My
Profession
Now I am
working as a career counsellor. In Germany there is vocational and
career guidance (in German: Berufsberatung) a service
by the Federal Department of Labor (in German: Bundesagentur fuer Arbeit; before 2004: Bundesanstalt fuer Arbeit), situated at the
local employment office (in German: Agentur fuer Arbeit; before 2004: Arbeitsamt). In Germany we have a nearly unique
system of vocational training. Many countries have a system of schools leading
to an occupation. We have them too, and there are about 300 recognized and many
more with only a school internal certificate. But the German special feature is
a dual system of vocational education and training. We have approximately 400
occupations to learn by training in the company (in German: betriebliche
Ausbildung) with alternating days in special schools
for occupation theory (in German: Berufsschule).
After two, three or three and a half years (it is fixed for every single
occupation) the former trainees receive a diploma recognised by the state. In Germany it is
very important to have such a diploma. Some occupations are allowed only to
practise with such a degree. Beside we have the university education for
professions like physician, lawyer, or others, too.
And my job is to give lessons in the classes one year before final
examinations, to inform in parent meetings in the evening, to hold office hours
at the schools and to have talks with single pupils for career counselling at
the schools or at my office. I spend the most of my working time with the last
point. To get information out of the business world I make many of visits at
companies and factories, too.
Here you can visit some of the schools I look after:
If you are fluent in German, you can visit the homepage
of the "Bundesagentur fuer
Arbeit":
If you want, you can visit the German version of my
page about profession, too:
Back to the roots: