Many young adults do not find a training place in the German vocational education and training system after leaving general schooling. They then enter the vocational transition sector. Around 250,000 young adults enter the transition system every year. Here, pre-vocational programs are offered that do not provide a formal vocational qualification but should foster the transition into a formal apprenticeship. Quite a substantial part of young adults in these programs do not yet have a clear vocational orientation. For this reason, company internships are embedded in these programs. These enable participants to explore different occupations or to consolidate their career choice and find a training company.

In terms of research, however, little is known about the effects of company internships on the vocational orientation of young adults in the transition system. Our paper addresses this desideratum.

In a first step, we present the results of a review on the quality of company internships and previous findings on their effectiveness in terms of career orientation. Furthermore, we address the question of the extent to which experiences in internships influence students' vocational orientation. In the German states of Hesse and Baden-Wuerttemberg, 50 students in the vocational transition system were interviewed before and after an internship. In additions, a questionnaire (career orientation index) was used. Initial findings indicate that these scales do not show any significant mean differences between the pre- and post-measurement. A mixed picture emerges from the interviews: While some of the students reported that their professional orientation had become more concrete, others stated that the internship had been of little benefit to them in this respect, for example due to repetitive activities or a too short internship duration.

Keywords: Vocational orientation, internship, quality standards for internship, pre-vocational programs.