Digital Future, Berlin

According to a recent Bitkom study (2019), the German digital economy faces a major challenge in the coming decade: more than 100,000 IT positions are vacant and two-thirds of companies even expect the situation to worsen. Yet the tech industry is one of the most important future fields in Germany. At the same time, the labor market for socially disadvantaged target groups has little or no access, i.e., people with a refugee or migration background in particular face more difficulties integrating into the German labor market, often due to a lack of language skills and unrecognized educational qualifications. Many potential employees have the necessary talents, but they lack suitable qualifications or have difficulties finding the right way into the labor market themselves. The social integration of these target groups is therefore rarely successful. The negative impact also affect their families and personal environment.

To address this challenge, our partner organization Digital Career Institute (DCI) offers compact programs to train socially disadvantaged people in high-demand career fields that do not necessarily require a conventional academic education and German language skills (e.g., software development and online marketing). The funding from help alliance supports the final phase of these programs and the integration of graduates into the labor market. This includes, for example, “Zukunftsmessen” (engl.: future fairs), at which graduates have the opportunity to get to know various companies and potential employers.

The target group are talented people in the digital sector in Berlin with “multiple disadvantages in the labor market”. This includes marginalized women, single parents, refugees, and people with a migration background.

The target group are also diverse in terms of age, qualifications and nationality. Some of the participants already have sound qualifications acquired in their home country and are therefore older; other participants, on the other hand, are younger and thus less experienced.

The “Zukunftsmesse” (engl.: Future Fair) builds on the previous “Zukunftswerkstatt” (Future Workshop) and continues to aim at integrating talents with disadvantages in the German labor market. Since the number of participants in the courses has risen sharply in recent months, we would like to use the “Future Fair” to allow more participants from different locations to benefit from the measure and thus multiply the added value generated.

In this context, there will be regular career fairs under the title “Zukunftsmesse”, where course participants can meet potential employers and take part in initial job interviews.

Compared to the “Zukunftswerkstatt”, this is a larger measure that is intended to address not only individual classes, but around 200 participants per event. The focus is still not only on employment opportunities but also on personal development in order to provide participants with long-term support.

The measure is structured as follows:
– Acquisition of new companies & expansion of the existing partner network
– CV coaching for the graduates before the start of the event
– Organization of soft skills workshop for the graduates (e.g. career reorientation, pitch training, personal development)
– Coordination of job interviews for the graduates
– Exhibition booths/ keynote speeches by companies as part of the events
– Interactive team building projects (e.g. hackathon, team events, etc.)
– Planning & execution of the events
– Follow-up with companies for feedback & sharing of application materials

With your support, you contribute to the financing of the Zukunftswerkstatt (Future Workshop) and thus to the successful integration of socially disadvantaged people into the German labor market