The many faces of development
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There is a way out for the unemployed people!
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The myth “Who is looking for work, will also find one” is still working, even if one loses his job after the age of 40. German federal Agency helps such people by financing their further development or prequalification, assisting them to re-enter the job market. From the begginig of this year 165. 000 people alrady took part in various programs for vocational training.
Federal Agency
The Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit - BA) is the largest provider of labour market services in Germany. It has a network of more than 700 agencies and branch offices nationwide. Thier most important tasks are job and training placement, career counselling and providing benefits replacing employment income such as unemployment benefit and insolvency payments. The Family Benefits Office (Familienkasse), which provides child benefit, is also part of the Federal Employment Agency.
By Nevena Georgievski
W
hen he lost his job, Manuel Herbert felt like the whole world just fell apart. After 20 years the small printing company in the German city of Cologne where he worked went to bankruptcy. He lost not only his steady job that he loved, but plans and hopes for the future were gone too. At the time, 45 year old skilled IT technician and typographer was making a comfortable living working as a head of small printing department. Not even in his worst nightmares he thought that he will have to cope with such situation in his life.
More information on : http://www.arbeitsagentur.de
How to make a change? It is not easy to switch your life at the age of 45, when you are not old enough for retirement, but you feel too old to start all over again. In his search for a solution this IT expert knocked on the door of the Federal Employment Agency in Cologne. This is the first step for the people left without job or unemployed persons. State grants so called unemployment benefits or in Germany known as unemployment insurance. This is as part of the German social security system, funded by employee and employer contributions from their gross salaries. Unemployed benefit is paid to workers who have contributed at least during 12 months preceding their loss of a job. The allowance is paid for half of the period that the worker has contributed. Applicant get 60% of their previous net salary (capped at the social security ceiling), or 67% for those with children. The maximum benefit is therefore 2.964 Euros (in 2012). In 2011 the federal Work Agency had revenues and expenses of 37.5 billion EUR. After a change in German law effective since 2008, provided their job history qualifies them, benefit recipients aged 50 to 54 now receive an unemployment benefit for 15 months, those 55 to 57 for 18 months and those 58 or older receive benefits for 24 months.
Quelle: Federal employment Agency, photo:tagesshau.de
PHoto: .vielfalt-bewegt-frankfurt.de
“Suddenly you find your self on the street without job, without money and on a brink of depression asking your self – why me? You feel like you are not worth anymore”, recalls Manuel. After the initial shock he started exploring possible options for the future engagements. Not an easy task. “I discovered that at my age it’s more difficult to find a job, not only because of my age but because the whole print industry over the past decade is going through difficult times. Finding a job in my branch showed as almost a mission impossible. Then I knew it is time for a change”, says Manuel.
employment
Unemployed people facing big dillema: Which way to go? For those under the age of 50 who have not been employed for more than 30 months in a job which paid into the social security scheme, full unemployment benefit can be received for a maximum period of 12 months. Beside financial help the Agency offers consultancy and assistance in finding a job, but most important thing is that it offers broad scope of courses for further development of unemployed person to prequalify, thus opening more job opportunities.
experience for me. I learned so many things and decision was made – social worker is what I like to be qualified for,” explains Manuel. He searched for adequate course but the one that he has found it was expensive – 14.000 Euros for six months, price that Manuel could not afford. Agency for employment helps in such cases, and they paid for his course, thus helping him to further develop.
“Registration in the Agency for employment was the smartest thing to do. One get great support there. At the time they offered me courses related to my previous job for further development in the field. But, the times are rapidly changing in our sector, so I knew that I cannot compete with some 20 years old IT technician that work faster and is more skilled. So I have started to rethink what I can do with myself ”, explains Manuel. Searching for a new job Manuel found an interesting post in humanitarian organisation Caritas. Their office in Cologne had opening in printing department, but interesting detail was that most of the employees are people with disabilities.
Natasha Siegfried, 47 year old women from Cologne was almost in the same situation as Manuel. This graduated psychologist couldn’t find a post in her domain, and worked for over 15 years on different jobs - starting from hotel receptionist to secretary in a media company. When her limited contract expired in 2009 she needed to start all over again. Agency for employment helped her with financial assistance and advice.
Good advice is key to success
“Change it’s not easy but I’m happy that i have found the way out “
“It was something to do with my old job but also kind of challenging because I had to work with people with various disabilities. It was really great
“They suggest that I should start my own business in my area of expertise. Until then, I just couldn’t force myself to make this step and open my own psychological counselling office. With the advice of Agency employment office staff I prepared a project and finally opened my own praxis. The most positive thing was that for almost a year I got financial support that left me enough space for play. Without their push I wouldn’t have succeed it. I’m happy that I finally work in my field of expertise”, says Natasha. Agency for employment is also helping people without any experience. 39 year old Olga Nakova is originally from Macedonia. She came to Germany 10 years ago without any German language knowledge and almost non previous working experience. She applied in the Agency and got six months language course and specialized course for self promotion.
“These courses really helped me on my further development. Learning skills on how to present your self when searching for job are most important. It really helped me in my search for job. Without this I would probably have none or minimum chances on the German job market”, says Olga. According to statistic released by Federal Employment Agency, by April 2015, 830 000 people were covered with state funded labor market policy measures. This is 2 percent lower compared to April a year ago. Slightly more than half of participants (418,000) got unemployment insurance, 411,000 have taken part in measures financed by the basic provision for jobseekers. 165,000 people have got vocational training. The unemployment rate in Germany at the moment is less than 3 million people.
The new “BA APP” With the new APP “bringt weiter” (getting ahead), the Federal Employment Agency (BA) has made all its information on work, training, and occupation accessible anywhere – Available for download on the Google Play Store or on the App Store. Via the new APP, all internet/ APP services provided by the BA can be accessed directly. This includes, for instance, the Jobbörse portal, the Berufe-TV video portal, the Planet-Beruf vocational training platform, as well as all statistical data on the labour market. KURSNET This is web portal of the Federal Employment Agency that offers over 500.000 deals from 18.000 training providers on a daily basis. It offers infomation related to further education or prequalification of unemployment, jobseakers, students.. More information on: http://kursnet-finden.arbeitsagentur.de/kurs/
Positive end-effect In order to simplify search for adequate training course the Agency has created special portal that offer information for professional education and further development. KURSNET offers over 500.000 deals from 18.000 training providers on a daily basis. Besides the help offered on many levels one has to be aware that the Agency is not a magic stick. “Personal success still lies in individual engagement and decisions, but for sure agency consultancy was a great booster and inspiration to move things forward”, says Natasha. Manuel agrees: “It’s not easy to make changes in your life. I would rather have had my old job until retirement so I don’t have to worry about my future. But when that option is not available, one has to really think well over and decide in which direction he will go. I’m not enjoying this process of constant changes and uncertainty but I feel more worth and happy that there is a way for the future,” Manuel told me, happy that he has found a new way out from what looked like a dead end street.
Logo of the Federal Employment Agency
JOBBORSE This portal helps you to find job in Germany qick an easily. It is aimed for job seekers and for aprentices.With the JOB EXCHANGE you can target your search for jobs and apprenticeships in Germany, create andmanage your applicant profile, set up your complete application portfolioand apply for jobs online. You can also register as a job seeker online.The JOB EXCHANGE is available in English, as well as French and German. More information on:
http://jobboerse.arbeitsagentur.de