Why attract skilled workers from abroad?

For some time, the FrankfurtRheinMain region has been one of the most attractive places for competent skilled workers from around the world to live. It goes without saying that skilled workers from abroad are an opportunity for employers here. In addition to their badly needed specialist qualifications, they enrich our region with new points of view and cultural competencies. Diverse workforces bring a “colourful” pool of knowledge, experience, values and perspectives to your company. This encourages creativity and inspires new ideas. At best, international skilled workers stay for life – become part of a vibrant community and help to keep our economy strong, as well as contributing to a good quality of life in the region in the long run.

Initially, recruiting on the international job market is associated with more effort than recruiting in the region. For medium-sized companies, in particular, it is a challenge to muster the financial and human resources to recruit successfully from abroad.

When an international skilled worker comes to your company in FRM, then that means that their qualifications from abroad have to be evaluated and questions regarding entry and stay answered. Is a qualification from abroad equivalent to German vocational training? What competencies and skills do I as an employer have to attach importance to? We can help you find the right answers to these legitimate questions.

Good to know: On the BQ Portal (www.bq-portal.de/en ), you can assess qualifications from abroad. In the last few years, the formal procedure for having qualifications from abroad recognised has been greatly simplified. As the RKW Competency Centre explains, over 30,000 applications have been made since 2012, and only four percent rejected. Further information on this can be found under: www.anerkennung-in-deutschland.de/html/en.

Skilled workers from abroad may need support with their lack of language skills and cultural differences. In addition, they may need help finding a flat or when going to the authorities. However, rest assured, there are practical solutions and suitable support services in place in the region.

In the long-term, it is worth recruiting skilled workers from abroad, also for SMEs, as there are many advantages of targeting skilled workers internationally.

  • You will have the chance of finding better quality applicants for the job, as you will reach a wider audience. The higher number of applicants, the better the choice.
  • You will benefit from the new skills and competencies of skilled workers from abroad, from their specialist knowledge of their language and country, as well as their intercultural competencies, greater flexibility and different ways of looking at problems.
  • In the long-term, these skills can contribute to your company’s ability to innovate and is a clear competitive advantage.

You will gain employees who are particularly motivated and loyal. When skilled workers from abroad decide to move, this goes beyond country borders and is a process that is well thought through. Taking on a job or vocational training in Germany shows courage and initiative. The job in question is seen as an opportunity.

Measures which help skilled workers from abroad, often help all employees and the whole company. If you provide skilled workers from abroad with a mentor, for example, this can benefit all new employees, generating a positive work environment in the entire company in the long-term.