Our international trainees master their training with flying colours (hidden)
‘They are the specialists of tomorrow. With your help, we will be able to ensure the care of our patients.’ This is how Nils Dehe, Director of Nursing at the Sana Clinic Offenbach, congratulated the newly qualified nurses at the graduation ceremony for our international nursing class. Three years earlier, he had taken the bold step of allowing an entire class of school leavers with foreign qualifications to start the generalist training programme. They completed the majority of their practical training (2,500 hours) at the Sana Clinic and the theoretical part (2,100 hours) at the TalentOrange nursing school. All of them passed their exams with good and very good grades. The success of this group proves Dehe right: ‘This is a forward-looking approach. After all, it is becoming increasingly difficult to recruit trainees for the nursing profession.’ The Sana Clinic was able to increase its training capacity by 50% thanks to international trainees.
Almost every clinic and every care facility knows the problem: the classes at nursing schools can hardly be filled with suitable candidates - for demographic reasons alone. The baby boomers are retiring and smaller cohorts are following suit. Some of the young people who start the generalist training programme drop out in their first year. This is very different for the international trainees, as they have made a conscious decision to come to Germany to work in the care sector and have left a lot behind at home. ‘Motivation, motivation and team spirit are very strong among the international trainees,’ says Doris Westphal, Head of the TalentOrange nursing school. ‘It's fun to teach them.’ At the graduation ceremony, Nursing Director Nils Dehe expressed his great respect for the group: ‘It is a special achievement to complete vocational training in another country.’ This was also possible thanks to good practical instructors and dedicated nursing teachers. Dr Tilman Frank, founder and Managing Director of TalentOrange GmbH, also congratulated all the trainees on their success and perseverance. ‘Our nursing campus has proven its worth.’ Most of the newly qualified nurses will remain at the Sana Clinic. We will miss you!
Meanwhile, the TalentOrange nursing campus in Neu-Isenburg is changing rooms: the fourth intake of international trainees will be starting there on 1 October. The young people who have just arrived come from India (8), Brazil (6), Colombia (4) and Morocco (3). Unfortunately, four nursing students are still waiting for their visas. For the time being, they are attending classes online. All of our trainees have completed their school-leaving qualifications and a nursing internship in their home countries. We have organised the preparatory language course for them up to level B2 and taken care of all the administrative formalities. During their first year, they live in rooms in our student residence. The special thing about our concept is that the TalentOrange language school works closely with the nursing school. Before each new specialised chapter, the language teachers practise the appropriate vocabulary with the class.
And while this course is starting, our recruiters are travelling to the countries of origin to get to know young people who want to do the generalist nursing training in Germany from October 2025. Brazil, Morocco, Colombia and India are the countries from which we select suitable and motivated candidates. Our language courses up to level B2 take place in the countries of origin; the classes are taught by certified ‘German as a foreign language’ teachers. The entire process, including the language course, is free of charge for the candidates. This is because we carry the ‘Fair Recruitment Care Germany’ seal of approval and apply the same ethical standards to trainees.
We are now not only looking for talented candidates for our own nursing school, but also for two university hospitals in northern Germany. If you would also like to entrust us with the search for high-performing trainees, please contact carolina.martinez@talentorange.com.