Recognizing skills
at ÖJAB – www.oejab.at/kompetenzchecks
ÖJAB’s BPI helps to get refugees’ and migrants’ existing skills officially recognized in order to ease their access to the labor market.
BBE – CENTER FOR THE RECOGNITION OF QUALIFICATIONS
The educational and advising center BBE (Bildungs- und Beratungseinrichtung) helps to obtain recognition of professional qualifications that individuals have acquired abroad. This includes personal orientation and advising on career opportunities in Austria.
The target group consists of migrants who bring with them the following:
- On-the-job experience or training
- Training in an occupation that is either an apprenticeable trade or is taught at schools of intermediate vocational education or colleges of higher vocational education in Austria.
- German skills of at least level A2
In a special skills-oriented occupational assessment process, job-relevant theoretical and practical skills as well as social skills are tested. The results of this testing are used to generate assessments of individuals’ existing qualifications.
Beneficiaries of this measure are registered for participation by Austria’s Labour Market Service and must be residents of Vienna, Lower Austria, or Burgenland. This measure encompasses 10 days of participation onsite at the BBE plus subsequent follow-up advising.
SKILLS CHECK FOR WORK-RELATED INTEGRATION
In its “Skills Check for Work-Related Integration” (Kompetenzcheck berufliche Integration), the Austrian Labour Market Service ascertains occupationally relevant personal, theoretical, and practical skills possessed by adult asylum grantees in the interest of helping them establish themselves on the Austrian labor market.
This project is aimed at male asylum grantees and males with subsidiary protection status up to age 25 who can read the Latin alphabet, speak German at level A1 or higher, and are registered for job search assistance measures with the Labour Market Service.
Educational offerings here are grouped into initial assessment, practical testing, course units, and individual coaching measures aimed at ascertaining personal abilities and skills. First, grade and performance reports, diplomas, and other documents are examined for purposes of recognition. Next, core competencies in the fields of metal technology, electrical engineering, and glass and wood construction technology are assessed hands-on at in-house facilities. Workshops are also held in order to provide participants with insights into the Austrian educational, healthcare, and legal systems.
Finally, every participant also completes five hours of individual coaching.
