The German government is running a scheme to tempt ‘A’ level-qualified people aged 18 to 35 to Germany to receive paid training for three years and a professional qualification.

British companies needing to recruit talented young people have some competition: the government of the Federal Republic of Germany is paying to recruit young people from Britain to receive full training in up to 300 occupations.

The International Business Academy (IBA) in London, which was appointed to administer the scheme in the UK, aims to provide at least 100 young people from the UK to Germany for work or apprenticeship placements.

The scheme is recruiting people aged 18 to 35 years for both vocational training and jobs for young professionals in fields like engineering and healthcare. The latter requires ready-trained professionals that are currently unemployed.

The recruitment drive, which is also happening in other EU-member nations, is evidence that Germany is planning for the fall in its domestic workforce in between five and 20-years time when low birth rates in Europe in the 2000s will be felt.



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To be eligible for vocational training courses, candidates must have ‘A’ levels or a Baccalaureate or Tariff200 equivalent but a degree is not required. Knowledge of some basic German is an advantage but not a pre-requisite.

Successful candidates receive a full package of benefits designed to tempt people to relocate to Germany, including 170-hours of German language lessons in England before the interview, 170-hours of German language lessons in Germany provided by the FuU-Language Academy, a minimum net salary of Eu818 per month during both the three-month work placement and 3-year training period.

Travel costs for the interview in Germany are covered, as are relocation costs to Germany if the person takes the placement or job.

The German government has capped funding for the programme to Eu139 million. “There is no allocation to the individual nations, it is a first come, first served basis,” says Wulf Schroeter who runs the IBA in London.

Under the scheme, German employers who enrol pay a mediation fee of Eu1,500 to the administrator for finding candidates. This placement fee is only available to the recruiting partner companies in Germany and European member countries which are members of the accredited employers’ association AV-EU.

Germany has a shortage of occupations for which there are numerous job opportunities, especially for technicians and engineers, hotel and catering jobs and doctors and healthcare professionals.

“For these occupations, the trained specialists are needed. In these and in more than 300 other professions, apprenticeships can be offered,” says Mr Schroeter.

IBA is part of the FuU Group, a training institute based in Heidelberg appointed to run the UK scheme within a EU-wide framework called Mobi-Pro EU that promotes young and unemployed professionals within Europe. “Only organisations that are recognised by the German Federal Ministry of Social Affairs may place young professionals in to german companies,” Mr Schroeter adds.

For more information on the IBA relocation scheme, visit www.international-business-academy.co.uk, and www.fuu.de.

Will Stirling