Care connects
the world
What do the Philippines, Iran, Uzbekistan, Colombia and Mongolia have in common? Asklepios is looking for qualified employees from these and many other countries to work in nursing care in Germany.
With its own integration concept and a success rate of around 95%, the healthcare group is counteracting the shortage of skilled nursing staff and at the same time promoting diversity within the Group.
While other companies only complain about the shortage of skilled workers in Germany, Asklepios has taken a completely new approach – one far beyond the country’s borders.
Back in 2018, Thomas Krakau, CNO and Managing Director of Asklepios Krankenpflegeschulen gGmbH, and Astrid Sartorius, Head of Asklepios International Recruitment Nursing Germany-wide, founded the first Asklepios onboarding centre for nursing staff in Darmstadt.
This also includes a dormitory with 20 rooms. Prospective nursing specialists from India, Iran, Colombia, Mexico, Mongolia, the Philippines, Uzbekistan and Vietnam meet here. And more and more countries are being added.
”We have developed a detailed integration management concept,” explains Astrid Sartorius. “The very well-trained nursing specialists from abroad need a lot of support at the beginning to find their feet in Germany. Living and learning under one roof was our vision, which we were able to implement with the onboarding centre in Darmstadt,” says Astrid Sartorius.
What is a reverse vending machine?
Many things that locals take for granted often puzzle future professionals. Why do we separate waste? What is a reverse vending machine, how does a tumble dryer work? And why do we need bus stops?
Astrid Sartorius answers these and many other everyday questions during social integration in the local area or during get-togethers in the residential home. “The most important thing is the language,” says the Head of International Acquisition. “Integration is not possible without sufficient language skills.”
For this reason, interested applicants must obtain a German language certificate at language level B2 in their home country. This confirms an intermediate level of language comprehension, which makes it possible to hold technical discussions in German, for example.
»Integration is not possible without sufficient language skills.«
From employment law to brushing teeth
Once the first hurdles have been overcome, the theory begins, from nursing lessons to how the German healthcare system works to the social security system.
The practical lessons take place in the skills lab set up specifically for this purpose in the onboarding centre, where the future nursing specialists first practice nursing care on a mannequin.
Here, too, one or two cultural hurdles have to be overcome, especially when it comes to the physical hygiene of patients. “Candidates who have a problem with this usually receive a rejection after the first online introductory interview. It is important to point out right from the start that patient personal hygiene is part of the job profile of nurses in Germany,” explains Astrid Sartorius.
“It is more difficult when it comes to conflict management, because in most Asian cultures it is considered very impolite to address difficulties. Many of our nursing staff have to learn this first.”
»Arriving in Germany is supported by family reunification.I like to quote my boss, Mr Thomas Krakau, at this point: ‘Integration is successful when people feel comfortable where they live and work’.«
Successful integration
In order to prepare the future nurses particularly well for their exam, the exam is practised in role plays. Once the equivalence test in the form of a knowledge test has been successfully completed, a permanent job in the Asklepios Group is selected together.
”I have the greatest respect for people’s courage. They pack their entire lives into a couple of suitcases and travel alone to a distant, foreign country,” says Astrid Sartorius. “Arriving in Germany is supported by family reunification. I like to quote my boss, Mr Thomas Krakau, at this point: ‘Integration is successful when people feel comfortable where they live and work’.”
Asklepios’ concept is extremely successful, as around 95% of the skilled workers acquired stay long-term or even plan to stay in Germany forever.
As the market for nursing staff is likely to become more acute, the company plans to further expand its international recruitment and onboarding activities.
“My son’s favourite food is potatoes and sausage”
Rusty Parba came to Germany from the Philippines in 2018 and gained his recognition in healthcare and nursing in Darmstadt.
“Ms Sartorius and her team at the Darmstadt Onboarding Centre helped me a lot to get used to the culture, working and living in Germany,” he recalls. “It’s not easy to live abroad. Everything is foreign, the weather, the food, the whole life. You’re all alone, away from your family and very homesick.”
But that is now over, because Rusty Parba was able to welcome his wife, also a qualified nurse with a Bachelor’s degree from the Philippines, to Germany just under nine months later. They both work together at Schlossberg Klinik Bad König. He is now the proud father of a 19-month-old son. “He’s already a real little Odenwald boy and loves sausage with potatoes,” says the nurse with a laugh.
Rusty Parba has already passed the citizenship test, and official citizenship is the next step. The nurse, who has been responsible for shift management on his ward for four and a half years, also has professional plans: he is considering further training in intensive care and anaesthesia nursing.
“I wanted to have better quality of life”
Karen Alvarez comes from Bogotá, a metropolis in Colombia where life is not always easy. “It’s not safe there, especially if you’re a woman,” explains the nurse, who holds a Bachelor’s degree in nursing.
“I also want to support my family financially.” Karen Alvarez joined Asklepios in Darmstadt in December 2023 to complete her accreditation as a healthcare and nursing professional in Germany. She had already spent ten months learning German in her home country and has obtained the B2 language certificate.
Her goal is to complete further training in intensive care and anaesthesia nursing or as a specialist nurse for nephrology. “I’ve already passed my first exam for recognition as a healthcare and nursing professional,” says the Colombian, adding: “I’m glad that I can feel safe here in Germany. Thanks to Asklepios, Ms Sartorius and her team at the Darmstadt Onboarding Centre.”
Astrid Sartorius
Head of Asklepios International Recruitment Nursing Germany-wide and Head of the Darmstadt Onboarding Centre
The trained paediatric nurse has been involved in the qualification and integration of foreign nursing staff for more than 30 years. She completed a vocational education for nursing and health and has successfully managed the international acquisition of nursing staff throughout Germany in the Asklepios Group and the Darmstadt onboarding centre since 2018.