GIZ - an award-winning employer

GIZ is independently recognised as a ‘fair company, family-friendly and inclusive workplace, and is a popular employer among young professionals. Just look at some of the awards we have received.

The Valuable 500

As a globally active company, GIZ stands for inclusion at home and abroad. Inclusion is in line with our values. We stand by our social responsibility, humanity and solidarity. The sustainable professional participation of people with disabilities is promoted by a cooperative and trusting relationship between all parties involved. No one may be disadvantaged because of their disability.

For this reason, GIZ decided in December 2022 to join the agreement as a member of the Valuable 500. This ensures that GIZ firmly anchors inclusion in its leadership agenda, complies with action plans for inclusion, and lives this agreement within the company and worldwide. 

Further information can be found here.

A ‘fair company’

GIZ has been awarded ‘Fair company’ status by the karriere.de initiative and the business newspaper Handelsblatt. This award is given to companies that embrace ethical business practices and give graduates a fair chance.

We are fully committed to the five rules that set fair companies apart:

• We do not replace full-time posts with internships.
• We do not offer university graduates who have applied for an employed post an internship instead.
• We do not try to attract interns with vague promises of later full-time employment.
• We offer internships primarily to help young people decide where their future career lies while they are studying.
• We pay interns appropriately.

Training certificate 2021/2022 of the German Federal Employment Agency

In August 2022, the German Federal Employment Agency named the recipients of its training award for excellence in promoting young talent, as representatives of all the companies providing dual vocational training to exemplary operational and social standards.

As one of four companies in the Bonn/Rhein-Sieg economic region, GIZ was awarded the training certificate in August 2022 for its particular commitment to vocational education.

The Federal Employment Agency’s aim is to draw the attention of school students, parents, policy-makers, the general public and companies to innovative career guidance services, internships and trainee vacancies, and convince them of the advantages of vocational training.

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is setting a good example here. It encourages applications from people with disabilities and offers training on a part-time basis in certain circumstances, for example for people looking after young children or caring for family members. GIZ also provides support for people from different backgrounds in accessing vocational training.

In 2023, GIZ will once again be offering a large number of places in a range of training areas, as apprenticeships, dual study programmes and internships.

Universum Young Professional study

As part of the 2023 Young Professional study conducted by Universum, around 12,000 young professionals across Germany were surveyed between October 2022 and April 2023. ‘Young professionals’ are university graduates under 40 who have between one and eight years’ post-degree work experience. These young professionals reported on the companies they would like to work for, the criteria they apply when assessing employers, what their salary expectations are, and what long-term career goals they are pursuing. GIZ was frequently ranked in the Top 100 employers. It ranked 42th among young professionals working in natural sciences and 14th among those working in humanities, social sciences and education. In other categories such as “Law”, “Health/Medicine” and economics, places among the TOP 100 were also achieved.

One of the top 10 employers among students

As part of a survey conducted by the www.csr-jobs platform in cooperation with the university magazine audimax, 1,074 students were asked to identify what their dream employer would offer. These career entrants gave priority to employment benefits including flexible working hours (78 per cent of responses), support with childcare (69 per cent) and company health services (68 per cent). A total of 361 companies from all sectors were identified as preferred employers, with GIZ the 4th most often cited employer.

Universum Most Attractive Employers

GIZ also made it into Universum’s 100 most popular employers among students in 2023. 35,500 students at 238 higher education institutions across Germany were surveyed between October 2022 and March 2023 for the 2023 Universum Student Survey. They answered questions on their perceptions of and ranking of the attractiveness of employers and on their long-term career goals. GIZ was ranked 33rd in the humanities/social sciences category and is also listed among the TOP 50 / TOP 100 employers in other categories such as natural sciences, health and medicine and law.

In 2021 GIZ was awarded 1st place in the category “Employee friendliness in times of crises” in the field of natural science.

Among business studies students, GIZ scooped the top ranking in 2020 for diversity and inclusion.

Trendence Barometer 2022

Which company would you most like to work for? The market research body trendence conducts an annual survey between September and February. 55,000 German students and professionals at more than 190 universities were surveyed for the 2022 report, ranking the top 120 employers in each discipline against each other. GIZ was ranked 56th by business studies students and 47th by professionals. In natural sciences, GIZ was ranked 56st by students and 38th by professionals.

Young Professionals Barometer 2019

The 2019 trendence Young Professionals Barometer surveys around 20,000 young professionals with up to 10 years’ experience, making it one of the largest German studies of this group. Between May and July 2019, young professionals from all sectors answered a range of career-related questions. The survey focused on employer preferences, satisfaction with current employers, respondents’ willingness to switch companies, and the criteria for rating a company as an attractive employer. GIZ was ranked 38th overall and scooped first place in the ‘Public sector’ rankings.

GIZ is a family-friendly company

We were awarded a ‘berufundfamilie®’ audit certificate in 2006 and were most recently re-certified in December 2016. By taking part in the berufundfamilie® audit, we submit our activities to regular scrutiny and assessment by an independent external agency. The certificate is evidence of the success of our policy on work-life balance.

Work-Life Balance & Care

As a compatibility partner of the North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) state programme "Work-Life Balance & Care", the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) has signed the charter for "Work-Life Balance & Care". With the charter, companies, authorities and organisations in NRW are honoured that participate in the state programme. In doing so, GIZ voluntarily commits to improving the work-life balance for employees with caring responsibilities. The state programme supports companies in establishing a successful compatibility of work and care in order to relieve the burden on caregiving employees and to maintain their employment.