Despite Corona: Top trainee 2020 comes from a. hartrodt

Lukas Maximilian Sorgenfrei would have liked to receive the award for the best trainee in Germany more solemnly. In the summer of 2020, the 23-year-old passed his exam to become a Management Assistant for Freight Forwarding and Logistics Services with 99 out of 100 possible points. This put him in first place among around 5,500 participants this year. This achievement also makes his training company proud: "After Thibaud Herrmann in 2019, this is the second time in a row that an a. hartrodt trainee has achieved this best performance," emphasizes Martin Argendorf, Manager Human Resources at a. hartrodt in Hamburg. This time, the oral and written parts took place under strict hygiene regulations on the premises of the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce and the Vocational School for Freight Forwarding, Logistics & Transport (BS 20) – but the "National Best in IHK Professions" ceremony in Berlin was cancelled due to Corona. Sorgenfrei took part in a virtual award ceremony at the end of November.

Vocational schooling under difficult conditions

At the end of his three-year apprenticeship, Sorgenfrei had to cope with "difficult conditions" at the vocational school: "During online learning, the technology didn't work at first, and above all the social component was missing." Unlike usual, the written exam followed the oral exam. This was a disadvantage for lower-performing trainees: "After a bad exam, the final grade could no longer be improved."

Internship in Mexico

Born in Schleswig-Holstein, Sorgenfrei was attracted by a freight forwarding apprenticeship because of "the global network and the future character of the industry". At a. hartrodt, he was convinced by the many offers for the current 51 trainees in Germany: "We planned and organized our own trainee trips and the German trainees' meeting before Corona". What Sorgenfrei found most spectacular was his seven-week internship abroad, which he spent in Mexico in the summer of 2019: "There, I worked out a location analysis for the opening of a new branch in Guadalajara". Since then, he has been infected with the "foreign virus" and he can imagine an international career at a. hartrodt.

Currently, Sorgenfrei is responsible for Operations & Pricing in the Seafreight Export EMEA department at a. hartrodt in Hamburg. At the same time, he is undergoing a tri-qualifying education as Hamburg Logistics Bachelor which he plans to complete in 2021 with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Business Administration.