Since 1984, the German Federal Ministry for Labour (Bundesanstalt für Arbeit, "BA"), a public institution, has completely modernized the way in which it deals with its users, affecting employees and employers alike. Efforts have been focussed both on providing direct access to information relating to the job market and on careers guidance.

The most significant aspect of this work has been the heavy shift towards new technologies: videodiscs, Internet access, etc. whilst still retaining textual aids. In addition, users are encouraged to develop their own research. This latest technology does not, however, signal the disappearance of the intermediary role played by the officers who work in the "employment information centres" (Berufsinformationzentren, "BIZ").

This development is fully comparable with that which resulted in the network set up by the local public employment agencies in France, designed to receive people and help them obtain information.

The employment information centres (Berufsinformationzentren, "BIZ"), established by the German Federal Institute for Labour (BundesAnstalt für Arbeit), were set up in order to publicize job vacancies and offer careers advice to users.

Since the beginning of the 1970s, it has become clear that the vast amount of information relating to careers, employment and training has become inaccessible to users. The main reasons for this are the transformation of the economy, accompanied by the diversification of professional activities, and the shift from professional activities towards service activities together with the large increase in vocational training and adjustment procedures.

In order for each citizen to be able to exercise his fundamental right in choosing an occupation, it was vital that he have access to adequate information concerning different occupations, training opportunities and professional choices as well as on the problems resulting from a career change.

The 180"BIZ" were therefore established with the intention of making the vast amount of information available in a systematic, complete, clear and objective form, and based on the fundamental Principe of "self-service information"by users. Two main groups of users were identified: young people seeking their first job or vocational training, and adults seeking new employment or a new direction. At the same time, it was necessary to take advantage of the opportunity available and to employ modern methods of communication for the widespread distribution of the job vacancies available and of all the information regarding the different professions by facilitating access to this information.

For young BIZ users in particular, the system had to enable them to recognize the context of the profession in which they were interested and to make their own alternative choices.

To satisfy the demands of its clients, the quality of services offered by the local employment agencies had to be improved. The system was first tested in a few large cities and, from 1984 onwards, was gradually extended to the rest of Germany on the authorization of the central authorities representing the Federal Institute of Labour, in accordance with its supervisory and administrative councils on which the social partners, such as the Federal Employment Minister, are represented. A secondary concern was to use the resources of the Federal Institute of Labour itself to better effect in the face of the increasing demands of its users.

The aims of the BIZ

Internally, the organizational unit acts as a collector of information for the team of advisers working in the local employment agencies and, externally, as a provider of information for the customers who use the Labour Institute. Five main tasks fall within the field of competence of the BIZ:

Providing help in using the various methods of publicizing information relating to employment and training issues requested in writing, over the telephone or on-site, usually with the help of "KURS", a database containing information about vocational training and various occupations.
Ensuring the acquisition and mastery of the data processing systems made available to users. The funding of BIZ activities is managed in-house.
Supporting activities linked to careers guidance: in co-operation with other training institutions, BIZ employees offer information sessions on the different topics within the field of careers guidance. These topics are defined and managed in conjunction with employment advisers from other departments of the local employment agency.
Providing documentation concerning different professions: information materials relating to specific occupations and training procedures are collected and adapted, and made available to the staff of the employment agency; users are supported in carrying out their own research and responses are given to their questions concerning the different professions.
Carrying out publicity in order to acquaint users with the services provided by BIZ and the employment services as a whole.

In order to obtain a complete picture of all the resources, vacancies and facilities available, the employment information centres have the following aims: teenagers and adults who are faced with career choices must be made aware of the need both to take and to strengthen their own initiatives, their sense of responsibility must be encouraged and their decision-making capacity enhanced. Thus, the information centres must endeavour to provide such individuals with opportunities to inform themselves. This service, which is provided so that people may obtain information, must be complemented by the employment agencies who should advise and guide the users and act as an intermediary.

A modern organization using modern technical means

The BIZ are generally located within local employment agencies and are equipped by the Federal Office. Additional information is provided by mobile information centres, information stands and the regional labour institutes. Consequently, the employment information centres have relatively little financial independence.

The size and number of staff working in an employment information centre is firstly determined by the number of inhabitants in the town where the local employment agency is located. The number of school leavers is also taken into account. According to these criteria, the BIZ have been placed in four categories which comprise between 2 and 9 employees working in a particular area, the size of which ranges from 350 M2 to1.150 M2. Throughout Germany as a whole, these centres employ a total of 700 people who usually receive training from the Federal Institute of Labour concerning the resources and the organization of the BIZ, and more particularly the target audience. Their tasks and the extent to which they co-operate with other employees of the local employment agencies have been defined.. Regular training sessions enable them to update their knowledge of different careers. They are classed either as intermediate-level civil servants or, in the case of the largest centres, partly as high-level civil servants. They have high-level university training which guarantees them independence and initiative, and enables them to form a relationship with their clients.

The BIZ are generally organized in a similar manner:

a media library offers free access to all information media. Places for both individuals and groups to read and consult documents, audiovisual resources (slides and films) and opportunities for consulting information on-screen are made available to users. BIZ employees are on hand to provide help and answer questions relating to training and careers;
the internal databases of the employment office, such as the "KURS" system which provides information on basic and further vocational training establishments, can also be accessed;
information on Europe is likewise available;
rooms equipped with audiovisual resources are available for groups such as school parties, students, parents of pupils, teachers, or for the organization of occupational information sessions by various work groups relating to all topics relevant to the job market;
in-depth documentation can be found in the documentation centre to which access can be granted on request. Career briefs corresponding to approximately 800 occupations and types of training contain information relating to tasks and activities, the level of training required, and to employment and promotion prospects. This information is available throughout Germany and is supplemented by local information. More than 700 videos lasting between 5 and 6 minutes and 350 sets of photographs present a brief picture of various work situations. These videos can be consulted directly by users of the center;

More and more frequently, information relating to jobs is being supplied externally; thus, there are mobile information agencies, and documents about the employment information centres and the services which they provide are distributed by information stands in shops and firms.

The speed at which innovations are made in the field of media requires sources of information to be up-dated very reactively. Consequently, under the "employment services 2000" project, the employment agencies and BIZ are currently being given on-line access so that users can access vacancy announcements and information on the Internet. The Federal Employment Office Intranet is also being improved. All this in order to permit users to carry out research with as little need for help as possible from agency employees, whilst enabling those employees to provide specific information more rapidly.

So the BIZ are systematically equipped with 3 to 7 personal computers -related to their importance- to give to the users the possibility of a direct access to information.

In addition to providing information relating to job vacancies and different occupations, the BIZ also provide information concerning the network of addresses held by the Institute of Labour for training or employment purposes. The users of the information centres can therefore apply for jobs directly, without going through the employment officers, using SIS, an employment information system.

The employer can also benefit from the information collected by the BIZ: by collecting information on job applicants using the same network, provided that laws concerning the right to protection of the individual are respected. The modern method of intermediation is therefore beneficial in that it permits more rapid contact between employers and job-seekers, thus reducing the costs resulting from the use of several intermediaries.

Improvements in publicizing job vacancies in even the smallest local offices has enabled 6 million contacts to be made annually by means of 5000 sources of information; these figures will increase still further with publication on the Internet. Job vacancies are published by companies on a regional or national basis; if a company does not wish to put its name on the server, it is not obliged to do so: nevertheless, job-seekers will be able to obtain this information from the employment services.

The Federal Institute for Labour seeks to ensure transparency in the job market and the quality of vacancies advertised in this manner; in 1997, fifty per cent of companies were aware of this interactive system and in September 1998 offered some 250 000 jobs. Large companies prefer to use this system for reasons of cost and efficiency in the form of fewer administrative formalities and more applicants who are found more quickly and are more interesting. These companies are more willing than before to use the services of the employment agencies. Small companies, however, remain indifferent or reticent and highlight certain disadvantages: the disappearance of individual contact leads to a larger number of unsuitable applicants who do not have the correct or sufficient qualifications. Moreover, such companies are subject to intense lobbying on the part of enterprises hiring out workers.

These disadvantages do not, however, outweigh the success of the information system which is shown by the fact that companies are turning more and more often to the local employment agencies.

The systematization of the BIZ in response to their excellent reception by the clients of the local offices

Feedback on the way in which the services are received as well as their level of success is extremely important for an institution like the BIZ, whose main aim is to satisfy the needs of its clients.

Since 1988, a triennial survey has been carried out amongst sample groups of users. The last survey in 1997 included the BIZ of the "new Länder" (the reunified eastern regions of Germany):

Seven million visits were recorded and ten thousand questionnaires were filled in. In other words, a very comprehensive study was carried out. It was concluded that a third of visitors come to obtain more information about a specific profession or type of training. Another third are interested in the information available relating to training and the job market. The latter indicate that they are often interested in training and employment conditions, their chances of success in the job market and further training possibilities.

The level of visitor satisfaction is high or very high (78 per cent), with most on-site consultations lasting between 1 and 3 hours, with 75 per cent of visitors leaving having found the information they were looking for.

For the last ten years there has been a constant high number of visitors under the age of 20 (78 per cent) with the same proportion expressing satisfaction with their visit to the BIZ. The most preferred documentation resources are the computer facilities and teaching-related materials.

Users awarded BIZ employees with an average mark of 1.8 (on a scale of 1 - excellent to 5 - unsatisfactory), thus showing that, in addition to the documentation provided, personal contact is still an important part of customer satisfaction. The majority of visits were encouraged by parents, teachers or careers advisers, even if quite a large number of visitors were acting on their own initiative.

Providing users, that is the customers of the public employment services, with available information relating to employment and various occupations is the result of an organization based on modern communication methods which has continued to adapt and train the staff responsible for dealing with its users. Naturally, the initial investment had to be combined with effective ways of bringing the organization up-to-date. The role of the public employment services has thus been strengthened by its ability to supply services that are effective and are adapted to the needs of its users, be they employees or employers.