The IfT Institut für Talententwicklung (Institute for Talent Development) is Germany's largest organiser of educational and vocational fairs. Every year we bring 4,000 companies, universities, vocational schools, academies and other education providers into contact with 400,000 young people at over 80 trade fairs. Benefit from our unique trade fair concepts and our many years of experience.
80+ fairs per year 400,000 students per year 600,000 scheduled appointments between students and exhibitors per year 5,000 participating schools per year 4,000 clients 23 years of experience
Verena Heilandt (English) +49 40 226909810, v.heilandt@if-talent.REMOVE-THIS.deHeike Thomsen (English, Danish clients) +49 4861 6184742, h.thomsen@if-talent.REMOVE-THIS.deSusanne Altadill Antolin (Spanish) +49 71512552179, s.altadill@if-talent.REMOVE-THIS.deMarie-Laure Rabourdin (French) +49 821 44414949, m.rabourdin@if-talent.REMOVE-THIS.de
or search for a contact person in the respective region.
Our fairs are offered almost everywhere in Germany – from metropolises to smaller towns. This makes the events accessible to almost all school students. 2023 we offer
You can find all trade fair dates here.
The vocatium educational and vocational fairs are the core and premium product of the IfT. We organise them as face-to-face events. The vocatium fairs focus on school students who are one year away from graduation.
The vocatium fairs are one- or two-day events. They are offered at 78 locations in Germany, in all federal states.
Module I: media (print and online) Module II: academy (vocatium Akademie) Module III: appointments Module IV: fair stand and fair service
You can find the detailed services in the registration form. All dates and locations can be found in the trade fair overview.
In 2023, in addition to our vocatium and parentum face-to-face fairs, we will be offering a video chat fair for young people and parents with nationwide reach. Get the flyer here!
Through intensive work with parents and good contacts in schools, we succeed in involving and supporting the important target group of parents in the career choice process of their children.
The digital video chat fair complements the vocatium and parentum face-to-face fairs. The digital format enables exhibitors to inspire young people and parents even over long distances with less time and expense.
With the parentum fairs you also reach the important target group of parents with children of career choice age. Visiting the fair together with their children or alone, parents learn about current training and career paths. The young people who visit our parentum fairs are usually between 14 and 20 years old.
Companies, universities, vocational schools or other educational institutions can inform mothers, fathers and their children about their offers in personal conversations and lectures:
At the pluspunkt.ausland (pluspunkt.abroad) educational forums we bring together young people and providers of abroad programmes, former programme participants as well as companies and universities that have a connection to foreign countries. The pluspunkt.ausland forums show parents and school students the many opportunities abroad.
pluspunkt.ausland is usually integrated into the parentum fair as a special forum. We use our excellent school contacts to promote the event.
In addition to the pluspunkt.ausland forums, many providers of abroad programmes also take part in our vocatium fairs.
The fair guides "Chancen ..." bundle the educational offers of participating training companies, universities, vocational schools and academies as well as the counseling services of various institutions. As an exhibitor, you are represented with a one-page profile in the guide. Additional pages or the back cover can be added.
Every year we publish new fair guide editions, in 2023 there will be 78 editions, one edition per fair. The total circulation in 2023 is around 400,000 copies. The fair guides often also contain some representations of non-fair exhibitors.
You can also view our brochures online:
vocatium news, our digital information and learning forum on the topics of career choices and education in Europe, is integrated into our website www.erfolg-im-beruf.de. On vocatium news young people can find valuable articles as well as a media library containing podcasts and videos.
Special focus topics (for example health professions, working in the financial sector, IT professionals, studying abroad) are regularly covered.
All vocatium exhibitors are not only represented in the trade fair guides but also with a digital profile on our website www.erfolg-im-beruf.de . If desired, the profile can be extended with audio and video contributions to generate more attention among young people. The profile can be found via the search exchange and is advertised as part of our preparatory vocatium lectures in class of the participating schools.
We organise workshops and web seminars in order to prepare school students, teachers, parents and representatives of exhibitors and network partners for the vocatium fairs. Every year, we hold many thousands of these preparatory events in the run-up for our 78 fairs.
For exhibitors and network partners we offer workshops and conferences for Human Resources managers and other interested parties from companies and institutions on aspects of training, studies, career choice, youth research, recruiting and talent development.
For school students an almost year-round programme is offered to support their career choice and application process. During the three to four months before the vocatium fairs, the IfT team prepares the school students (in person, alternatively digitally) for their visit to the vocatium fair.
Further training is offered for teachers on topics such as time management and body language. The IfT also organises conferences in order to exchange experiences.
In Germany, a school student's path to a suitable occupation (the so-called career orientation) begins in the school environment. In almost all federal states, career guidance measures are part of the curriculum and thus part of the school lessons. Therefore, attending career guidance fairs is often a fixed, sometimes compulsory component. At the fairs, school students are encouraged to obtain information directly from companies, universities and institutions about vocational and academic opportunities.
Career fairs with school students are a very popular recruiting tool to attract trainees or students. Usually, young people and exhibitors meet spontaneously at these events without any preparation. Often the young people are overwhelmed by this encounter. They are too shy to approach the exhibitors or do not know what to ask. This is where the concept of the vocatium fairs comes in. Intensive preparation and scheduled appointments make the exchange at the fair particularly productive for both exhibitors and students.
The German vocational education and training system differs in many respects from vocational education and training in other countries. German school leavers have a wide range of options for entering a profession: via recognised vocational training, university studies and mixed forms of vocational training and university studies.
Vocational education and training: This is an important form of vocational education and training which is highly valued, not only by German companies. It takes place primarily through dual training. Dual because practical, application-oriented learning takes place in the company parallel to learning at a vocational school. In some cases, there are also purely school-based apprenticeships, which take the form of attendance at a vocational school supplemented by integrated practical units. Dual training usually lasts 3 years.
University (of applied sciences and arts) studies: These are pure study programmes at a university or a college with an academic focus and degree. Practical knowledge is sometimes acquired through integrated internships.
Dual study programmes: Dual study programmes offer a mixed form of practical vocational training in a company and academic study at special (dual) universities. Upon graduation, the academic degree of Bachelor is acquired.