Corporate Culture and Employees
Qualified Staff From Colombia
“It is great to have this opportunity to look outside the EU for the staff we so urgently need.”
Konstantina Kanellopoulos, Chief Representative of Vonovia SE
Our search for craftsmen has taken us to South America. In order to address the acute local skills shortage, Vonovia and the Lower Saxony GalaBau Association have recruited around 50 craftsmen in Colombia as part of the Federal Employment Agency’s TEAM (Trabajadores Especializados de Colombia para AleMania) project. Vonovia selected 15 electricians and eight gardeners who applied digitally during the reporting period. The new hires have been on an introductory language course in Bogota, Colombia, since January 2022. They are due to join the company in Hanover on August 1, 2022. They will all be working in the Hanover area because the Hanover Chamber of Commerce is closely involved in the partnership. The new hires will be able to transition over to permanent contracts once their training has been officially recognized and they have worked for Vonovia for a year. Agreements like these are made possible by the new Qualified Staff Immigration Act (Fachkräfteeinwanderungsgesetz), which speeds up the process of getting official recognition for an employee’s previous training. Along with GalaBau, Vonovia is one of the first companies in Germany to use the placement agreement concluded by the Federal Employment Agency with Colombia to recruit electricians and gardeners.