Olena and Ingeus Germany transcript

Olena: I have worked in the hotel industry for 17 years. I’m from Kiev – I also worked in another city in Ukraine. By then there had already been a month and a half of war in Kiev. That’s when I said sorry, we have to get out and maybe we should go to Germany. My advisor at the job centre has written a plan for me: First German course, and then a coaching company. But then I had a nice phone call – on January. “I’m Mr Ismael from this coaching company. We need to meet and talk about all the questions about how you can find work.”

Ismael: The challenge at the beginning was the reorientation, the language, everything around it because she had no experience of how to apply for a job in Germany, how to look for work.

Olena: I have seen that the rules here in Germany are completely different to those in my country and it is very important that I had this time with Ingeus.  I received a letter: “We don't have an internship but we can give you work.” “Wow – already do fast? Yes, I want, I need this job.”

Florian: It has always been like this in the hotel industry and it continues to be like this. We have international guests and therefore we also need an international audience among our employees.

Olena: Without Ingeus I would have had no chance of finding this job.

Ismael: I am proud that I have played a positive role, that her life has changed after she met us, that she feels good now, that she is happy at work and that I have played a role in that, makes me incredibly proud and that makes me happy too.