Skills shortage: Why Saxony is not looking for heroes
Attention, advantage-free communication!
"Heroes wanted!" - "We need you!": Slogans like this are a regular occurrence when young people are being recruited for social, medical, healthcare or nursing professions. But where is the advantageous argumentation that is geared towards the legitimate interests of young people and attracts them to professions? "Hero" and "Uncle Sam" campaigns send a negative message: "Come and fill the gaps, sacrifice yourself, burn yourself out in your profession." It does not do justice to the often unrecognized or overlooked professions - nor to the young people who (of course, absolutely!) want a fulfilling job. What is needed is communication that breaks down prejudices and builds up advantages.
Learned from the target group
We therefore developed a completely different strategy for the Saxon State Ministry for Social Affairs and Social Cohesion. Against the backdrop of the shortage of skilled workers and demographic trends in Saxony, the ministry launched a campaign: for health and nursing professions, social professions, medical professions and medical/technical professions.
We knew that we weren't looking for (and didn't need) any heroes. Not just since the coronavirus pandemic, by the way. (A little anecdote: many years ago, we designed a campaign in Bavaria to recognize and encourage geriatric nurses. One of our slogan ideas: "We're not heroes! But we do a good job". The approach completely failed the test among professionals. They reacted in unison with the sentence: "We're not heroes!" - "We wrote that down too," we affirmed. But in vain, even in the early 2000s, nursing professionals didn't want to know anything about heroes, we made sure of that)
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We make the strongest things!
No, heroism and hollow applause were and are not the motivation drivers for junior staff, regardless of the industry. Even if confidence in the persuasive power of one's own profession sometimes seems surprisingly low on the job market: the profession must present itself with all its advantages, promote itself and win over its counterpart. Our approach: we readjust the perspective, compare the actual requirements of the target group with what the professions can offer - and focus our communication on this: emotional and involving, appreciative and competitive.
In Saxony, we first researched Generation Z and identified "those seeking meaning", "those with a sense of home" and "those fleeing the city" as the core target group. We then analyzed the variety of professions, from nursing specialists to technicians in the calibration department, and found strong common advantages: All professions open up broad scope and a secure future at the same time. They make sense. And proud. And strong: the young people who learn them as well as us as individuals and as a society. The Ministry of Social Affairs also thought this was a great idea and joined us in launching "Wir machen die stärksten Sach(s)en" (We make the strongest things).
Where do you meet the strongest people? In the dating portal
You can meet the strongest people everywhere in Saxony. And in our dating portal at die-stärksten-sachsen.de. The landing page was launched at the beginning of February 2024; print and online advertising as well as social media activities arouse curiosity and attract teenagers and young adults to their strongest dates.
Saxon State Ministry for ...
We have given our customer, the Saxon State Ministry for Social Affairs and Social Cohesion, an additional name: State Ministry for great cooperation! Here, ideas meet openness and trust, questions meet competent answers, suggestions meet energetically rolled-up sleeves and huge commitment to the subject(s). Many thanks to Dresden!
