HR-Glossar
Quereinstieg (entry into a field without a matching qualification)
What a career change into a new field means in Germany, where it is possible and how businesses can make it hold.
1. What is Quereinstieg (entry into a field without a matching qualification)?
Quereinstieg describes moving into a field of work for which someone holds no matching qualification. What they bring are transferable skills and experience from another field; the field-specific qualification is acquired alongside the work.
It is possible where the occupation is not regulated – that is, where no particular training or authorisation is prescribed by law. In regulated occupations – in healthcare, say, or certain master craftsman trades – it is excluded or tied to a recognition procedure. That question is a genuine preliminary one in Germany, not a formality.
In HR the subject is particularly present, because payroll is a classic field for career changers: there is no protected trained occupation of "payroll specialist", and the qualification arises through certificate courses and practice. That opens access – and requires the business to take induction seriously.
The move can be supported by employment promotion benefits, for instance training support under Section 81 SGB III or integration subsidies under Section 88 SGB III. The type and extent change; they belong asked of the Federal Employment Agency.
2. Origin and development
Career changing was long the exception in a system built heavily on formal qualifications. The German vocational training system gives qualifications a signalling value that is weaker in other countries.
The shortage of skilled workers has shifted that. Where nobody with the matching qualification can be found, the question of transferable skills moves to the front. Added to this is an experience many businesses have had: people coming from another field bring perspectives that a settled team no longer has.
3. Core principles and how it works
Identify transferable skills
Care, comfort with numbers, customer contact, thinking in processes – these arise in many occupations and are worth more than the sector of origin suggests.
Qualification alongside, not before
Entry succeeds where learning and working run in parallel. A course in advance without practice rarely carries.
Plan a longer induction
Someone starting again technically needs more time – and a named person accompanying them.
Check regulated occupations
Where training or an authorisation is prescribed, a career change is not possible.
Settle expectations on both sides
What is expected and by when belongs discussed before the start – otherwise disappointment arises on both sides.
4. Who is Quereinstieg (entry into a field without a matching qualification) relevant for?
- Businesses in shortage occupations – for them a career changer is often the only route. - People wanting to change occupation – after retraining, a family phase or from a shrinking field. - HR – selection and induction differ from the standard case. - Managers – they carry the induction. - Payroll as a field – a classic area for career changers.
5. How it differs from related terms
- Career change and entry after training – entry after training follows a matching qualification; a career change does not. - Career change and retraining – retraining is a formal qualification with a certificate; a career change happens through practice. - Quereinstieg and Seiteneinstieg – in school teaching a defined term with its own rules; otherwise used synonymously. - Career change and young professional – the latter describes a career stage which can also have been reached through a career change.
6. Variants and adaptations
- Career change with accompanying certification – through courses alongside the work; in payroll the usual route. - Career change with retraining first – formally secure but longer. - Internal career change – moving into another field within the business; the underrated case. - Supported entry – with employment promotion benefits.
7. Advantages and challenges
Advantages
- Opens up candidates who would otherwise not be considered
- Brings different perspectives into settled departments
- High motivation, because the move is usually deliberately chosen
- Retention is often stronger, because the chance is experienced as such
- Internal career changes keep knowledge in the business
Challenges
- Longer induction and therefore a higher initial investment
- Technical gaps have to be closed in a structured way
- Not possible in regulated occupations
- Without support, a high risk of the move breaking off
- The team has to carry the induction – which costs capacity
8. Best practices for implementation
Select on skills, not on qualifications
A structured conversation about transferable skills says more than the CV.
A qualification plan before the start
Which courses, in what order, over what period, who pays.
Name someone to accompany them
A mentor or buddy is not a comfort in a career change but a condition of success.
Agree interim milestones
After three, six and twelve months. They give both sides a sense of whether it is working.
Check the available support
Support exists for training and induction; it belongs settled before the start.
9. Tips for employers and employees
For employers
- **Reduce requirement profiles to what is necessary** – a matching qualification is rarely essential
- **Set the induction time realistically** – planned too tightly, the entry fails on time, not on the person
- **Enable internal moves** – a career change within your own business is the cheapest
- **Ask about support** – subsidies for training and induction are possible
For employees
- **Name your transferable skills** – not the sector but what you can do
- **Ask for the qualification plan** – it shows whether the business means it
- **Have support checked** – the Federal Employment Agency advises on it
- **Allow for patience** – technical confidence takes time, and that is normal
10. Conclusion
A career change is possible where the occupation is not regulated – and in shortage occupations often the only remaining route. Payroll is a classic example: no protected trained occupation, qualification through courses and practice.
For it to hold, three things are needed: selection on transferable skills rather than qualifications, a qualification plan in place before the first day, and a named person accompanying the newcomer. Skimping on any one of those does not shorten the induction but endangers it.
Two German particulars are worth knowing for anyone importing a hiring standard. Qualifications carry a stronger signalling value here than in many other systems, so requirement profiles tend to be written more narrowly than the work demands. And the question of regulated occupations is a genuine preliminary one: where training or an authorisation is prescribed, no amount of transferable skill substitutes for it.
Sources
- Section 81 SGB III – Principle of training support (German original; no official English version) (opens in a new tab)
- Section 88 SGB III – Integration subsidy (German original; no official English version) (opens in a new tab)
- Vocational education research and recognition (English pages) (opens in a new tab)
- Training and support (English pages) (opens in a new tab)
Related terms
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