Ausbildung Courses List: Compare Training Fields Before You Apply

A search for an Ausbildung courses list can show you hundreds of names and still leave the important question unanswered: what work would you learn to do every day?

Start with the work, not a ranking. Compare two or three occupations by their tasks, training type, working conditions, German use, and real entry requirements. Then check whether current vacancies exist in a location where you could train.

First, turn “courses” into occupations

An Ausbildung is training for a specific occupation. The Federal Government’s vocational-training search guide currently lists 324 dual training occupations. BIBB, the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training, maintains the register and profiles for recognised training occupations.

That is why a copied list of “courses” is a poor decision tool. The name alone does not tell you whether you will work with patients, machinery, stock, customers, food, or building materials. It also does not tell you whether the route is dual or school-based.

The six fields below are starting points from the Federal Government’s current profiles of in-demand vocational training. They are not the complete list and they are not a ranking.

Compare six Ausbildung fields

Nursing

Typical work. Caring for people in hospitals, care facilities, outpatient services, and other clinical settings.

Training route. Nursing school plus practical placements; three years full-time, ending with a state examination.

Check whether. Can I handle close personal care, medical responsibility, shift work, and documentation in German?

Transport and logistics

Typical work. Driving, storing goods, coordinating routes, or keeping transport operations moving.

Training route. Usually dual; the three occupations in the official profile take three years, while some other logistics routes take two.

Check whether. Do I prefer vehicles, warehouse work, or planning, and can I stay accurate when timing and safety matter?

Electronic and metal industry

Typical work. Building, operating, installing, maintaining, or repairing technical systems.

Training route. Generally dual; two to four years depending on the occupation.

Check whether. Do I enjoy precise practical work with machines, tools, diagrams, and technical instructions?

Construction and finishing trades

Typical work. Building structures or finishing them with materials such as concrete, glass, paint, steel, or plaster.

Training route. Dual and generally three years in the examples profiled.

Check whether. Am I comfortable with physical work, changing sites, outdoor conditions, and careful measurements?

Hotel and gastronomy

Typical work. Cooking, serving guests, organising events, or working at reception.

Training route. Most listed occupations are dual and take two to three years; some programmes are solely school-based.

Check whether. Can I communicate with guests while working evenings, weekends, or public holidays?

Trading and sales

Typical work. Advising customers, presenting products, using checkouts, ordering goods, and organising stock.

Training route. Dual and commonly two to three years.

Check whether. Do I want frequent customer conversations, product questions, and flexible shop hours?

Do not read “in demand” as “easy to enter.” An employer or school still checks your application. Nursing and other regulated or school-based routes can also add programme-specific health, reliability, certificate, recognition, or German requirements.

Use five checks to build your shortlist

1. Choose the daily work before the industry name

Write down three tasks you would be willing to learn and repeat during training. Be concrete: repair a system, explain a product, prepare food, organise stock, care for a patient, or build from a technical drawing.

Now remove fields whose central tasks you would avoid. This is more useful than choosing “engineering,” “healthcare,” or “business” because the label sounds secure.

If the six fields above do not fit, use Check-U from the Federal Employment Agency to compare your strengths, interests, preferred working conditions, and possible occupational fields. The full German-language test takes about 80 minutes. Treat its suggestions as orientation, not admission decisions.

2. Check the conditions around the work

The same occupation can involve a workshop, construction site, hospital ward, hotel kitchen, shop floor, warehouse, vehicle, or customer location. Check likely hours, physical demands, noise, weather, travel, customer contact, and responsibility.

Do not treat discomfort as a small detail you will solve after arrival. If a job depends on shift work, lifting, outdoor work, or constant customer contact, include that in the choice now.

Use BERUFENET to inspect the tasks, training, entry expectations, working conditions, and further routes for each occupation. If a profile is only available in German, use a translation tool but keep the German occupation name. You will need that name to search real vacancies.

3. Separate dual and school-based training

In dual training, you learn in a company and at vocational school and receive a training allowance. In school-based training, the school is the main provider and the entry and funding rules can differ.

The training model depends on the occupation. Check the training type before comparing money or collecting documents. The Ausbildung route guide explains how that choice changes the application, school-certificate, and visa steps.

4. Test the German tasks, not only the certificate line

Read one official occupation profile and three live vacancies. Collect the verbs used for the work. Would you need to advise, document, measure, explain, coordinate, reassure, report, or follow safety instructions?

A B1 certificate does not answer that question. Use the B1 and Ausbildung guide to compare the vacancy, interview, workplace, vocational-school, and examination demands separately.

5. Replace the shortlist with real vacancies

A field is still too broad. Search for the German occupation name on the Federal Employment Agency’s Ausbildung search. Open three current positions and record:

• daily tasks and training content;
• dual or school-based route;
• school qualification and subjects;
• German level or evidence;
• location, start date, deadline, and training allowance.

If the three vacancies ask for different things, keep the differences. One employer’s preference is not a national rule.

Once you have real vacancies, use the Ausbildung application timeline to check their deadlines and plan when to prepare and apply.

Compare the names you kept

When two or three occupation names survive those checks, put them next to each other before you write anything. The occupation shortlist comparer holds twelve of the occupations the federal profiles name and compares up to four of them on training length, dual or school-based, the published training allowance, the certificate 2024 entrants held, any language rule set for the profession, the official shortage rating, and where the work happens. Every line shows the source it came from, and says “not published” where nothing official exists.

Turn your shortlist into a plan

Use the Ausbildung preparation self-check to turn your occupation, vacancy, German, application, and official-route checks into an ordered plan. Your choices stay in the browser, and the result is not a suitability, admission, or visa decision.