon request, the examination participant can be exempted from repeating the examination areas in which they have achieved at least sufficient performance, provided that they register for the repetition examination and the next possible examination within two years - calculated from the day the failed examination is completed participates. At the request of the trainee, the training period can be extended to the next possible examination, but no more than one year ( Section 21 (3 ) of the Vocational Training Act ).

further education

Typical further training opportunities for industrial clerks are:

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ranking list of training occupations (PDF) from the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB, as of 2019).