Deutsche Bahn is short of staff and is having to get creative when it comes to filling vacant jobs. Now, prospective employees can drop by the office in Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof and go on a speed-date job interview with their future boss.

Deutsche Bahn launches job interview speed dates

Anyone looking for a job at one of Germany’s national institutions can swing by the Deutsche Bahn Job-Welt office in Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof. In an attempt to fill as many of the company’s vacant positions as possible, the firm has announced a new scheme whereby jobseekers can find out information about 500 Deutsche Bahn jobs at the office, with no appointment necessary.

According to the dpa, the Deutsche Bahn Job-Welt office in Frankfurt conducts 100 to 150 consultations per month and about five or 10 of those interviewed are hired. Deutsche Bahn aims to recruit around 5.000 employees at the station in Hesse each year and more than 25.000 across the federal republic.

Deutsche Bahn hiring proactively in face of worker shortage

As a company that runs long-distance trains as well as local and regional public transport, Deutsche Bahn is affected by ongoing shortages in the tourism sector which were initially sparked by the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. 

It is for this reason that speed recruiting tactics, which until now have been more commonly used in the PR and communications industry, are being adopted in the travel industry. Another looming factor is Germany’s growing labour shortage. According to the most recent figures, one in 10 of Germany’s workers will disappear by 2060, amounting to a decline in the working population of 11,7 percent.

While the company adopts eye-catching tactics to attract new members of staff, employees already working at Deutsche Bahn remain in the midst of months-long pay negotiations with their employer. Deutsche Bahn workers and the EVG trade union called off a nationwide mega strike last week, after the international company filed an emergency application to the Frankfurt labour court in order to stop the strike from going ahead and said it would fulfil the minimum wage requests made by the EVG.

Thumb image credit: M. Erkan / Shutterstock.com