Sylia Niebling-Metzger, a recruiter at ESWE Verkehr, gave a group of women a glimpse into the training and day-to-day work of a bus driver. The morning-long session in Wiesbaden covered bus types, driver’s license classes, traffic sign knowledge, traffic management skills, de-escalation strategies, and punctuality.

For the event, the three job centers brought together about 20 women who, with the support of their respective job centers, are currently in the process of (re)entering the workforce. Given the wide range of backgrounds among the participants, the goal in Wiesbaden was not for everyone to immediately begin the seven-month training program to become a bus driver. Rather, the event aimed to highlight career opportunities in a field that many women do not initially consider.

As part of European Mobility Week, job centers nationwide are participating in the “Women Drive Buses” campaign. “As a long-standing partner of the city, ESWE Verkehr was a natural choice for the joint initiative in Wiesbaden. Given our shared service area and the existing strong collaboration, the job centers in Wiesbaden, the Groß-Gerau district, and the Rheingau-Taunus district joined forces to implement the initiative,” says Yilmaz Yüksel, head of the Career Prospects Team and Employer Services at the Wiesbaden Municipal Job Center. “Since we’ve already implemented various initiatives to recruit skilled workers in collaboration with companies from Wiesbaden and the region, it was important to us to specifically target women with this campaign and show them concrete career prospects in this field.”

“We have 750 employees driving buses,” says Niebling-Metzger. “Fifty of them are women—which means we’re already above the ratio found at many other companies in our industry.” The State Working Group (LAG) on Employment in Hesse most recently estimated the proportion of women in the occupational group “Operators of Vehicles and Transport Equipment” at 4.9 percent.

Even though the proportion of women among bus drivers is particularly low, the challenge of bringing women and employers together to address the labor and skilled-worker shortages is one that spans all industries. “Providing targeted support to help women enter the labor market is more important than ever given the current challenges, which is why we at the Job Center always focus on tailored opportunities and personalized counseling. In doing so, we also take individual circumstances into account—especially the question of how to successfully balance family and career,” emphasizes Andreas Kowol, Head of Social Affairs.

Mareike Mauer, the Equal Opportunity Officer for the Labor Market, advises women through regular programs offered by the Job Center and was also on hand to provide guidance to the participants during the “Women Drive the Bus” event. 

At the end of the event, several résumés were submitted. “There were some good applications among them,” summarizes Niebling-Metzger. Other participants went home with specific guidance: which language certificate they still need, or whether the work schedules and shift patterns are compatible with their personal situations. Together with the Job Center, individual opportunities can now be explored. The goal remains clear: to develop a sustainable career path and find a way out of SGB II. A job as a bus driver can offer an interesting opportunity in this regard.