Career guidance with tricky puzzles and creative tasks
What do media specialists and IT specialists actually do all day? 37 school pupils aged 11 to 16 from Augsburg and the Aichach-Friedberg region had the opportunity to learn about these and other career paths at this year’s Girls’ Day and Boys’ Day at the FORUM MEDIA GROUP in Merching. The international media group opened its doors on April 23 to give young people a hands-on look behind the scenes.
Short workshops on various areas of activity
Isabella Fetzer, Head of People and Culture, warmly welcomed the participants and outlined the day’s schedule. Claudia Schönborn, Deputy CFO of the Group, then provided insight into Forum’s history – from its humble beginnings as a two-person operation to today’s international media group. Following that, a warm-up game on the topic of career choices provided a relaxed start and got the young people talking to one another.
Three trainees, one adult learner, and one dual-track student from the group then described what a typical workday at FORUM is like, how the application process went, and what skills are required. This gave the young people an authentic look into various career paths, such as media sales representatives, IT specialists in application development and system integration, as well as the dual-track study program at FORUM.
After a short break, the program continued with the highlight of the day: six engaging short workshops in which the students worked in small groups on practical tasks from various fields. Creativity was key at the product development and marketing stations. There, the groups developed new business ideas – such as a podcast on health awareness for teachers and a helpful app for senior dog owners. They then designed promotional posters for their products. At the Office Management and E-Commerce station, the young people had to organize their daily work routine, while at the IT Application Development station they cracked tricky codes and at the IT System Integration station they tried to find errors in the system. At the sixth station, everyone was able to create their own resume and received insider tips from the People and Culture department.
Solving problems, designing creative posters, and assessing their own skills – these were the main focuses of Girls’ Day and Boys’ Day 2026.
Career guidance through self-assessment
After a short break, the program continued with the highlight of the day: six engaging short workshops in which the students worked in small groups on practical tasks from various fields. Creativity was key at the product development and marketing stations. There, the groups developed new business ideas – such as a podcast on health awareness for teachers and a helpful app for senior dog owners. They then designed promotional posters for their products. At the Office Management and E-Commerce station, the young people had to organize their daily work routine, while at the IT Application Development station they cracked tricky codes and at the IT System Integration station they tried to find errors in the system. At the sixth station, everyone was able to create their own resume and received insider tips from the People and Culture department.
The event concluded with a presentation of the product ideas and posters created. Each group presented its project and promotional poster. The innovative ideas were met with enthusiasm, and the sometimes somewhat unusual explanations of what makes the product special also drew a few laughs. “It was great to see how focused and interested the students were in tackling the challenges and taking on tasks that were outside their comfort zones. I was particularly impressed by the creative ideas the students developed as a team in such a short time,” says Isabella Fetzer, who organized Girls’ Day and Boys’ Day this year.
The lively atmosphere, the engaging interaction with the trainees, and the varied tasks generated a great deal of enthusiasm among the participants. After four hours, the career orientation day came to a close at noon, leaving participants with many new ideas and a clearer picture of potential training paths and careers.