Helfen wollte: Germany hangs out a help wanted sign

[pscot]

http://www.themunicheye.com/



Working in Europe is the dream of many migrants, but many jobs are only open to EU citizens. Now, the German Government has published a list of jobs aimed at non-EU workers. The list include positions as hospital nurses, social care workers, electricians and robotic experts, and the only condition is that the applicants must have appropriate qualifications.

This is not the first time Germany has tried to find workers from outside the European Union, with previous agreements targeting nurses from Croatia and the Philippines. The move is an effort to balance an aging population, which is leaving many companies short of qualified workers, from engineers to operatives.

This initiative aims to make the process of entering and legally working in Germany easier, and follows the launch of the 'blue card scheme' in Europe for skilled non-EU job seekers.

Along the same lines, and recognising a need for experts in various fields, the Bavarian Ministry for Science, Research and the Arts, together with the Ministry of Economy, recently announced a project named "Study and stay in Bavaria", to encourage international students to stay working in the region after completion of their studies.

Enjoying a particularly low unemployment rate, Germany is now seeking to promote immigration in a programme organised by its federal labour agency to fill many positions with qualified non-EU workers. However, to ensure Germany's long-term prosperity, workers are needed to cover the entire labour market, from graduates to skilled personnel and labourers. This is even more relevant after the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development reported that non-EU workers with low or medium qualifications find it harder to get a suitable position, when compared to University graduates.

[JDPriestly]

1. Skilled unemployed Americans might consider applying.

We lived in Germany for a couple of years when we were young and then some in Austria and other places in Europe. It is a great opportunity to travel and broaden your horizons.

The language is a bit of a hurdle, but it is a lot more like English than you might believe when you first hear it. Try looking at a German newspaper and see how many words you can figure. German is phonetic so it is very easy to hear a word once you learn what sounds the letter make.

[pscot]

2. If German employers can accomodate Croatian

or Tagalog speakers, Americans should be able to get by. Many Germans speak at least some English.

[JDPriestly]

3. Very true. But Americans should learn to speak the language because then they will understand

what is going on and be better accepted. A huge percentage of German-speakers also speak English.

I have to point out that that proves how easy it is to learn one or the other language if you speak the other one. Many of our words come from the same original word as a German word.

Hand = hand

Nase = nose

lachen = to laugh

machen = to make

trinken = to drink

And some German words are so funny, you couldn't forget them if you tried:

Kitzeln = tickle

And some have an easy association in English and are easy to learn for that reason:

Kind -- as in kindergarten -- means child

Further, German words are often constructed by putting short German words together and making one word.

langweilig = boring

Can you see the words "long while" in that one word?

German grammar is a bit confusing and hard to learn, but getting by in German is easy if you pay attention, listen then read a German newspaper and piece the words together phonetically. Have fun.