THE LÄND, Germany’s industrial hub, seeks to solve its skilled labour shortage by opening its door to skilled workers via an interstellar recruitment campaign created by WPP’s thjnk.
The Baden-Württemberg federal state (known as THE LÄND) is known throughout Germany for its strong, stable economy, great job prospects and exceptionally high quality of life. But it has two problems. Firstly, the state is not well known outside of Germany. Secondly, it has a persistent skilled labour shortage.
According to research by Prognos AG, the state’s demand for skilled labour will be well into the six-figure range by 2030.
“The shortage of skilled labour is one of the biggest problems of our time. Baden-Württemberg will need a mid-six-figure amount of skilled workers by 2030. We have to invite skilled workers to come here, no matter where they come from,” said the state’s head, minister-president Winfried Kretschmann.
“We would like to extend a clear invitation to everyone out there. To any intelligent life out there: LÄND HERE,” added Kretschmann.
Authorities have facilitated an official, state-run landing strip in Mössingen for prospective visitors to land from anywhere across our planet, and even beyond: video invitations show a large yellow arrow pointing to it, with the illuminated words ‘LÄND HERE’.
The initiative is backed by German tech, manufacturing and innovation companies and research institutes, including Mercedes-Benz, Bosch, IBM, SAP, TeamViewer, and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems.
“Innovative strength has always been the driving force behind our state’s success. Here, people from different nations and backgrounds come together. They inspire and motivate each other and can thrive. It is exactly this diversity that creates the best ideas and innovations,” said Sabine Kohleisen, member of the board of management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, HR & director of labor relations.
The invitation is backed by a series of policies and programmes to welcome talent and facilitate the easy movement of labour from beyond Germany’s borders.
Potential applicants can visit the campaign website to access the Relocation Guide and a ‘Wall of Opportunities’, which links directly to the career pages of companies from Baden-Württemberg.
“Global competition for the best talent has become much tougher. It is clear to us that we need to become faster and more flexible when it comes to the immigration of skilled labour, and we are now taking a completely new approach to this. Inaction is not an option – we see this as a powerful way to communicate the advantages of living and working here to people all over the world and even beyond,” said Winfried Kretschmann, minister-president of Baden-Württemberg.“We want to make it unmissable to all intelligent life exactly why they should take the idea of ‘landing here’ very seriously”.
“THE LÄND is a great place to live and work. Excellent employers, a good infrastructure, top-class educational institutions and countless opportunities for leisure pursuits,” said Stefan Hartung, chairman of the board of management, Bosch. “For Baden-Württemberg’s industry and technology sector, we must continue to attract talent and qualified people from around the world”.
“THE LÄND offers everything we need to responsibly use future technologies, like cloud, AI and quantum computing for the world. It’s a place full of ideas, expertise in engineering and a vibrant ecosystem of companies, start-ups, universities and public support,” said Wolfgang Wendt, chairman of the management board, IBM Germany.
“We work on artificial intelligence. And to do the best possible work, we need human intelligence. We need the best PhD students. The best post-docs. The best programmers. So come here and help us do this work,” said Bernhard Schölkopf, director of the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems.
