Why should anyone come to the easternmost part of Germany to work? Entrepreneurs and residents in the district of Görlitz spontaneously ask the question the other way around: why shouldn’t they? After all, the sun rises first in the east!
The "Unbezahlbarland" image campaign (promoting a region worth its weight in gold) is mainly designed to entice skilled workers to Germany’s easternmost region, and confidently lists the advantages awaiting all comers. "Unbezahlbarland" stands for a life-affirming feeling that is simply priceless. In Görlitz, you can work and live very differently to any built-up urban area. That extends from cross-border learning and studying to the region’s rich traditions or the freedom that this sparsely populated rural district offers creative workers.
Anyone whose curiosity is piqued can visit the www.unbezahlbar.land website to find out about topics such as education, studying and vacancies in the district of Görlitz. Those requiring individual support are advised by a network of volunteers.
Employees in the district of Görlitz receive funding and support for corporate qualification measures to ensure that businesses can continue to carry out necessary work and maintain their flexibility.
The district also has a “hidden reserve”, which needs to be activated: skilled workers who already work and live in Görlitz are an important local source of potential.
INSIDERTREFF is the Görlitz district’s central education and training fair, where some 150 exhibitors present more than 200 training and study courses every year. The INSIDER education and training atlas presents more than 100 companies which train apprentices, and the regulated professions in question.
As the Görlitz district is very large, four reference sites have been developed to make educational work effective. At these sites, the region's central topics for learning – energy and the languages spoken across the Germany border – can be intensively developed and improved before being taken over by other locations in the district.
The Görlitz district’s skilled labour alliance sets different priorities for different target groups. Many projects are aimed at young people: maintaining a continued supply of workers, both through combined theoretical and practical training, and through academic qualification, is vital for the future of this region threatened by population decline.
The aim is to find and keep career starters in the Görlitz district by guaranteeing that apprentices and trainees will be taken on. The next generation of academics are also required to maintain and extend the innovative strength of small and medium-sized companies in Görlitz.
Many companies in the Görlitz district have been doing a good job for decades. But small and medium-sized companies, in particular, are having to work even harder on presenting themselves to the public to raise their profile, attract skilled workers and stand up to competitors. Here, too, the skilled labour alliance can help out.
The "Check Out the Job" programme enables young people as young as twelve to try out interesting professions under the individual supervision of experienced volunteer coaches. This individual support is designed to help them question preconceptions and develop new outlooks, showing the young people that it is worth staying in the district of Görlitz.
The education and careers service point run by ENO mbH, the development corporation for Lower Silesian Upper Lusatia, links the district's schools with its companies, working in close cooperation with the district administration and developing tailor-made instruments for strategic education work with young people as a form of careers guidance.
Photo credits: Entwicklungsgesellschaft Niederschlesische Oberlausitz mbH
