Estonian Employers’ Confederation invites you to the “Best Practice 2025” competition!

The Estonian Employers’ Confederation invites you to the “Best Practice 2025” competition.

The Estonian Employers’ Confederation invites you to notice and recognise good employers and students who stood out with their practical activities in the academic year 1.09.2024 – 31.08.2025 and set an example for many others! Nominations for the “Best Traineeship 2025” competition are open from 30 May to 30 September 2025.

Recognising outstanding traineeships and trainees by example

The Best Apprenticeships 2025 competition aims to highlight organisations that offer apprenticeships to students and vocational trainees and do so in an outstanding way, recognising their responsibility to society and making a significant contribution to the development of the next generation of the workforce. The competition also recognises students and trainees from vocational education and training institutions who take a responsible approach to their traineeships as part of the curriculum and whose work performance is highly satisfactory to the traineeship organisation.

Practical work is important, not a formality to be done quickly and in passing.

Traineeships play an important role in equipping apprentices with the skills they need for the job. The best results are achieved when traineeships are well planned and structured, and trainees can carry out activities in a coordinated way.

Veljo Konnimois, head of the Estonian Employers’ Confederation’s education working group and co-founder and board member of Radius Machining, believes that by offering apprenticeships, companies can help bring learning and working life closer together, and also help alleviate the shortage of workers. “Estonia’s greatest asset is smart and entrepreneurial people, but we are short of people with the right skills and competition to recruit them is fierce. This is how companies can get a head start by investing in apprenticeships to find good and talented future employees,” he said.

2024. Telia Estonia, awarded with the title of the best traineeship of the year. Pirkko Saar, HR Manager and Succession Manager explained: “Providing traineeships is an opportunity to integrate young people’s creativity and up-to-date knowledge of the field into the company’s everyday life.”

Evelyn Parv, who is in charge of the Best Apprenticeship 2024 competition , stresses that a well-organised apprenticeship is beneficial for all parties involved. For the company, it means a motivated succession of employees, and for the young person it means valuable work experience,” explains Parv.

“Traineeships are a critical step in the professional and personal development of young people. It is not only a compulsory part of the curriculum, but an important bridge between theory and real working life, helping young people to consolidate their career choices and develop the skills needed to succeed in the labour market,” said Evelyn Parv, head of the traineeship competition.

It’s good to see that more and more employers see the benefits and value in offering apprenticeships. It is an opportunity to discover, learn and grow together. “We would like to thank SEB Bank and Telia Estonia, the gold sponsors of the internship competition and the award ceremony , and also A. Le Coq and Rahva Raamat, who will provide physical prizes for the best interns.”

Identifying the best traineeships

Organisations (including themselves), VET institutions and higher education institutions that have provided traineeships for apprentices and/or students during the academic year 1.09.2024 – 31.08.2025 can nominate organisations as candidates for the best traineeship. When submitting an application, it is important to provide a description and an explanation of how the traineeship is well organised in the organisation. It is not the number of trainees that is most important, but the work done in developing trainees.

The Confederation of Finnish Employers will select the best apprenticeship organisations or apprenticeship places in three categories:

Best Traineeship – The award recognises an employer that excels in a systematic and consistent approach to providing traineeships and contributes to the development of a skilled workforce in a remarkable way, using traineeship systems and models that others can learn from.
Best Small Business Traineeship – the award recognises one employer with up to 49 employees who stands out for its systematic and consistent approach to providing traineeships.
Best Regional Traineeship – the award recognises an employer whose traineeship activities promote regional cooperation in training the next generation of skilled workers outside Harju County in a remarkable way.

Recognising the best trainees

Candidates for the best traineeships can be submitted by organisations that have offered traineeships during the academic year 1.09.2024 – 31.08.2025. A traineeship organisation may submit one nominee in each category. Candidates can be students from vocational schools, universities of applied sciences and universities who have completed a traineeship as part of their curriculum in the academic year 1.09.2024 – 31.08.2025.

The best trainees will be recognised in the following categories:

Best apprentice in vocational education (vocational schools)
Best trainee in higher education (universities of applied sciences and universities)
Best international student trainee

In addition, an electronic public vote will be held to determine the public’s favourite among the trainees submitted to the competition.

“Best Practice 2025” invites you to participate!

Find out more about the competition and apply yourself or submit your candidate for the Best Traineeship and Best Apprentice competition:

“The winners of the Best Practice 2025 competition will be announced this autumn! The winners of the best traineeships will receive a certificate and a badge. The best trainees will be rewarded with prizes and certificates.

For more information

If you have any questions, please contact Evelyn Parv, Estonian Employers’ Communication Specialist, evelyn@employers.ee.