Malaga's sixth TalentLab once again closes gap to first job for graduates

Employment

A total of 30 out of the 50 finalists this year will soon start working at some of Malaga province's most dynamic and successful companies

Matías Stuber

Malaga

The Hall of Mirrors at Malaga city hall hosted the closing ceremony of the sixth TalentLab on Tuesday. SUR's training project once again successfully connected young talent with leading companies in the province.

A month ago, 50 selected participants embarked on a three-day intensive course of theoretical and practical training, under the eyes of human resources managers from participating companies: EY GDS Spain, Montosa, Leroy Merlin, Synergym, Airzone, Navarro Hermanos, Ebury, EMT, Verdecora, Indra Group and Cemosa.

The participants eagerly waited to see how many young people would successfully transition from training to their first job. A total of 30 young people will be joining the companies in the near future.

TalentLab has become a leading event in the Malaga job market. SUR has specifically designed it to connect recent university graduates with the province's most powerful, innovative and dynamic businesses and corporations.

This strategic initiative reaffirms the newspaper's commitment to training. "Our primary mission is to report on what's happening in Malaga. But we are also deeply involved with projects and events that contribute to the development of young people. Congratulations to everyone here on being selected," Director of SUR Javier Recio said on Tuesday.

This year, a total of 50 students had the unique opportunity to perfect their technical skills, enhance their soft skills and work side by side with the main human resources managers and directors of leading companies in their respective sectors.

This business partnership not only offered them direct immersion in real and demanding work environments, but also allowed them to understand the global challenges of digitalisation, sustainability and large-scale project management.

The comprehensive training programme also benefitted from the academic support of leading institutions such as Malaga University, the European University of Andalucía, the Atlantic-Mediterranean Technological University (Utamed), ESIC-EIG and the International University of Andalucía (Unia).

The city council and the Malaga provincial authority collaborated once again, while Bentacourt carried out the selection process.

After weeks of intensive theoretical and practical preparation, followed by a thorough, rigorous and transparent selection process and interviews, the young participants received their diplomas at the city hall.

Mayor Francisco de la Torre addressed the future of Malaga's industries: "I encourage you to always strive for further education. Learning doesn't end with university. It's important to stay abreast of technological changes, as the emergence of artificial intelligence demonstrates. It's also important that you learn languages."

The participants' families tirelessly applauded the young talents during the diploma ceremony and closing of TalentLab.

The participating companies announced the hiring of more than 30 selected students, who will immediately join the teams of the partner companies with quality contracts. The representatives of these companies praised the excellent technical level, proactivity and adaptability the applicants had demonstrated during the programme.

In addition, they said that they sincerely regret lacking the practical capacity to provide jobs for all 50 finalists.

On a more negative note, the graduates expressed their fear that the labour market doesn't offer enough future prospects at the moment. After years of hearing that they are illiterate and addicted to technology, these young people proved otherwise. Their ambition and technical skills refute traditional prejudices about their generation.

With this outstanding result, which far exceeds the placement rates of previous years, TalentLab definitively consolidates its strategic role as a key driver for youth employment in Malaga.

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