There are over 320 recognized apprenticeship trades in Germany. Choosing the right one can be difficult given the wide variety. For refugees and asylum seekers, the much bigger challenge though is finding the right kind of information, Faisal Al Maani says. “I was lacking the knowledge about job opportunities myself. In our integration course, we talked a lot about politics and culture, but not about finding a job or the kind of training opportunities that exist in Germany,” he told Infomigrants. While talking to other refugees on Facebook, the 28-year old Syrian quickly noticed that he was not the only one feeling this way. “Apprenticeships were discussed a lot, and there were many questions regarding the topic.” Faisal’s friends and family members gave him recommendations for the application process – to much success. Last year, he received an apprenticeship as an information technology officer with a German retail company. The goal is integration Now he wants to share his experiences and knowledge with others. “There is a big demand. Most of the refugees in Germany are between 18 and 30 years old, and they want to work and become integrated.” Along with his brother and two other Syrian refugees whom he met in a refugee’s group on Facebook, they founded their own platform about vocational training opportunities, called “Syrer Azubis”, which means 'Syrian trainees'. The site explains about different trades in Germany, about administrative procedures and the specific requirements for refugees. It also offers information about local job fairs or other events related to work happening in Germany. “Syrer Azubis” is managed by the four Syrians in their free time. On Facebook, the group has grown to over 19,000 members in just four months and every day, Faisal and his team receive around one hundred direct messages or more. Handling this amount of requests is a lot, Faisal says, but the  feedback is very positive. Germans and refugees working well together It’s not only practical advice he wants to share. “We want to motivate other refugees to become integrated”, he states. He wants fellow Syrians to adjust to the German culture and become integrated into the German workforce. It’s a personal matter to him: “We want to show that Syrians and Germans can work together very well.” Faisal himself came to Germany in 2014, still before the great influx of refugees to Europe in 2015. His mother, his brother and he fled the atrocities of war in Syria and found refuge in Lebanon. From there, they were relocated to Germany, as part of the humanitarian admission programmes by the German government. Since 2013, Germany has taken in a total of 20.000 Syrian refugees needing special protection under three special federal admission programmes. Author: Charlotte Hauswedell