Unemployed graduates look to Germany

THREE leading German firms are this week interviewing Spanish engineering graduates who hope to find work outside Spain. The three companies expect to offer work to approximately 20 engineers, principally in the telecommunications and industry fields.

In two seminars organised by the German Chamber of Commerce, Spanish hopefuls in Madrid and Barcelona learnt what the companies required as well as the prospects and challenges awaiting them in Germany.

Collaboration between Spanish and German employment services began in January through the EU’s ‘Eures’ network with the intention of recruiting qualified staff for health, engineering, teach, tourism and hotel and catering sectors.

Spain has an overall unemployment rate of almost 21 per cent and 44 per cent of those without jobs are under 25.

When Chancellor Angela Merkel said last January that Germany could find work for well qualified young Spaniards, there was an overwhelming response from out of work graduates.

Germany should turn to a qualified foreign work force as a source of wealth, said Philipp Rosler, minister of Economics and Technology, last month.

The government needed 140,000 science graduates, specifically engineering and telecommunications to boost economic growth.

As well as technical qualifications, candidates for the jobs currently on offer via the Madrid and Barcelona seminars must also have an intermediate level in German.

Photo credited to lamoncloa.gob.es

Since Merkel’s offer at the beginning of the year, both the Instituto Goethe – the official German-language centre in Madrid – and private academies throughout Spain have noticed a massive rise in students.

Parallel to this week’s seminars, however, Germany’s embassy in Madrid also supplies detailed information regarding employment, both for permanent and holiday jobs.