In 1998 a first trial exchange of staff took place between the French and the German public employment services (the ANPE and the BA, respectively).
Each of the national services selected six staff members and seconded them to an employment office located on the other side of the border between 2 May and 30 October 1998.
At a meeting between the President of the BA and the Director General of the ANPE, the two heads of the public employment services took the decision to go beyond theoretical exchange measures and short-stop exchanges and to inaugurate staff exchanges of six staff members for a period of six months.
In the case of the ANPE, the Human Resource department worked hand in hand with the International Relations department in order to work out the practical conditions required, select the candidates and overcome all of the logistical problems involved (cost of double residence, social security coverage, information, prior training, etc.).
3.1.1.1. Selection
Immediately after a notice appeared calling for candidates, a flood of telephone calls requesting additional information were received. Around 50 written applications were made, of which 30 were initially chosen on the basis of the occupational experience of the applicants and the reasons given for wishing to participate.
Following a language test given by a colleague from the BA, the final selection of the French team was made from 13 well-founded applications. It took into account the problems associated with posts of too high a degree of specialisation, in which German colleagues could not have been placed.
The reasons most frequently given for participating in the exchange were the desire to get to know good practices, to try them out and to study them with a view to possible adoption in France. The candidates proved to be supporters of the idea of a more closely integrated labour market in Europe.
3.1.1.2. Information and training
The six French staff members participated in a two-day seminar a few days before leaving the country. The seminar was given by a French woman who had worked for the BA for seven years. This pre-training, conducted entirely in German, aimed to prepare the advisors and principal advisors for their six-month stay in Germany, provide basic knowledge of working for the German public employment service (work certificate, curriculum vitae, etc.) and familiarise them with the specific German vocabulary.
Subsequently, the six French and six German staff members were brought together for one week in order to explain to their counterparts their respective professional environment.
During these four days together, each staff member gave talks in his/her language on subjects such as the socioeconomic and political environment, the organisation of the public employment service, the services rendered to jobseekers and employers, the organisation of a local employment office, the job performed by each person, etc. Specialist terms were explained during the presentations.
3.1.1.3. The stay in the guest country
On 8 May 1998, the staff members took up their posts in the host country.
Following practical training lasting between one and two months (new computer system, detailed information on the tasks to be performed, getting to know colleagues) and adaptation to the new working environment, each had developed his/her operational capacity to such an extent as to be in a position to effectively fill the post.
At the end of their six-month stay, each ANPE staff member had to write a report on a given topic. The aim is to gain as much information as possible and to seek to make fruitful the good practices of our German colleagues. The International Relations department will analyse the reports by the French staff and will also take into consideration the opinions and possible criticisms of French practices made by the six German colleagues during their six months in France, all with the aim of improving the ANPE's operational network.
3.1.1.4. Follow-up
This first experience is likely to be repeated in 1999. Negotiations with other European countries are already under way.
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