You have received a job application with a professional qualification obtained abroad but you do not know whether it is appropriate or sufficient. Or: You already have employees with foreign professional qualifications and are wondering whether you could place them in a position better suited to their qualifications - and thus make optimal use of your available human resources.
The BQ Portal is there to help you resolve these issues. The website provides comprehensive information about foreign vocational training systems and professional qualifications to help you assess your international staff’s or a job applicant’s competences, skills and abilities. Additionally, the BQ Portal offers background information on assessment practices in Germany.
On the following pages, you will find guidelines on the following topics:
What benefits can you and your employees expect from recognition process? Why is it worth your while to support an international job applicant or existing employee in having their foreign qualifications recognised? Here we list the advantages a formal assessment of foreign professional qualifications offer you and your employees.
In this section we demonstrate how companies can assist the employees in having their foreign qualifications recognised. Depending on whether the skilled worker is applying from abroad or from within Germany, the options for assistance can differ.
The notification indicates the extent to which a foreign qualification corresponds to its German counterpart. Find out what partial, full or no equivalence mean.
With the help of adaptation qualification, the significant differences leading to only partial equivalence can be compensated in cases of non-regulated professions. This section shows the adaptation qualification in greater detail.
If you want to accompany the recognition process, you and the applicant can use various offers of information and advice.
In this section you will find answers to frequently asked questions about professional recognition. The section is focused on the perspective of companies accompanying the recognition process.
In this section, you can get an overview of the qualifications of refugees in Germany. Our compact country overviews provide you with information on education and vocational training in the main countries of origin and contact points for all aspects of integration of refugees in companies.
Recognition as a recruitment strategy: The Horst Busch Elektro-Technik GmbH in Hamburg specifically recruits skilled workers who have obtained their professional qualifications abroad. This Hamburg-based electrical company does not only facilitate the professional recognition of employees who hold foreign qualifications – it also covers the associated costs of the recognition process. They are feeling confident: given the shortage of qualified personnel in this field, this investment will pay off in no time.
In this section the BQ-Portal provides an overview of applications for professional recognition. Full equivalence is the most common outcome of the equivalence reviews in 2023.
