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Job Placement by the Labour Agency and by Private Institutions

Definition, Explanation

Job placement is defined as “activities, processes and institutions meant for the matching of jobseekers and open positions. Job placement [in Germany] is mainly done by the Federal Labour Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit, BA, §§ 35 ff. SGB III). The Labour Agency and its subdivisions may delegate the placement or parts of it to third parties.” (source: Duden Recht A-Z)

Job placement is done by the different institutions:

• Federal Labour Agency, responsible for unemployed, especially for receivers of unemployment benefits
• Labour Associations (Arbeitsgemeinschaften) or Jobcenters, responsible for receivers of unemployment benefit II
• Private job placement agencies, responsible for receivers of unemployment benefits and for private persons
• Temporary employment agencies
• Head hunters, responsible for finding experts and executives
• Programmes for placing disabled people, offered e.g. by “Berufsförderungswerke”

Over time, the profession “job placement agent” emerged. In the ARGEs and the Labour Agency, they are also called case managers. Job placement agents, in Germany, can be trained studying Arbeitsmarktmanagement at the Univsersity of the Federal Labour Agency. Besides trained persons, since March 27 2002, every natural or juristic person can work as a job placement agent. All that it takes for doing that is to be registered as a trade.

Tasks of a job placement agency / job placement agent:

• Counselling of unemployed and jobseekers (with special care for students, temporary workers, professional specialists, disabled, women, etc.)
• Suggesting matching positions on the job market
• Suggesting further education and offering respective governmental support
• Informing on benefit entitlement according to social security code
• Informing on governmental support entitlement for business startup
• Contact person for employers
• Support in making up application documents
• Professional profiling, that is figuring out in how far a job offer matches the abilities and skills of a jobseeker
• Placing jobbers in temporary work, mini-jobs, permanent employment and internships in Germany and abroad

When a private job placement agent places an unemployed, the unemployed can pay him via the placement coupon (Vermittlungsgutschein). Depending on the placement agent’s competences, jobseekers can be placed regionally, nationally or abroad.

Last update: 01/01/2010