Moving to Dusseldorf - Advice Needed :)

1POSTS

15 years ago

Hi

My name is Jimmy I am 29 and I am living in Dublin, Ireland. I currently work for a German company here in Dublin and I have a German girlfriend. I plan on moving to Dusseldorf at the end of August to live (permanently hopefully!) I have been to Dusseldorf about 5 times now and I really like the city.

The main reason I am joining this forum is to try and get some knowledge from people who have moved to Germany, specifically in regards to job seeking. I am sure I will have no problems adapting to life in Germany, I will have a place to live,I have a basic level of German and I am currently taking private lessons but one thing that worries me is whether or not I will find a decent job. To be completely honest, I don't have a college degree but I do have 7 years experience in IT/Banking in call centres and I am currently the manager of our Helpdesk where I am responsible for 15 employees, liasing directly with banking officials and via conference calls etc.

I would love to get feedback from people who are/were in my situation who could offer advice on the best places to find English speaking jobs in Dusseldorf and how much of a hinderance is not being fluent in German going to be on my job prospects. Any Help would be much appreciated

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tsveti Member

13POSTS

14 years ago

Jimmy, you will need excellent german to work in the IT/banking field, dunno whether no previous experince would be accepted tho' there are no english speaking jobs here, unless u work behind the bar of some of the irish pubs.
the lack of university degree + bad german puts u in a bad situation as u won't be competitive compared to the native speakers.
knowledge of the language is essential! the unemplyment rate in germany is not as low as u may think. unless ur profession is among the shortage occupations, ur chance of finding job here is practically 0.
guess you want to settle here permanently cos of ur girlfriend, but germany is not a perfect country to live in, i personally find the mentality of the people here difficult to put up with.
prepare to forget hearing "sorry", "thank you", "please" and get litterally walked over when you try to get on the bus.