Latifa doesn't mind being interviewed, but she warns that she does not have many good things to say about trying to find work in Germany.

An Afghan IT professor who studied at the Technical University in Berlin before gaining eight years' experience in system administration, she has been looking for work in Germany for over two years now after a few years lecturing at a university in Afghanistan.

"I'm a qualified person and I have enough experience," she told DW, looking visibly frustrated. "I did my master's degree, I changed my field to data and big data science. I'm a flexible person. I can face challenges and deal with them."

After failing to find a job when she first returned to Germany, Latifa says she completed a "bootcamp" course at a university in Paris to keep herself up to date with the latest IT tools, coming away with another diploma.

"After this, I applied for jobs, and again: No difference," she said. "I didn't want to sit in the corner of my house, just applying for work. I wanted to show I was up to date and active — so I worked on different projects."

All of this is why Latifa is here, at a "job fair" for refugees and immigrants in Berlin organized jointly by the worldwide jobs website Indeed and the German branch of Tent, an organization that helps refugees find work through its network of companies. But Latifa's main reason for being here is to find out what she needs to do: "I just want to know: What's the rule in your companies? For two years, I couldn't even find an opportunity for an interview," she said. "From one side, they say, 'You must work'; from the other side, there is no opportunity for us."

Help at the fair

With any luck, the fair might help. Recruiters from more than 40 major employers from a range of sectors are here, including DHL, McDonalds, IKEA and Siemens. There are interpreters on hand, an area where volunteers help people draw up resumés, and a separate room for one-on-one interviews.

The anecdotal evidence suggests that such fairs, where people can show up and speak to recruiters directly, can be very helpful in a country where more and more skilled workers don't necessarily speak German.  One recruiter from a major logistics company explained that because so many job applications and resumés aren't specific enough, no one in such a vast global corporation feels responsible for processing them. But at the fair, the recruiter said they had found several people suitable for vacant positions.

Christopher Lorenz, business consultant for Adecco, one of Europe's biggest recruitment agencies, which also had a stand at the fair, said that many companies had lingering concerns about employing people who perhaps don't speak good German.

"Among many companies there is a certain amount of fear," he told DW. "They are concerned about insurance issues, about what happens when instructions don't get properly understood. What if there are accidents? That's what you hear sometimes." 

But there are ways around all those issues, Lorenz insisted. "You just have to do more work to build communication with companies like that," he said. "But you know how it is — everything that is new in Germany is difficult at first." 

Adecco, which collaborates with Germany's Federal Employment Agency, is aiming to find work for 10,000 refugees by the end of 2025 — and, according to Lorenz, it was already at over 6,000.

The 'work first' principle

Germany has a reputation for slow, over-bureaucratic recruitment procedures, even though both companies and government are trying to dismantle obstacles. The slogan these days is "work first" — figure out a way to fill vacant posts first, deal with the difficulties later. Even the slowdown in the German economy only appears to have dampened demand for workers a little.

This year, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) introduced job-specific language courses — where teachers talk to companies to find out what new workers need to actually be able to say, and tailor classes, on site if possible, for new immigrant employees.

Similarly, DHL has developed a special language app for its workers, and Adecco has its own translation tools and free job-specific language courses that can also be done online to save time.

"In the areas of accounting and office communication, we offer language courses where people can learn 'office German,' so to speak," said Lorenz. "The more people can speak to each other, the easier it gets for everyone."

One obstacle that is notoriously difficult to overcome in Germany is the recognition of foreign qualifications — especially in certain sectors. Foreign skilled craftspeople like electricians, for example, find it very difficult to break into the German market, partly because the German industry associations in those areas want to protect their own workers.

There is a certain amount of tension between government agencies and industry associations and companies themselves about who is responsible for loosening such requirements — though all sides recognize the need to be more open.

The demographic shift

Tent Deutschland Director Christian Schmidt said that even though companies are getting more and more creative in finding solutions, they do have complaints about the system: "There are structural and administrative barriers, the processes are too slow, but the decisive factor is that the HR and personnel departments of companies have to be one step ahead — they can't take a business-as-usual approach if they want to integrate more refugees into their workforces."

That is partly because of the unprecedented demographic shift currently under way in German society, which is seeing a relatively high number of refugees (having taken in over 2 million in the last few years) coupled with an aging workforce that urgently needs to be replaced. By 2036, about 13 million people in Germany are expected to leave the workforce — as much as 30% of it, in fact.

"Companies have to change their processes," said Schmidt. "And that's what we're working with them to do, such as with our partner Indeed — so that, for example, incomplete resumés or applications are not immediately dismissed, or that the job requisites listed actually match what's required to perform the job. Getting refugees quicker into the job market is an imperative — for businesses, for the economy, for society, for refugees."

As for Latifa, all she wants is a better "interface" between potential workers and employers.

"We can find solutions for everything," she said. "When someone like me is here — I'm qualified? Yes. I have experience? Yes. You need us to work? Yes. So let's find some solutions."

Edited by Rina Goldenberg

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