IT specialists accept invite to work in Germany
Polish information technology (IT) specialists responded this month to German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's invitation for up to 20,000 non-European Union (EU) computer wizards to work in his country. Bernd Schuler, managing director of Frankfurt-based ADP GmBH RecruITing Services, a specialist in the IT industry, told the Business Journal last week that since the beginning of April he had received almost 100 applications for IT positions from Poland.
"It was far more than we got from the Czech Republic, Slovenia or Hungary, where we also put ads," he said. Schuler said he hasn't taken the recruitment procedure beyond the initial stage, as he is still waiting for the German government to decide on issuing special regulations allowing German companies to hire workers from outside of the EU.
"We are still waiting for green card regulations," he said. "It is now being discussed (by the Labor Ministry) and will probably be announced sometime in May or June." According to Schuler, the issue will also be discussed at a meeting between Schroeder and IT industry representatives, which is expected to take place at the beginning of May.
Earlier this year, in a speech given at the opening of an international IT fair in Hanover, Schroeder said that it should become possible to relax immigration restrictions for IT specialists from Central and Eastern Europe. According to Schuler, the German Labor Ministry is thinking about granting green cards for up to three years with an option for an extension of an additional two years. "But it hasn't been confirmed yet," he said.
The German recruitment companies' offers are very tempting. They provide, free of charge, the necessary immigration services to candidates from Central and Eastern Europe.
"First of all we will help them to find an employer; secondly, it's forbidden by law to take any money from a candidate. We only receive a fee if someone is hired by a German company," Schuler said. "We will also pay all services that might help them get a green card afterward; we have a lawyer who is taking care of these procedures." ADP will also hire a Polish-speaking assistant to handle applications from Poland.
But Schroeder's offer hasn't been welcomed by everyone (see WBJ, March 27-April 2, page 1). Polish academics at the Krakow-based technical university Akademia Gorniczo-Hutnicza (AGH), for instance, accused Schroeder of trying to suck computer specialists out of the country, thereby possibly threatening the development of the domestic IT industry. Rada Polskiej Izby Informatyki, the Council of the Polish IT Chamber, also criticized the offer. In its statement released in March, the council said that due to the possible drain of IT specialists, Poland could lose up to 10,000 talented individuals, exceeding the number of yearly graduates in that branch. The council also appealed to the government for financial support for computer education, since the lack of government subsidies so far has hampered the IT sector's development.
"Surprisingly, the first to react to our appeal was the Labor Ministry," Aleksander Frydrych, president of the Polish IT Chamber, said last week. "We have scheduled meetings to discuss a possible joint strategy to prevent the outflow of IT talent from Poland."
Meanwhile, according to ADP's Schuler, there is a substantial demand for IT immigrants on the German market. And while Polish university communities are afraid of losing IT talent for good, Schuler emphasized that many companies are looking for Polish specialists for temporary positions in Germany with the intention of transferring them later to their future operations in Poland. "This is an idea presented, for instance, by IBM Germany's managing director and dozens of software companies and IBM's partners, " Schuler said. "They are looking for people from neighboring countries that will sooner or later become members of the EU."
According to Schuler, non-EU IT specialists will be paid like any other EU candidate. "There is even speculation about establishing a possible minimum wage to prevent any kind of abuses," Schuler said. But according to Frydrych, it's not really the money that might attract Poles to Germany. "To some of them, Poland is no longer a challenge and they'll be willing to find a place where they can develop their exceptional skills," he said.
