A Visit to the Job Center, Wiesbaden, Germany

One of the first things on my, to do list in Wiesbaden was to go and register with the Job Center. Not to receive benefits, as I am not entitled to those. But rather so that I could at least be included in the unemployment figures in Germany. And so be part of something greater than myself. So once all my furniture had arrived from the UK, my German CV had been updated, I made my way to my local Job Center. It was with some trepidation that I made my way down the road. Well it is nearly down my road, although not quite.

Once got there something rather funny happened. An old lady approached me, said that she was collecting signatures so a new politic party could take part in the German elections in September. She showed me a brochure. The organisation was pretty left wing as they wanted to do away with Capitalism. I said that I would read the brochure first and then decide. She then asked me if I was a German citizen, otherwise my signature would not be useful. I said that I was. I guess that if you are looking for people who support the idea of doing away with Capitalism then those forced to visit the Job Center might be a very good target group. Although requiring people to be German as well, but might severely the signatures you could obtain. The other interesting point was that when I did finally come out again, the lady was long gone. Gone to spend her pension from the German State, perhaps?

After standing in the queue for a while, someone at the information counter was able to help me. She was quick to point out that I did not qualify for benefits. I told her that I was actually looking for some advice rather than money. I was told to wait and asked to complete a form. I think I must have waited about 30 minutes or so. Observations: I was clearly overdressed. I also noticed a mother with her teenage son. Would have thought he could have managed the visit on his own, but apparently not.

When I was called we spent the next 45 minutes transferring the information from the form to the database. The particular lady did not realise that South Africa was a country rather than a region of the country, Africa. This is something that continues to annoy me, but then I do not know all the countries of Asia either. My lady also wanted to make sure that I was not receiving any benefits, before she would capture my details. I said I was looking for advice, especially with regard to additional trading. I said I was not interested in book-keeping, but rather History and Culture.

About a week later, I received an email asking me what sort of information I was looking for. Let's remember I have four University degrees, so there is a special department that deals with graduates. My response was that I was looking for ways in which I could make use of my qualifications in Culture and Ancient History. Possibly: Ancient History, Journalism, Newspapers, Translation and Law; in the hope that they could provide information on the (training) choices available to me.

Well, I had my appointment two weeks ago. I found the lady to be extremely approachable. She made a few suggestions some of which I have already put into effect. I made it quite clear that I was not really interested in accounting. My concern is that the advice will be: look for an unpaid accounting intern role to acquire the skills you need. The problem is that no other options will be considered, especially with regard to additional training. I did leave the meeting quite motivated and my next meeting is for next Thursday. I have updated my LinkedIn profile and set up a Xing (sort of the German LinkedIn). I also applied for a job that was suggested to me by the Job Center, although I did not think my skills matched the role.

So we shall see how the next meeting at the Job Center goes in a week’s time.