Anna (39): Successful work on self-presentation

January 6, 2025January 6, 2025

When Anna came to Germany with her children, she had completed a three-year nursing training programme in Georgia after the ninth grade and barely spoke any German. She turned to the advice centre for help in finding a suitable language course. A counsellor not only helped Anna find a language course, but also supported her over the next few months as she qualified as a nursing assistant and ultimately succeeded in the job application process.

Nursing assistant at her work place (Substitute image: Dragos Condrea via iStock)

Single parent with limited language skills

Thirty-nine-year-old Anna came to Germany from Georgia four years ago as a single parent with her children. In Georgia, she had completed school up to the ninth grade and then completed a three-year nursing training programme. Initially, Anna was looking for a suitable German course near her home, which she found with the help of the education and career counselling service.

Finding suitable opportunities

After completing the German course, Anna returned for further counselling. Together with her counsellor, she explored the career opportunities available to her in Berlin. Since Anna had been a nurse in Georgia, she was interested in training as a nursing assistant. During the counselling session, she received all the information she needed to register for the course, and shortly after, she began her qualification as a care assistant.

Since Anna had difficulty completing applications on her own and faced other bureaucratic challenges, her counsellor connected her with various migration and social counselling centres for further support.

Support in the application process

A few months later, Anna returned for another counselling session. By then, she had successfully completed the care assistant course and obtained her certificate. She wanted to use this qualification to apply for a job and sought feedback on her application documents. Anna also wanted to understand how job interviews are conducted in Germany and what she should consider. As Anna had limited computer skills, her application documents were revised together with the counsellor on the computer.

Improving self-presentation

Although Anna was invited to several job interviews, she was not offered a position. Feeling disappointed by the rejections, Anna made another appointment with her counsellor. Together, they worked on improving her self-presentation during interviews. After a few more applications, Anna was invited to another interview and this time, she was successful in securing the care assistant job she had hoped for.

A success story from the Steglitz-Zehlendorf and Tempelhof-Schöneberg advice centre.

find our centres

What our clients say:

Im thankful for your service, it supports people to find orientation and motivation.

Helps me out to find a school. I really appreciated the way they handled, friendly people with high knowledge.

After our counselling session, I was motivated further to make my desire of becoming a nurse in Germany, a reality! Thank you!

It is a good starting point. I am very happy with the counselling. All my questions were answered and I got new ideas from the counselling.

Really helpful to know what I should do for now. And what are my options.

I so much appreciate the counselling and I got all the relevant information I need and also corrected the mistakes I did during my applications.

This service is invaluable for somebody like me to help me understand how the work market functions in Germany (very different from the UK!). My counsellor was excellent, pointed me in the right directions, helped me find right organisations I needed. I’m very grateful!!

Extraordinary experience. I get detailed answers to my questions.

The counsellor understood my background and education during the first visit and in the second visit they gave me my options and gave advice on financial assistance. I am now clear on which way to proceed. Overall my best decision to contact the counsellor. Thank you.

The counselling was good and helped me evaluate, however I would have loved it even more if I had come up with a concrete answer by the end. 🙂

The counsellor made me feel very comfortable around him and also took the time to break down the relevant information into digestible bits, while ensuring that I have a good overall picture of the education system as well as Ausbildung in nursing in Germany.