İŞKUR postings or direct application?

İŞKUR, the Turkish public employment agency, lists jobs that foreign employers or intermediaries open through it. You apply via İŞKUR; pre-selection and presentation to the employer sit with İŞKUR or the posting institution. For Germany these postings are periodic: a specific occupation, a specific employer, a fixed number of people.

The advantage is clear: the posting is real, the employer is identified, the process is institutional. So is the disadvantage: few postings, a narrow range of occupations, long queues, and you are not the one choosing. Until a posting appears, all you can do is wait.

You need no intermediary to apply to a German employer. The company publishes its posting on its own site or a job board; you apply by e-mail or form with a German CV and a short cover letter. If accepted, you sign an employment contract and apply for a work visa at the German consulate under the Skilled Immigration Act.

Advantage: postings are counted in thousands, new ones appear weekly for your occupation, and the counterpart is the employer itself. Disadvantage: every posting is separate work — German CV, tailored letter, the real application address. One application takes forty minutes; most people stop at the fifteenth.

• Who posts — İŞKUR: an intermediary, periodically. Direct: the employer itself, continuously.
• Who selects — İŞKUR: the agency pre-selects, the employer decides. Direct: only the employer.
• How many postings — İŞKUR: few, in specific occupations. Direct: hundreds per occupation; Kelyvaro's live count is on this page.
• Time — İŞKUR: you wait for a posting; the process can take months. Direct: you apply today; the answer depends on the employer.
• Cost — İŞKUR: free (İŞKUR does not charge job seekers). Direct: applying is free; the cost is your time or the tool you use.
• Visa — the same in both: employment contract + consulate. Different road, same door.

They do not exclude each other. The sensible approach is to follow İŞKUR postings while applying directly in parallel: whichever comes first, you drop the other. Not applying at all while waiting is the most expensive option.

Direct application needs one thing: seriousness. German CV in the German layout (see the German CV guide), a letter specific to the posting, certificates under their German names, your visa and recognition status in the first sentence. Applications without these are filtered out by the ATS and never reach the employer.

Kelyvaro is the tool for the direct route: it finds the postings that fit you, prepares a German CV and a tailored letter for each, and extracts the real application address. You approve the sending; the mail goes from your own address. We do not place anyone; we are not an intermediary, we provide the tool. Signing up, the match list and your first application are free.