Germany looking for soldiers, spies and nurses
Germany is ageing and needs new soldiers and spies to keep it safe, as well as nurses to tend to its elderly. Berlin is looking far and wide to fill gaps, from Indonesia to a games convention. DW has the latest.
German FM Wadephul recruiting nurses in Indonesia
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Thursday was given a tour of a German language school in Indonesia as part of an effort to recruit specialized foreign workers from the southeast Asian archipelago.
Germany’s demographics are thus that its population is ageing, unlike Indonesia’s. The fourth most-populous nation in the world behind India, China and the US, Indonesia is also the world’s largest Muslimnation and half of its 284 million citizens are under the age of 30.
In the Indonesian capital Jakarta, Wadephul spoke with young Indonesians about their plans for the future while visiting a nursing school. Wadephul made the visit accompanied by Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin and Contanze Michel, director of the Goethe Institute Indonesia, which is responsible for coordinating language classes at the school.
Language hurdles have proven to be a significant barrier to would be immigrants from abroad. While in Indonesia, Wadephul signed contracts for the creation of four further language schools.
Germany is keenly interested in recruiting healthcare workers but Jakarta is pushing for recruits to other sectors, too, such as the hospitality sector.
Currently, however, only about 1,000 work visas are issued to Indonesians each year — Berlin says impediments to date have been lack of education, inadequate language skills and lack of German recognition of foreign training certificates and titles.
Wadephul will visit both Christian and Muslim houses of worship before concluding his trip, as well as touring a factory owned by German automobile and truck giant Daimler Truck AG.
BND, Bundeswehr recruiting gamers to fill ranks
Germany's Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and its military, the Bundeswehr, have both set up recruiting stands at the international gaming conference Gamescom, which opens to the general public Thursday in the western German city of Cologne.
BND spokeswoman Julia Linner says tech-savvy visitors are welcome to come to the agency's stand to play "BND Legends — Operation Blackbox," which sees players assume the identity of an undercover agent to foil a cyberattack. The game, which the BND plans to make available on a public platform, tests players' ability in a number of specific situations.
Spokeswoman Linner, who says "the agency itself is a blackbox to many, we wanted to open it a little," notes that gamers tend to have skill-sets conducive to spy agency effectiveness — including digital prowess, communications skills, a team attitude and stress resistance.
Germany's army is recruiting at Gamescom for similar reasons. Visitors to their stand can drive tanks or fly helicopters in simulators, or do an actual physical workout in bulletproof gear under a giant poster reading: "Are you ready for the next level?"
Like the BND'S Linner, army spokesman Marco Mann says, "We're where our target group is." Mann says the Bundeswehr, which has been present at Gamescom since 2009, wants to let young people know what an attractive employer it is.
Critics, however, worry about the appropriateness of such a situation, with pacifists like Jürgen Grässlin of the German Peace Society (DFG) saying, "In killer games, players take on various roles in which they simulate murder, they are even given bonus points for killing an enemy."
"The Bundeswehr," he says, "has no reason to be at Gamescom."
(Source:DW)
