When Alexandra Ponweera founded Advising Professionals, her starting point was dentistry — the sector she had worked in for more than three decades. But the problem she was solving is not unique to dental practices.
Germany’s skilled worker shortage is a cross-sector challenge. The industries feeling it most acutely include not just healthcare and dental medicine, but also hospitality, nursing and care, and skilled trades. And in all of these sectors, the same dynamics apply: an ageing domestic workforce, insufficient numbers of young Germans choosing vocational training paths, and chronic high turnover.
Hospitality: Running on Empty
German restaurants, hotels, and catering businesses have been struggling with staffing shortages for years. The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated a trend that was already underway: experienced hospitality professionals left the sector, and not enough new talent entered it.
The result is overstretched teams, reduced opening hours, and — in many cases — a genuine inability to capitalise on demand. International professionals who are motivated, reliable, and prepared for the work culture can change that picture.
Nursing and Care: A Crisis With a Human Cost
Germany’s care sector faces some of the most severe staffing pressures of any industry. With an ageing population requiring increasing levels of residential and outpatient care, and a domestic workforce unable to meet demand, the human cost of understaffing is significant.
Motivated professionals from Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Thailand and other countries — prepared with the necessary language skills and cultural orientation — represent a meaningful and sustainable part of the solution.
Skilled Trades: The Invisible Shortage
Plumbers, electricians, carpenters, and other tradespeople are in short supply across Germany. The apprenticeship pipeline has not kept pace with demand, and many small and medium-sized businesses are losing contracts they simply cannot staff.
International apprentices who enter the German vocational training system through a structured placement process bring exactly what these businesses need: commitment, work ethic, and the prospect of a long-term employment relationship.
One Approach, Many Industries
Advising Professionals applies the same structured, quality-oriented methodology across all sectors it serves. The process is the same whether the placement is for a ZFA, a care worker, a chef, or a tradesperson: careful selection, language preparation to B1/B2, organised entry, and supported integration through Years 1–3 of training.
What varies is the sector-specific knowledge — and this is where the founder’s 30 years in healthcare translate directly. Alexandra Ponweera understands what it takes to find and retain good staff, because she has experienced it herself. She brings that understanding to every client consultation, regardless of industry.
Quality Over Volume
Advising Professionals is not a mass-market placement agency. Every placement is individual, every candidate is prepared, and every client receives personal attention.
For businesses facing the reality of long-term structural staff shortages, the question is not whether international recruitment is an option. The question is whether the partnership is the right one.
→ Talk to us about your industry and your needs.
📞 +49 162 382 11 11 | ✉ info@advisingprofessionals.com
