Dual Career

“Just as it was recognised at some stage that employees also have children, companies will now have to accept that employees also have partners”
Bärbel Welsch, Dual Career Working Group Heidelberg Equal educational opportunities for women and men and changing roles for the sexes mean that the number of working women and, consequently, that of double income couples is steadily increasing. Dual career couples are couples where each partner works independently in an academic or business profession. Decisions regarding mobility – in other words, moving to a new location – are frequently governed by the job prospects one’s partner may expect to encounter.

A big welcome to the dual career couples!

With its excellent network of companies and social institutions in the region, the DHBW VS can provide targeted support for dual career couples to make a common working and living location a reality. Our Family & Dual Career Officer provides partners with information on potential and occupied positions for professors, academics and infrastructure and administrative personnel. The university wants to make your start in a new job in the region as easy as possible so that you can settle in quickly and without any complications. The Dual Career Service is the first stop for dual career couples in this respect and continually expands the existing network for all those involved. The Dual Career Officer can provide you and your family with the support necessary to face all the challenges relating to a move to this region:

• Screening of application documents
• Information on employers and the job market structure in the region
• Development of contacts, possibly arrangement of informal interviews
• Access to job descriptions via our existing networks (see below)
• Information on child care facilities and services and schools

Additional services for foreign dual career couples:

• Support with questions relating to visa, residence and work permits
• Questions relating to health insurance and the authorities
• Clarification of the recognition of foreign qualifications
• Information on language courses and language coaching

The DHBW VS regards the Dual Career approach as being an important instrument of a future-oriented personnel policy which the university pursues. We are active in the following networks in the Dual Career area:

2careers is the dual career network in the Lake Constance, Oberschwaben and Schwarzwald-Baar-Heuberg region. Employers in the business and academic communities have joined forces to provide mutually support when it comes to addressing their dual career issues. They have recognised that a job offer on its own is often no longer adequate if qualified positions are to be filled and where desirable candidates need to be attracted and retained on a permanent level. This applies in particular to trans-regional recruiting of specialist and management personnel. 2careers brings employers together under the motto "Come together!" where they can pool their efforts to find dual career solutions. 2careers is a network distinguished by very close personal contacts.
The DHBW VS has been a member of this network since 2013.

The Economic Development Association for the Schwarzwald-Baar-Heuberg Region (Wirtschaftsförderung Schwarzwald-Baar-Heuberg) plans to implement a new website bearing the title “Jobs4two”. This initiative aims to help find jobs for partners of applicants and professionals from outside the region. The new online platform aims to attract employers across all business sectors in the region, the objective being to anchor professionals who have moved here in the region by helping their partners find qualified positions.
The target group encompasses employers in the most varied sectors, local authorities and district administrations, social institutions and education providers.
Job search data generated online is automatically forwarded to a personalised address circle of at least 1000 companies and public institutions in the region. Interested employers can then directly request the complete application documents of the partners of professionals who have moved to the region.
The planned online launch for the portal is early 2014. Further information is available here.