Frankfurt, June 2020: Every six months, qualified healthcare professionals can apply for the TalentOrange selection process. In 2019, the company also opened the applicaiton process for interested parties from Mexico for the first time. The pilot project was launched last autumn with twelve candidates. At the end of February 2020, they were finally able to travel to Germany, where they were warmly welcomed by their new employer in Karlsruhe at the beginning of June.
Word had got around of the opportunity to develop as a nurse at a German hospital as part of the TalentOrange programme. In mid-2019, the company's project management team faced a huge mountain of applicationss from Mexico. Initial interviews of potential candidates were conducted via Skype, followed by further personal interviews on site in the country of origin. In September last year, more than a hundred interviews resulted in a Talent selection of twelve certified nurses. They all stood out positively from the entire selection process, thanks to their high level of expertise in the field of nursing as well as their above-average motivation and willingness to learn, and thus qualified for the step to Germany.
"Normally our selected candidates from all over the world complete their German course up to B2 in their home country at one of our cooperating language schools", explains Fynn Kaese, deputy prohect manager of TalentOrange. "In case of our very first protégés from Mexico, the last part took place at our own TalentOrange language school in Frankfurt am Main. This enabled us to provide the participants with even more intensive on-site support for language acquisition up to the final telc exam. In retrospect, the early entry was our good fortune, because a short time later the corona crisis showed its first restrictive effects due to border closure".
And further changes followed: learning German in a classroom was no longer possible and so the teachers of German as a foreign language of the TalentOrange language school team changed their teaching methods within a very short time. A few days after entering Germany, the B2 preparation took place exclusively online. And the high flexibility of all participants bore fruit:
"When the start of work of our "Mexican dozen" approached at the end of May, the joy was endless", remembers Kaese. "At the same time it was also time to say goodbye to Frankfurt, because the certified nurses were already eagerly awaited by the ward teams of their new employer, a renowned hospital in Karlsruhe. On the morning drive to the Middle-Upper Rhine region, tears rolled down our faces - we felt well received by the people of Frankfurt".
While the anticipation of the new working life slowly gained the upper hand again, the accompanying dishes from the old home country clinked in the luggage. The candidates had brought plates, cutlery, kitchen utensils and other household items with them - no wonder: the tools must also be right so that it tastes like home! According to the candidates' statements, the range of Mexican food on offer in Germany should not be left out.
The company was founded in 2012 as Capitalent Medical by the medical doctor Tilman Frank in Frankfurt am Main. Graduates of renowned nursing universities from around ten countries, including Latin America, Southern Africa, South-East Asia dn Europe, can apply for the TalentOrange programm. The team enables the selected aTlents to take an intensive German course free of charge, supported by a monthly scholarship, at one of 16 language schools worldwide or at their own language school in Germany and then to find a suitable job at a German hospital.