Work experience in Germany:

Welcome to Hamburg

Hamburg is considered by many the most beautiful city in Europe. Its extensive areas of water and parkland offer limitless leisure possibilities and its traditional Hanseatic open-mindedness and the city’s atmosphere make living here especially agreeable.
Urban or natural, Grunderzeit splendour or contemporary architecture, trendy subculture districts or elegant villa suburbs: Hamburg has 104 districts where everyone can find the kind of surroundings that they are looking for.
On the other hand Hamburg is one of Northern Europe’s favourite business locations, not only for top German companies but also for foreign firms. They all profit from reliable economic policy, fast access to the necessary resources, a qualified work force and perfect infrastructure - altogether a dynamic setting providing space for opportunities, innovation and development.
 

Meet Your Host Organisation

Arbeit und Leben in Hamburg is an organisation which specialises in political education, encouraging the peaceful coexistance of people of all ages and backgrounds. Arbeit und Leben organises seminars in Germany and abroad as well as running European mobility programmes such as the Leonardo da Vinci programme.

Find out more about Arbeit und Leben here: http://www.hamburg.arbeitundleben.de/

Arbeit und Leben Hamburg is a non-profit organization promoting political and vocational further education for young people and adults. In the field of national and international, political and vocational educational work they organise a large number of evening, day, weekend and week seminars, workshops, study visits and long-term further education. Their Mobility Agency sends people from Hamburg and other parts of Germany to several European countries. They closely co-operate with the vocational and technical colleges of Hamburg and coordinate their mobility measures and international partnerships. In addition to that they guarantee excellent logistics for placements for groups coming from abroad. They organize mobility for various branches, such as the hotel business and gastronomy, commerce, educational science, health and care service, logistics, manual work, arts sector, multi-media, information technology and are well connected within the aviation industry.
http://www.mobilitaetsagenturhamburg.de/placements_in_hamburg.html

 Accommodation
You will be provided with host family accommodation throughout your stay and this will be on a self-catering basis. In some cases, you may be sharing your accommodation, but not your room, with other participants and/or international students. This arrangement will provide you with the opportunity to improve your language skills a lot and gain an insight into the German culture, while allowing you to be quite independent.

Language Course
Your programme begins with a German language course. This course usually runs from Monday to Friday for a period of 2 weeks. This is a key part of your work experience in Germany, so attendance is compulsory.
In the afternoons, during the socio-cultural programme, you will learn about the city by visiting museums and carrying out different activities, and you will find out about cultural differences. Topics such as the German educational system, working culture, intercultural differences and more will be covered so that you will be prepared for your ‘praktikum’. In addition, there will be a day of intercultural training, always very much appreciated by participants.

It must be stressed that as much time and effort as possible should be put into learning or improving your German.  Please remember that your level of language skills will determine the content of your work experience. The higher your level, the more rewarding your placement will be.   

 Work Experience
Once your language course is terminated, your work experience will follow straight after. Your work placement will last for 10 weeks, and host companies will be located in and around Hamburg. Hamburg is a big city with an excellent public transport system, with trains running all night at the weekend. Please consider that the average travel time from home to work/language class might be up to 1 hour, it may also happen that your placement is within walking distance. You will be provided with a ticket for the whole region, for your convenience at all times.

Choosing your work placement
Hamburg is particularly strong in the fields of aviation, shipping, logistics, IT, media and life sciences. The selection is based on your language skills, previous work experience and qualifications - as well as your personal interests and future aspirations.

These industries can offer you extensive opportunities and new market sectors are always being explored...

o Shipping/Import/Export
o Logistics
o Business/commerce
o Education
o Legal sector
o Gastronomy
o Hospitality
o Arts and cultural organizations
o Health care
o Handicraft
o Graphic design
o Media
o Multi-media, information technology
o Aviation industry
o Heavy industry
 

Don’t forget, your placement is about more than work experience. As you’ll discover here, there’s always something to see and do in Hamburg.

To arrange a work placement in Hamburg:

apply here