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Your job has ended or is about to end
After a dismissal or before a fixed-term contract ends, the question is whether you want to keep looking in your old field. We look at what speaks for it and what speaks against it.
AZAV-certified provider
Find new paths
Career Change Coaching in Berlin
Your job is gone or about to end, and you don’t know yet what comes next?
In one-on-one coaching, you find a direction that fits you and the job market. Career change is a focus of our AVGS coaching. If you are unemployed or registered as looking for work, your advisor can issue you an Activation and Placement Voucher, AVGS for short. Then the coaching costs you nothing.
- One-on-one coaching instead of a group course
- on-site in Berlin and Rostock or online
- free of charge with an AVGS
For every fresh start
Who is career change coaching for?
The coaching is for people who are unemployed or whose job is about to end. We see four situations especially often.
You’re returning after a break
After parental leave, caring for a relative, or a longer time out, you want to return to work, but not necessarily to your old job. If you are registered as looking for work, we help you find a direction that fits your life. More on this: Returning to work after parental leave and Career change for mothers.
You’re over 40 and looking for a new path
Losing your job at 40 or 50 doesn’t mean starting from zero. You bring experience that counts in a new field too. We make visible where it can take you. More on this: Career change at 40.
You’ve studied and are still looking for a way in
After a degree or a doctorate, getting into work sometimes takes longer than expected. For this, we have dedicated coaching for academics.
How your career change coaching works
You work in one-on-one coaching, in sessions that fit your everyday life. We adapt the order to you. Usually it looks like this:
1. Taking stock
What can you do, what gave you energy in previous jobs, what don’t you want anymore? Your answers build a clear picture of your strengths.
2. Exploring directions
We look at which professions and industries fit and where employers are hiring. Moving into a new field and further training are on the table too.
3. Decision and plan
You choose a direction. Together, we set the steps that will get you there.
4. Applying in the new direction
Your CV and cover letter show why you fit the new direction. We prepare you for interviews. If your voucher includes it, we also support you during your first weeks in the new job.
Clarity and support during change
A career change takes energy. Doubts often come along: Am I too old? Can I even do this? That’s normal, and there’s room for it in coaching.
We know the job market and how the Job Center and the Employment Agency work. So you plan with what’s possible instead of guesswork.
Sometimes the strain is bigger right now than the question of which job. If the Job Center supports you, there is psychosocial coaching under Section 16k SGB II for this. There, stability comes before applications.
Funded coaching with an AVGS
The coaching is free for you if your advisor at the Job Center or the Employment Agency issues you an AVGS. The authority then covers the costs in full. Here’s how to get there:
- Register as unemployed or as looking for work, if you haven’t done so yet.
- Bring up the coaching. Tell your placement advisor that you want to change career direction and how coaching would help you. There is no legal entitlement; the decision rests with your advisor.
- Come to us with the voucher. We arrange a first consultation.
No voucher yet? Feel free to get in touch beforehand anyway. We’ll explain how to apply for it. How to prepare for the conversation is explained in How to apply for an AVGS. Who is responsible for you is covered in Coaching via the Job Center.
Still in a job?
If your employment is ending, for example after a dismissal or with a fixed-term contract, you register with the Employment Agency as looking for work. At the latest three months before it ends; if you find out at shorter notice, within three days. After that, you can ask your advisor about coaching.
Coaching in Berlin, Rostock or online
In Berlin, we coach you at four locations: in Adlershof, Schöneweide, Lichtenberg and Steglitz-Zehlendorf. We also have a location in Rostock. Which Job Center supports you usually doesn’t matter. You choose the location that suits you best, or join via video call. If your voucher has a regional restriction, we’ll clarify this with you beforehand. You’ll find all addresses under Locations.
Our AVGS coaching is approved under the AZAV. This is the German regulation under which providers and measures of employment promotion are approved. The approval was granted by the certification body ZERT PUNKT. It covers measures for activation and professional integration. That is why we are allowed to redeem your AVGS.
Frequently asked questions about career change
The questions we’re
asked most often
With an AVGS, nothing. The Job Center or the Employment Agency covers the costs in full. There are no additional payments for you.
Your voucher determines that. How many units you get is decided by your advisor case by case. A unit usually lasts 45 minutes; 20 units are possible, for example, or more. We’ll agree together how to spread them across appointments.
If your job is ending, yes, that’s possible. After a dismissal or before a fixed-term contract ends, you can count as at risk of unemployment. Then you register as looking for work and ask your advisor about an AVGS. If you just want to switch jobs without your current one ending, the Employment Agency won’t issue an AVGS. It’s different if you receive supplementary basic income support (Grundsicherungsgeld) despite having a job: then the Job Center can issue an AVGS.
No. A new path at 50 often looks different than at 30: you build more on what you can already do. In coaching, we find out which direction is realistic for you.
Both are possible, also alternating. On-site, we coach at four locations in Berlin and in Rostock; online via video call. Both run through the same voucher.
If you already know exactly which profession you want to learn, what you mainly need is further training or retraining. The Employment Agency can fund this with an education voucher (Bildungsgutschein), even if the Job Center supports you. The AVGS isn’t meant for this. In that case, ask your advisor about it directly. If you’re still torn between several directions, coaching helps you decide.