Despite the pandemic and the associated situation on the labour market, securing skilled workers remains an important issue. This is because shortages of skilled labour continue to exist in various occupations and could become even more acute in the future, including in the industrial and service sectors.
The BA is working with various partners to ensure fair and mutually beneficial migration. Together with DIHK Service GmbH, the project “Hand in Hand for international Talents”, funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi), starts today with a virtual kick-off event.
The project supports companies in the target regions in finding foreign skilled workers in IHK professions with a high demand for skilled workers, e.g. telecommunications technicians or software developers. What makes this special is that, on the one hand, recruitment is carried out in professions and countries such as Brazil, India and Vietnam, for which no experience exists to date. On the other hand, for the first time the partners are treading a common path. The IHK organisation with the Chambers of Commerce Abroad (Auslandshandelskammer – AHK), the Chambers of Industry and Commerce (Industrie- und Handelskammer – IHK), and the IHK-FOSA (Foreign Skills Approval) and the BA with the Employer Services (Arbeitgeberservices – AGS) and its Central Placement Office for Foreigners and Specialists (Zentralen Auslands- und Fachvermittlung – ZAV) contribute their comprehensive expertise in order to shape the complex immigration process from the search for applicants abroad to sustainable integration in the company.
This takes place in several steps:
- First, applicants in the target countries and potential companies in Germany are recruited.
- Applicants are placed with the companies.
- Companies and applicants are closely accompanied throughout the entire process, from language acquisition, granting of visas, recognition (of professional qualifications) and any necessary adaptation training for successful integration in the company.
The aim is now to establish and test the necessary networks, structures and processes. In this way, immediate and effective action can be taken as soon as the demand for skilled workers on the labour market rises again significantly.
The project will start in the pilot regions Düsseldorf, Erfurt, Lübeck, Reutlingen and Rostock.
Further information can be found at: www.zav.de/Hand-in-Hand