Ms Appelhoff, what do young people expect from an employer today - and how is that different from the past?
Ten years ago, development was mainly about climbing the ladder. People applying for a role wanted to know what came next. Today, candidates first ask: what does this company actually do? What does it stand for? Can I identify with it?That may sound softer, but it isn’t. It’s more precise. The generation joining us now has high expectations – in terms of values, flexibility and purpose. And they research companies beforehand: they google them, check Instagram, read reviews. If a company isn’t authentic, people notice very quickly.
When you talk about purpose, what exactly are applicants looking for?
They want to know whether their work means something. Not in some grand philosophical sense, but very practically: does what I do here make any difference? At DMK, the answer is tangible. We provide people with food every single day – milk, cheese, yoghurt, products found in virtually every fridge. That isn’t an abstract promise. It’s everyday reality. For many young people, that matters more than a company car or free fruit in the office.
DMK uses the phrase “We nourish people” – that sounds a bit like glossy brochure language at first glance.
A phrase like that only works if it’s true. And at DMK, it is true. What genuinely makes me happy is that new employees repeatedly tell us that the impression we give during interviews reflects the reality they experience once they start working here. That’s the best compliment we can receive - and at the same time the toughest benchmark we can be measured against.
How has vocational training changed in practical terms?
Twenty years ago, trainees swept farmyards and ran errands – jobs nobody else wanted to do. The tone was authoritarian. Using first names would have been unthinkable. Today, I experience our trainees as people who bring ideas with them – and have the confidence to voice them. One trainee optimised our recruiting process as part of her final project. She identified a manual step where contract data was still being typed into Word documents and emailed around – time-consuming and prone to mistakes. Together with our IT support team, she developed an automated solution. Today, we can hardly imagine doing it any other way. Trainees at DMK really can make a difference very quickly.
”Who joins today – and what drives the next generation”
So it’s about moving beyond simply praising trainees and into real responsibility?
Exactly. And it’s not an isolated example. We’ve seen a significant rise in internal applications in recent years because people realise that movement and development are genuinely possible here. One colleague started in HR administration and now leads IT projects. Someone in my own team wanted to learn something new – together, we worked towards her development into an HR Business Partner role. It wasn’t easy to let a strong employee go. But I was proud. To me, that’s leadership.
You talk a lot about development. Do you mean promotion – or something broader?
Both. But above all: personal growth. Our StepUp programme has supported employees who started out as specialists and now run entire sites. Sometimes the formal qualifications on paper aren’t a perfect match – and we still give people the opportunity. Because personality matters more than the perfect CV.
What has changed for parents – and what does that say about DMK?
When my siblings and I were children, my mother worked part-time – not because she wanted to, but because there simply weren’t other options. Expectations around family roles were different, and the structures didn’t exist. Today, DMK’s headquarters has a parent-child office used equally by mothers and fathers when childcare arrangements fall through. Working from home is no longer an exception, but a normal tool. During school holidays, my daughter regularly plans a day to come into work with me. She loves the building. She loves having currywurst and chips for lunch. And by now, she also knows exactly where the ice cream freezer is in the office kitchen.
What do you look for when meeting a candidate?
Someone who genuinely wants to help shape the company – not simply do a job by the book. We need people with ideas and the courage to put them into practice. That starts with trainees and doesn’t stop at leadership level. It takes patience to grow within a company and to work through more challenging periods without immediately wanting to move on to the next employer. And I do see that patience in younger talent. They see the bigger picture. Their own opportunities within the company and the possibility to grow. That’s an enormous source of motivation.
