Marketing expert at the Deutsche Bahn:
I consider myself an incredibly lucky person
In Ukraine, Oksana Tryndiuk worked in marketing. Her work experience has helped the 30-year-old to find a new role at Deutsche Bahn AG.
German version
Over the course of a year, Oksana Tryndiuk has seen her world turned upside down. When the war in Ukraine began, she fled from her home country to Germany together with her sister and her family. At the beginning of March 2022, she moved from Kiev to Frankfurt am Main. At that time, she didn’t yet speak a word of German, but she now works at Deutsche Bahn AG.
After leaving school, Oksana studied biotechnology in Kiev, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in 2013. “In Ukraine, however, it isn’t unusual to find work in a field which isn’t related to your degree when you finish university,” explains the 30-year-old. After graduating, she went into marketing, an area in which she worked for several years. Most recently, she was marketing manager at an IT company, and before that, a digital marketing expert in a start-up business.
Only a few weeks after leaving her homeland, Oksana saw a Facebook advertisement placed by Deutsche Bahn, which was offering integration courses to Ukrainian refugees. The company has been active in this area for years and wants to make it easier for refugees from differing countries to start working in Germany. In May 2022, Oksana went on to complete the one-month, free integration course. Among others, the course focused on the way of life and the labour market in Germany.
After she had completed the course, Deutsche Bahn offered her an employment contract and gave her the money to attend a three-month intensive language course. She was not required to work during this time, as her focus was exclusively on learning German. And she did so with success: by September 2022, Oksana had already reached the B1 language proficiency level and begun working as a consultant at “DB Job World”.
Deutsche Bahn has opened these advice centres and others in several towns and cities in collaboration with the Federal Employment Agency. Here, refugees are able to seek advice and register for the German labour market. Fun fact: Oksana works in the same office in which she received help in the spring of 2022.
Before taking up her new role, however, Oksana was required to take care of some formalities. After arriving in Germany, she was first required to apply for a residence permit. She also sent a certified copy of her university certificate to the EDEBO database of the Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs. “I needed to have a little patience, but received the official recognition for my degree about half a year later.”
The Deutsche Bahn has been so satisfied with Oksana’s work that they have already offered the 30-year-old a new role. In a few weeks she will be able to start working in her familiar field once again: in the personnel marketing department of the company. “It’s the field that I have always wanted to work in,” she says, before adding in fluent German: “I am very happy to have been able to find this job so quickly. I consider myself an incredibly lucky person.”
After all, she also knows that it isn’t always so easy for refugees to get started in a foreign country. In her view, the biggest hurdle is the language barrier. Therefore, her advice to other people in a similar situation is: “Learning German first is the most important thing to do.” And you shouldn’t be afraid. “Because things will eventually work out. Even if it takes a little time.”
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