The Leipzig Glocal Job Fair at WERK 2 will bring together over 20 different companies looking for talented internationally-minded people in Leipzig. We thought it important for you to get more insight into who these exhibitors are, and what they look for in job applicants, ahead of the event on 13 November 2018. To that end, we asked them questions about their particular company culture, their expectations as employers, and how they help their staff balance their work-life commitments.
Here are the profiles of three exciting and diverse companies that might be looking for people like you: the job-matching platform BirdieMatch; the adult education center ARBEIT UND LEBEN Sachsen; and Replex, a startup IT firm.
Meet BirdieMatch
What is your company about?
BirdieMatch is like Parship for jobs. Our matching platform automatically matches you with jobs that best fit your skill set, location and expectations. Our goal is to make temporary work agencies and headhunters obsolete.
What is your company culture like?
At BirdieMatch, we truly believe in creating a culture for makers. This means you have total control over your development workflow. Your OS, your development tools, your code style, your working hours – period. Working at BirdieMatch means working with friends, not colleagues.
Let’s go beyond the CV. What kind of candidate fits your company culture?
We are looking for team players who are passionate about coding. At BirdieMatch, no one tells you how to do a task, but our team is always there for help and advice. This is why being a team player is crucial to working here.
Let’s say that a candidate does not have a degree or work experience directly related to your company’s services. Would you still consider hiring them?
Degrees mean nothing at BirdieMatch. In fact, we started developing the whole BirdieMatch platform with three students and none of them had a degree, nor experience in software projects of this scale. Passion for coding and the ability to learn quickly are key skills we look for in every candidate.
Work-life balance. How does your company accommodate professional development of your employees and their personal lives?
At BirdieMatch, the developers decide on their own working hours. We have a splendid work culture here, which makes this kind of work possible.
Meet ARBEIT UND LEBEN
What is your company about?
ARBEIT UND LEBEN Sachsen e.V. is an adult education center focusing on political and social education. We host several projects aimed at assisting migrants’ and refugees’ integration into the local labor market. The range of services provided by these projects covers career advice, recruitment and legal coaching. We cooperate closely with companies from all over Saxony, particularly with SMEs. Our headquarters are located in Leipzig, but we maintain branches in Dresden, Chemnitz, Pirna and Eilenburg.
What is your company culture like?
We are an open company with full-time employees from several countries. While we require an excellent command of German, we regularly use English, Arabic, Persian, and French to communicate with clients. Our efforts to integrate refugees and migrants into the labor market entail good relations with local companies. We strive to increase these companies’ international profiles by training integration tutors, thus preparing them for the challenges involved with multicultural working environments.
Let’s go beyond the CV. What kind of candidate fits your company culture?
For our own company’s staff, it is essential to be able to communicate confidently with companies and clients alike. It’s important to have one’s heart in the right place as well as to consider the interests of local SMEs. Nevertheless, while we are always looking for good staff ourselves, our recruitment efforts are primarily focused on integrating migrants, long-term job seekers and people with disabilities into the Saxon labor market as a whole. For migrants, what is required is a good command of German, a high level of motivation and a certain amount of flexibility.
Let’s say that a candidate does not have a degree or work experience directly related to your company’s services. Would you still consider hiring them?
The educational and vocational background of our staff is extremely wide-ranging, and a university degree is not a pre-requisite for working at ARBEIT UND LEBEN Sachsen. What counts is the ability to communicate effectively with clients, companies and partner organizations, and to possess thematic experience with relevant projects. In terms of the candidates we seek for our recruitment projects, the precise qualifications required vary considerably. In the services sector, an excellent command of German is usually needed, although English is occasionally sufficient. For craftsman or Handwerk jobs, you need either previous experience or the willingness to begin vocational training.
Work-life balance. How does your company accommodate professional development of your employees and their personal lives?
ARBEIT UND LEBEN Sachsen offers excellent work-life balance, with several members of staff working part-time. Nevertheless, the extent to which this is possible at the companies we seek employees for varies. Recently work-life balance has tended to shift in favor of employees. The Saxon unemployment rate is sinking, which puts pressure on companies to provide good working environments. Through our project “Fair Integration,” we try to help migrants with questions on labor law, preventing exploitation and raising awareness of one’s rights at work.
Meet Replex
What is your company about?
Replex – as the central source of information for your IT inventory – provides full transparency throughout your IT infrastructure, independent of the underlying technology.
What is your company culture like?
Being a company with people from many different places and backgrounds, we have a very team-oriented culture. Every team member has the possibility to expand their skills and contribute to the product. But we are also committed to providing the best service for our customers, so dedication and ambition are core values in our company.
Let’s go beyond the CV. What kind of candidate fits your company culture?
We are looking for people who like sharing their ideas and want to actively contribute to the growth and success of Replex. If you are a team player, who also works independently and enjoys the startup life, you are the type of candidate that fits our company culture.
Let’s say that a candidate does not have a degree or work experience directly related to your company’s services. Would you still consider hiring them?
A candidate with an interesting profile will also be considered by us, even if it does not perfectly fit our job listings. While some positions require specific knowledge and skills, we give people the opportunity to grow in our company and get to know new technologies.
Work-life balance. How does your company accommodate professional development of your employees and their personal lives?
We have very liberal working hours and home office policy. We trust in our employees’ self-organization skills, as long as the work gets done. To reduce the physical stress of working desk jobs, we encourage and support physical activity by providing discounts on sports memberships and doing corporate runs.
Did any of these companies catch your eye?
You will also have the chance to meet representatives from them offline: at the LeipGlo Job Fair on 13 November. All you need to do is sign up for FREE. We just ask that you please register beforehand through this link.
Also, stay tuned for more company profiles and information on the LeipGlo Job Fair. See you there!!!
