Integration and work belong together: Anyone who is employed and regularly interacts with colleagues can improve their language skills and at the same time establish social contacts in their new home country.
The federal government's "Job-Turbo" initiative provides jobseekers with a refugee background with help on their path to professional integration. After successfully completing an integration course, refugees are to be placed in stable employment more quickly and sustainably.
Vasyl Prokopovych also came to Germany from Ukraine with his family in 2022. Today, the father works as a tiler's assistant. Ronny Beier hired the 35-year-old, who also worked in the skilled trades in his home country, despite not having a vocational qualification in the tiling trade. The entrepreneur reports that familiarising himself with his new colleague is a daily learning process for both sides, with the language barrier being the biggest challenge - especially at the beginning. However, Beier not only supports his employee professionally, but also provides him with advice and assistance in his private life, for example when it comes to purchasing a vehicle for the family's daily journeys. For the Managing Director, motivation, reliability and commitment play a fundamental role in the selection of personnel. He is convinced that professional knowledge and experience can be learnt with sufficient commitment, whereas a personal attitude to work cannot. According to the experienced tiler, paver and mosaic layer, "willingness" is a basic prerequisite for integration. He respects the fact that his employee and his wife have learnt the basics of the language and started working in Germany after a very short time. The family's 11-year-old son has also found his feet in his new home. He attends a school in Bernburg and is a member of the local football club.
"It's a process of mutual trial and error," says Thomas Holz, operations manager at the job centre. "Successful integration into the labour market requires a willingness to compromise and flexibility on the part of employers and employees." Although many job seekers who have fled their home country have highly qualified qualifications, they are often unable to fulfil the requirements of their actual profession due to language barriers. Holz would like to see companies and refugee jobseekers talking directly to each other more often, "in order to better explore the opportunities and prospects for both sides." The job centre sees itself as a guide between the parties involved: the integration staff advise and help refugees with their job search, applications and career planning. The Employer Service is the point of contact for questions about the "Job Turbo" programme, which is aimed at companies that are willing to employ refugees with basic German language skills and also provide them with further qualifications in part-time, financially supported measures.
Interested employers can contact the Salzlandkreis Job Centre using the following contact details:
Telephone: 03471 684-3531
Email: dalbrecht@jc.kreis-slk.de