subject: Career Change in the German job market is getting easier [print this page] Career Change in the German job market is getting easier
Compared to countries like the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the German job market, is historically quite strict and inflexible. German companies are used to get well educated employees who are specialized in certain professions. For every single profession there is college or university program in place. Therefore Germany has over 12.000 different degrees available.
However, due to demographic changes and skills shortage, German companies have to think outside the box to find the right employees on the worldwide job market.
Besides technical knowledge, a lot of jobs are driven by no-technical skills (e.g. business development & sales, marketing, executives). Therefore German companies start to find employees with such skills; even they do not have the classical university degree. This new attitude supports the ambitions of talented career changes and provides new opportunities.
Career changers are highly motivated to change their career and focus on their particular skill sets and talents. Skills like: analytic skills, negotiating skills, gift for languages, creativity, and many more are not related to certain university degrees. There are skills which are based on personality, life and work experience.
Finding these talented employees is the first stage of efficient talent management for German companies nowadays. Especially career changers have the advantage to have high professional backgrounds and experience in other industries and professions. This can be used to get new perspectives for companies, which could also improve innovations and strengthen their competitive advantage.
However, career changers have to understand some basics rules of the German job market. Here are the basics facts you have to consider:
Degrees: Jobseekers, who would like to change industries or professions, should have at least one degree in any other area. It is very important for German companies that a jobseeker proofed, that are able to achieve a college or university degree. It is very difficult to find any job without any degree in Germany.
Process: Most job postings still have a long list of necessary requirements. It is the jobseekers challenge to line out their talents which are beneficial for the specific job. The application itself should only point out the positive aspects.
Stamina: The German job market is slowly opening to this new approach of hiring career changers. Small companies are more open minded then the big companies. Big companies can still afford to hire the rare professionals. Therefore career changers should focus on smaller companies.
The first German online job site for career changers just started. Jobseekers from all industries, with a wide range of professional backgrounds, seek new job opportunities on that site.
Find out more under http://www.talentfrogs.de/guide/
By the way. The German word for career changer is Quereinsteiger
