5 Tips on How to Successfully Recruit and Keep Employees in Germany

A recent study by Prognos, an economic research institute, shows that there is a shortfall of skilled talent in various professions in Germany, from qualified IT specialists to mathematicians to engineers to doctors. The institute predicted a shortfall of roughly 3 million skilled employees in Germany by 2030. They expect this shortage to grow to approximately 3.3 million by 2040. That, coupled with an increasingly aging population, makes hiring and retaining skilled employees in Germany a challenge for many recruiters. So all recruiters should approach recruitment in Germany strategically, analyze relevant recruitment data, and gather helpful insights.


Here are 5 tips on how to successfully recruit and keep employees in Germany.

1. Handle Potential Hires Like Customers

As an employer, you should aim at creating a positive first impression of your business in the candidate’s mind. Whether it’s a video interview, phone screening, or an in-person interview, you should focus on making them feel that you’re happy to meet and get to know them. Handling potential hires the same way you handle your customers is one of the most effective hiring tactics. Respect their time. Germans are known worldwide for being punctual, and they’re proud of it. So when you’re hiring in Germany, you have to show up on time whether it’s a call screening or an in-person meeting. Be sure to notify the candidate way ahead of time if you’ll be running late.

Be Hospitable. When an interviewee turns up for an onsite interview makes them feel at home and comfortable. One option is to offer them something to drink and inform them where they’ll find the restrooms.

Be Available. Offer potential hires your contact info so they can ask questions and seek clarifications from you throughout the recruitment process.


2. Take Advantage of Social Media

Social media is a great tool for finding and recruiting skilled workers. Social media recruiting enables your job postings to reach out to a large number of people and promotes a two-way conversation. Remember to make your job postings sharable once you post them on your social media accounts. That way, your followers will share your job postings on their timeline, which will increase your chances of finding someone qualified for the role. Keep in mind that Xing is the most popular and most effective social channel for recruitment in Germany. It’s used by over 75 percent of companies. Linked In less popular, but it has a strong global image. So you can use it as your secondary social network. Other than Xing, Facebook is another great recruiting tool.

3. Outsource Your Recruiting Function to a PEO

Entrusting a global PEO with your recruiting function is the easiest and the most effective way to reach more qualified candidates within a short duration and improve the quality of new employees. A PEO saves you from the hassles and expenses of maintaining an in-house hiring team. In addition to helping you hire top-quality employees in less time, a German employer of record can take care of all your human resources functions, payroll, overall employee safety and benefits, and compliance issues, while you focus on the day-to-day operations of your business.

4. Put an Employee Referral Program in Place

Exceptional people tend to surround themselves with other incredibly competent professionals. Although many of your workers may already be sharing vacant positions with skilled individuals in their circles, it’s important to have a well-structured employee referral program in place. This program will push even more of your workers to refer to capable professionals in their network. Make the program meaningful and exciting by offering bonuses for referrals and organizing contests.

5. Implement an Effective Reward and Recognition Program

Money, bonuses, and other workplace perks may attract skilled employees to your company, but you must have something else in place to keep them around for long. People always want to be recognized and appreciated for their efforts. This is where a well-developed reward and recognition program comes in. This program doesn’t have to be complex or costly to be effective. It could be something simple as a thank-you card or a dinner certificate to team members who have excelled in their work. It could also be taking your staff out of the office for a group dinner.More Insights!

To successfully hire and keep employees in Germany, you have to be patient and innovative. Research the German labor market and acquaint yourself with its employment law. That way, you’ll know the group to target with your recruitment campaign and how to do it compliantly.

Top 5 HR Apps That Are Making Waves in Germany

HR is one operational area that doesn’t leave a scope of errors, delays, and compromise because any of this will have a direct impact on the company’s productivity and efficiency. In organizations where skilled HR or workforce is not present, meeting organization goals and attaining great market presence is impossible. That being said, we can’t deny HR is a tedious job.

The introduction of HR services and tools has made HR operations easy and effortless. This post will cover the best HR services that a Germany-based business can adopt and the like topics.

1 - BambooHR

Available in multiple language support, this HR tool is ideal for small to mid-scale businesses. It is an all-inclusive HRIS and ATS system that companies of all sorts can back upon for end-to-end employee progress. Some of its laudable features are automated on-boarding, time-off tracking, and performance management. With automation of the majority of jobs, BambooHR is doing a great job in simplifying HR operations.

2 - PeopleQlik

For effortless payroll, on-boarding, and leave management in Germany, we are suggesting PeopleQlik. Driven with advanced AI, many leading Germany-based businesses have already adopted this tool and have bought revolutionary changes in the industry.

3 - Sage

Sage has made it into the list because its HR automation tool comes with a competent cloud app to bring all your company’s HR data to a centralized platform. It simplifies the information access process and speed-up the operations.

4 - Breezy

Breezy supports more than five languages, including German, and is suitable for German SMBs. It is by far one of the most cut-above recruiting and applicant tracking tools available in the German market. With drag-and-drop features and in-built automation, it is going to simplify the HR processes at multiple stages.

5 - Zoho Recruit

Small recruiter and organizations in Germany can bank upon Zoho Recruit for streamlined and leveraged HR processes. Hiring skilled HR becomes an effortless job with this tool as it allows you to post jobs on multiple platforms, design customized pre-screening assessments, parse a pile of resumes, and can gather application progress details in real-time. Its AI-powered candidate matching ensures that you’re hiring nothing but the best minds.


All these HR services are easily obtainable in the German market and can cater to the diverse HR needs of a given ecosystem. Hence, pick one that appeals to you most and starts enjoying alleviated and result-driven HR processes.