OREANDA-NEWS. Summer is the busiest period of the year at Copenhagen Airport, but to many young people, the airport is not tantamount to travelling to holiday destinations. Instead, it's an opportunity for them to get a good summer job that can potentially help them open doors to the job market and give them valuable work experience.

With more than 23,000 people working for over 700 companies, Copenhagen Airport is one of Denmark's largest workplaces. The work force is even larger during the summer months when more than 6.6 million passengers travel through the airport. Many of the companies operating at the airport hire seasonal staff for the peak travel period; especially the airport's shops and service functions.

The duty- and tax-free stores have hired 40 people extra to serve the many additional passengers during the summer, and HMSHOST Denmark, which operates nine of the eateries at the airport shopping centre, has also taken on additional staff:

“During the summer months, we have about 30% more employees than the rest of the year,” said Karin Westrup, HR Manager of HMSHOST Denmark.

The company Lufthavnsvikarerne, which offers temp staff for a wide range of airport job functions, also feels the effect of the peak travel period. Since January, the company has been hiring additional staff, and it now has more than 250 people available for temp jobs, representing much more than double the normal level.

Valuable work experience for students

To many young people, a summer job is a good opportunity to gain work experience that may later lead to a permanent job or open doors to the job market after college. And it may also greatly benefit their career later on:

“It is a very good idea for young people to gain work experience while in college. It may get them a permanent job after they graduate, but they will also learn a lot of things they won't learn in school. The summer period is the perfect time for gaining that kind of experience and it can also give them much needed income to help them through the school year,” said Kare Danielsen, CEO of Jobindex.

A door opener to the job market

At HMSHOST Denmark, they emphasise that a summer job is not just for young people in college:

“Companies like ours typically help young people get their first work experience. Moreover, a temp job with us often provides an opportunity for a permanent job as our staff turnover is generally high in August to September when our “old” employees go back to school and therefore create vacancies for new employees,” said Karin Westrup.

There are also great opportunities of getting a permanent job after working for Lufthavnsvikarerne:

“About 35% of our temp staff get a permanent job with airlines or other aviation-related companies through their employment with us,” said Klaus Karoli, co-owner of Lufthavnsvikarerne.

“Through us, many of our employees land a permanent job with an airport company, so that way we are almost always looking for new people to fill temp jobs.”

CPH quadruples its service team

There is also a big demand for additional staff for the many functions in CPH's own areas of responsibility. This includes cleaning, baggage handling and baggage trolley service, which all hire additional staff for the summer. In particular, the airport's service and information staff is increased by almost 20%, and the so-called Green Teams also grow considerably.

The airport's Green Teams are typically young students in green T-shirts who help passengers with check-in and bag-drop in the terminals. These functions are in greater demand during the summer when the many international cruise passengers and families with less travel experience go through the airport. CPH therefore quadruples its Green Teams during the summer holiday period, explains Copenhagen Airport passenger manager Marie-Louise Lotz:

“A summer job in our Green Teams requires good language skills and a high level of flexibility. The young people must also be able to quickly understand a passenger's needs and to provide the high level of service we want our passengers to experience. We expect this flexibility and basic service mindedness from our Green Teams - and they deliver. In return, we can offer them a job that fits perfectly with their lives right now during the summer break from their studies or as a springboard for a permanent job, for instance in the service industry. So it's a real win-win situation,” said Marie-Louise Lotz.