I'm one of the many guest workers in Germany. I'm not an EU citizen and I didn't speak a lick of german when I got here. I'd say over half the other engineers in my company are non-german, and most of them couldn't string a single german sentence together when they started either (some still can't!).
The company has had an open engineering position for a german national (or at least native speaker) since before I started almost 2 years ago... and still haven't filled it, even after half a dozen foreigners have joined.
So I can sympathise with the idea that Germany is struggling to find skilled technical workers. It's telling that a company has to resort to hiring a bunch of non-german speaking foreigners and sponsor their visas and so on. I'd find it hard to imagine a French or Italian firm doing the same thing.
The article alludes to the fact that the Mittelstand firms are spread out across the countryside and many are headquartered in small villages. This is true and could perhaps be a big factor in why they find it hard to attract people - I mean, how many skilled engineers are willing to live in the middle of nowhere? I chose to work to here because the company is one of the leaders in a niche specialist field, and I certainly don't regret the decision given the amount I've learned so far. But frankly, I'd rather live in a bigger city.
The company has had an open engineering position for a german national (or at least native speaker) since before I started almost 2 years ago... and still haven't filled it, even after half a dozen foreigners have joined.
So I can sympathise with the idea that Germany is struggling to find skilled technical workers. It's telling that a company has to resort to hiring a bunch of non-german speaking foreigners and sponsor their visas and so on. I'd find it hard to imagine a French or Italian firm doing the same thing.
The article alludes to the fact that the Mittelstand firms are spread out across the countryside and many are headquartered in small villages. This is true and could perhaps be a big factor in why they find it hard to attract people - I mean, how many skilled engineers are willing to live in the middle of nowhere? I chose to work to here because the company is one of the leaders in a niche specialist field, and I certainly don't regret the decision given the amount I've learned so far. But frankly, I'd rather live in a bigger city.