Finding a job in Germany

Hi Beppi...

I have been living here since 2014. I came here on a student visa and successfully finished my masters in Biology in 2017 at the university of Ulm. I graduated with good grades even with the fact that I had to study with side jobs to sustain myself. I also welcomed my son into the world just before I presented my master thesis. He's German and that gives me the permit to stay after my studies. The thing is that I felt academia is not for me anymore after my masters because my thesis took 1 year instead of 6 months. In other words, I don't have interest to do a PhD.

Since 2017, I have been applying for a job. It's a tough one. I am sure I have sent out over 100 applications and my CV are in German and also in English. I am doing this while at the same time learning German. I am currently at Level B1. I have gotten a few telephone conversations and a couple of face to face interview. I have also gotten a few companies that asked me through email how much I want to be paid and afterwards I would get a rejection. The last one at a pharmaceutical company in Heidelberg boiled down that I don't have work experience. Most of the graduate trainee jobs I applied to have been declined. Of recent, I started applying to "Ausbildung" for the year 2019 and they also have been rejected maybe because I am overqualified. One of the places I applied for the "Ausbildung" had to reply if I really want to do it. 😂

I am reconsidering going for a PhD but the thing is that I don't know if I am motivated. I never knew it would be this hard to get a job since my studies were conducted in English and most literature review, materials and methods or most research are in English.

I had to write this because I got two rejections on a Monday morning. I thought I had the chance of landing at least one of them. I am also short of ideas on my next step. Maybe a change of career as I have work experience as a sales Representative from my country. I just don't know anymore. It feels like this country just wants me to do only menial jobs until the day I decide to leave it. I hope it doesn't come to that...

PLEASE don't get discouraged.  Keep pushing, am sure one day you will get something that is in line with what you want and something which matters to you. One thing you cannot afford to loose at the moment is courage.

Thank you very much Theo... 😊

Not knowing you, your skills and experiences, it is of course difficult to assess what is the reason for the rejections.
But, as you already mentioned, one thing might be your lack or practical work experience. Maybe you can combine the field you worked in before with the subject you studied to overcome this?
The second is of course your language level. After four years of living here, and having a German kid and (I assume) partner, you are expected to be better than B1. I recommend you reach C1 or higher to maximize your job chances.
Also, have your CVs and cover letters checked by an experienced friend or professional - preferably  a native speaker.
And, last not least: Since you got a few rejections after being asked for salary expectation (which in Germany means you are already shortlisted), you may have to adjust them or, even better, not mention any.

Thank you for your advice Beppi... I apply both as someone who have sales experience and as a Biologist too. Initially, I didn't want to stay back after my studies so I had not so much interest in learning German but along the line after I had a child at the end of my masters programme, I choose not to leave but to stay. I am actually enrolled in B2 course at the moment. I hope things change with the improvement of my German language. I hope I have the nerve to endure the classes till C1 and learning for the exams and improving my German generally . My CV have also been checked by experienced professionals and everything looks fine from their point of view. All corrections was duly noted. I adjusted my salary expectation and hope for the best too.

Hi Everyone,

First of all Beppi thanks for sharing your experience with other members and I would like to share my own personal experience, full disclaimer : this is my personal experience with respect to my field of work and the region I am searching in (Stuttgart)

First of all I'm from Australia, I have over 10 years of experience in senior technical and analytical roles and have considerable experience with SQL, Python and JavaScript in both front and back end environments.

I've also got an MBA majoring in technology from a university that consistently ranks above the best MBA currently in Germany (Mannheim). I passed my German B1 a few months ago (this took about 6 months Mon-Thu). I passed with 94% (sehr gut) and have excellent references (Arbeitszeugnisse) albeit in English from my previous employers.

Much like what Beppi was alluding to, I think it is extremely naive to think you can just waltz into Germany and expect to find work. You should be totally realistic about  expectations and do extensive research into the German market particular regarding their minor differences in Resume layout and documentation requirements (documentation is very important in Germany). Fortunately hailing from another rule heavy country I had some training :

You can speak English? So what? Germans are excellent at speaking English and besides some niche roles (teaching, international stakeholder management usw.) where native level is required, don't bank on this being some sort of tangible advantage. Most Europeans can speak at least 3 different languages and it's more likely that Germany is trading with one of these countries.

If you don't have some sort of formalised work agreement before coming here I would advise against burning your JSV time and get yourself to level B1 minimum. B2/C1 if you actually want a decent paying role.

Communication is paramount and without the appropriate language skills, you're more likely to be a liability than an asset to an organisation. Be realistic and don't be afraid to have a good ol' slice of humble pie and have a hard look at your profile through the eyes of a recruiter, if you're lacking in German, experience or education it might be worthwhile to work on these areas.

Oh and the German you learn in a classroom maybe "sterilised", there are a wide array of dialects and accents and what you learn in the classroom, won't necessarily be reflected to on the street. .

I am on my journey to B2 - C2 and I wish you all the best of luck in your own personal journey.

Hi everyone!

I just wast to share quick my personal experience with job seek as a èxpat`in Germany.
So, I was mostly listening to many stories back in my country (Croatia) how you find job in 3 days, but you need to struggle to find a place to stay.
Well, all I can say- my reality was pretty different though.

As finally finished my studies (Master in Information technology) and did a praxis in Croatia, I decided to test my luck and capabilities outside. As I am speaking English and German (not that good as English, but still handled good on a communication level) and I have a family/place to stay at first in Germany, my choice was definitely to go there.
Fully optimistic while heard such promising stories, my definitive option was this promiseLand Germany.

So, I started sending my CV and of course, Cover letter (which is mostly obligatory) which I was writing on German and English as well.
The biggest failure that I've made was ignoring my professional background A.K.A. Field of study and sending my CV in the wrong field of market/companies and positions which obviously require more expertise from the candidates. As I am much into photography and Arts (but not having much professional experience), I was trying to get to the creative companies on the positions like junior Creative director and Photographer. I even got two answers where they wanted to hear more from me. But, after acknowledging that I don't have portfolio and that professional camera (which they require), they didn't recruit me, of course. My ``creativity``and motivation to do this kind of work were not helpful for me at all.

So, after getting only rejecting answers or answers like ``Thank you for your interest for working for us, we will get back to you.``(and not answering anymore) I have decided to try my chance in IT industry (but I was honestly not sure where to apply as I am not a programmer/engineer, but Information technology/Informatics in theory expert).

It took me 4 months to find a first real job (not counting `Aushilfe``jobs which are not my profession). I've got the job in IT (Technical support) with which I am more than happy, especially because I've got to the one of the biggest companies worldwide in this field, and I didn't even know it. I've also got my apartment (which is pretty tough here in Hamburg; they are really expensive and hard to get).

However, my seek for a job was a hell-of- the- ride one and whoever tells you that finding a job in Germany is a piece of cake- he either works as a bartender, household help or he lies to you good.

So, I would suggest to all the newcomers- be good informed before making a decision to move abroad. Know your field of study, work on your CV and show what you know/interests you. World is one big competition and if you are not keeping on track, no one will wait for you or ask you why you stopped.

Good luck!

Hello NicoleXXX,

Thank you sharing your experience. very informative

Hello
I am also searching a job in Germany in warehouse. But I cant speak German language fluently.

There are some warehousing jobs that do not require much German language skills, but they are lowly paid (and unlikely to give a work visa to non-EU-citizens).

for the starting if low paid also doesn't matter I need work permit and to stay more. Can you help me to find the job.
My email address  ***

Low paid jobs are less likely to give you a work permit, because they don't usually involve any skills that no EU citizen has.
Neither me nor anyone on an Internet forum like this can or will give you a job. You can only get advice here - the jobs you have to find and apply for by yourself!
And please do not post personal contact details like your email address above - it is not allowed on this forum and opens you up for abuse.

thank you so much for your information.....

I heard many people are struggling to find a job in almost any country. Language barriers can cause difficulties. When you immigrate to a new country, you have to learn and understand the culture. I had to learn German for an exam. I struggled to speak the language. Luckily, I found a person from Germany. He helped me prepare for the exam. I got the idea to build a language platform. We hire language tutors and paid them via PayPal and TransferWise. If you want a job without any teaching degree, apply here : justlearn.com/. You are only qualified to teach your mother language. It takes some time, before you get your first student. The job is part time and will only give you a little income. If you want to speak German fluently, find a tutor. The person can teach you the language and assist you to get a job in Germany. Hope that you are able to find a job. It takes patience.

Hi everyone,

@ Philiprossen, free advertising is not allowed on the forum, so the links you posted have been moderated/removed.

If you want to offer a job, the Jobs in Germany section would be appropriate to post an advert, otherwise, if you wish to propose your services, then, please register in the Germany business directory.

Also, you may get in touch with the marketing department if you would like any other kind of promotion : https://www.expat.com/en/advertisement.html

Thanks in advance,
Bhavna

Does anyone know of German job hunting websites? I am currently looking for a job in Kassel and i dont speak German but fluent English. I am an EU citizen so a work permit is not a concern for me.

Anyone know how easy it would be for me to get a cleaning/maid job? Would i need to speak much German?

You are British according to your profile, thus EU citizen for another month (or up to four, if current discussions of a delay come true). I can imagine that nobody wants to employ you as long as it remains unclear what your status will be thereafter.
Maybe you can utilize the time until then by working on your other big handicap and learn as much German as possible.
That said, cleaning is a mostly informal profession (and badly paid - count yourself lucky if you get the legal minimum wage!). Your best bet for formal, full-time employment is with office cleaning service providers.
The best jobs webpage is Stepstone. Informal engagements are often on Quoka or Ebay Kleinanzeigen.

In another post you said you want to study in Kassel.
Please keep in mind that, even if you are allowed to work, university courses are designed to be full-time and it is not possible to earn your full living expenses besides that.

what sort of work permit do you get if one finds normal wages , not comparing to blue card . i came to know there will be 2 year permit .

if any one knows what are the minimum wages to get  normal work permit  post it .

For everything outside of the blue card requirements, you can in principle apply for a normal work permit. There are no salary requirements or thresholds, but since the employer has to prove that no EU citizen is available to do the job instead of you, it is very difficult to get the permit.

Looks like this is not JSV visa but Time Consuming visa , on flip side people say they want work force and on the other side things  looking not so bright . So whats the point in having this visa ,  this is more or less Denmark green card scheme  visa where they have given visa to many people with out checking internal system . that's why they repealed , i got visa too with Masters in Europe but due to lack of jobs i felt no point of staying there .  EOD  one needs result coming to another country with 6 months visa and  no proper information is too tight for any one .  The main thing is one must learn Germany otherwise say bye bye to dreams this is ground reality  no matter Germany wants work force .

Germany welcomes highly skilled foreign (meaning non-EU) workers only in a few areas with specific shortages of manpower.
And of course you need to learn German to live and work here.
Sorry that you were disappointed, but this is well known and should not have surprised you!

not disappointed at all , but due to large influx of refugees there  seems a  lot of scarcity of jobs , too but the biggest thing is no extension , and no chance to either covert to student visa too , to at least be part of it . I got 2 M.S degrees but things remains the same , the only thing is JSV too don't have clear picture because should have take things in to account and worked on improving on visa  point of view . i read many comments that 5 out of 100 succeed the rest have to risk .

There is no scarcity of jobs at the skilled level, but a scarcity of suitable employees. Germany's labour market for highly educated people hasn't in my lifetime been as employee-friendly as now.
The refugees are mostly not well educated (hardly any with university degree) and they don't speak German, so they are not a big competition.
I have seen no statiscics about how many JSV holders succeed, but nobody has ever guaranteed you that a job comes with the visa and everywhere says you need to do your own reserach and take your own risk. I personally don't think the JSV is worth it - not because of the risk, but because well-educated and sought-after people can apply from abroad and don't need a JSV.

the best of Europe is that they have clubbed every other country but this isn't the case with other countries . people can come and go with  out visa  and work too . but if you ask Indian  90% of them are in IT and if every one fight for one 10 jobs out 1.3 billion population then gonna be x factor that have in you . that x factor is German  fluency can land you in work permit , otherwise its too tough because on jsv second time extension they cross question many what  interviews you attended show on letter head ,  i don't whether German native visa officers will behave but Indian visa officers will ask hell of it . its the system that people brought up but vice versa this cant be applicable to foreigners .  even people want to study at German university they can study at 50 too but not for Indians why this partiality  is shown towards us . no transparency what so  ever .  what education has too do with potential immigrants who learn German b1 . hope things sort out .

Hey Guys,

If you need some advises for a Job here is a cool guide for expats
hellogetsafe.com/en-de/posts/relocating-to-germany

"More and more companies offer jobs to English-speaking people because many recruiting processes are handled in English due to the globalization. You can look for job postings on websites like Stepstone, Monster, and Indeed as well as  the well-known business social networks such as Xing and LinkedIn."

thank you, much obliged

Hi,
My private life or more love to one German guy is forcing me to move to Germany.  I never planned it and my German language is really poor.  I know that in my profession it is impossible without fluent or close to fluent German. We are considering to look for any job just to move and start learning german in Leipzig. Question is if I will start with much much lower position if it will be possible to go back to my previous experience? I really don't want to lose what I was working for last 10years. Thank you for advise.

Of course it is always difficult to work your way up.
But since career breaks are common (e.g. for child care or sabbatical), maybe you could onsider focussing on German language learning first until you have achieved the level you need to enter your profession again?

Which profession are you in?

I'm currently team leader of customer contact and master planner in automotive factory.

Elida1234 wrote:

I'm currently team leader of customer contact and master planner in automotive factory.

Such jobs exist in Germany since there is a lot of car manufacturing but getting a position without first learning pretty fluent German is unlikely.

This I'm unfortunately aware so I was considering to find really any job in Leipzig where language is not so important and sign in for German course already there to speed up the learning by being forced to use it as well in daily basis(normal informal situations) but I am really affraid that if I'll do like that I will not be able to get back to master planner position after learning the language because of the job what I would have at start. I don't want to risk such situation  so probably will end up on intensifying courses I have here to be able to increase my chances in my carrier's path. Thank You for help.

Elida1234 wrote:

This I'm unfortunately aware so I was considering to find really any job in Leipzig where language is not so important and sign in for German course already there to speed up the learning by being forced to use it as well in daily basis(normal informal situations) but I am really affraid that if I'll do like that I will not be able to get back to master planner position after learning the language because of the job what I would have at start. I don't want to risk such situation  so probably will end up on intensifying courses I have here to be able to increase my chances in my carrier's path. Thank You for help.

Well, I would take it one step at a time and concentrate on the language first. I don't think that taking another type of job in the meantime is necessarily bad. You just might have to give a short explanation why. And it shouldn't be judged badly that one was working on their language skills. Some people might suggest one try to get a job without the language skills needed as if failure has no consequences. But first impressions make a big difference. Applying for a job and getting turned down for some obvious lack of qualifications might mean you never get another chance at that particular company. You might then end up on a list of rejected candidates and when you later try to re-apply they might not give you an interview.

Cant believe,Job seekers visa is given to IT or other specialist occupation in demand ,how can bartender get jsv to come to germany and work in this profession,not 1 or 2 there are hundreds of successful people who came on Job seekers visa,work hard applying for positions improving and found job with in jsv period,again it luck but with some ones example of being successful  or struggling not good to generalise ,every one has its own profile

frombombay wrote:

Cant believe,Job seekers visa is given to IT or other specialist occupation in demand ,how can bartender get jsv to come to germany and work in this profession,not 1 or 2 there are hundreds of successful people who came on Job seekers visa,work hard applying for positions improving and found job with in jsv period,again it luck but with some ones example of being successful  or struggling not good to generalise ,every one has its own profile

Sorry but your English is so bad that it is hard to understand what you mean. And why should you doubt that IT or other special skills will mean one gets a job seeker visa?! Those are exactly the ones that get it. Sorry but Germany has no need of bartenders so one will NOT likely get a job seekers visa for it. But yes, some of the people who qualify for a job seeker visa find a job – the more highly skilled the more likely this is a correct generalization. Another one is that ones with lousy English and little German will not likely find a job. Those are the facts!

No its not true,cannot generalise from some people experiences,as i told you before not 1 or 2 there are hundreds of people i seen recently who got job after coming on job seekers visa in germany with very little or even no knowledge of germany,offcourse not all can be lucky so one takes risk leaving existing job,time,money ,efforts,one has to calculate risk and in situation to face this challenges and backout plan also required if not successful

I am Colombian, Professional in International Business Management, fluent in English, native Spanish speaker and I currently have German classes A2 in the Goethe Institut, I currently live in Colombia, I have previous experience of a little more than a year working for Toyota as Intern and some other short projects. How are my chances to find a job in Germany from abroad? which is the better way to do it?, how can I apply and where?

frombombay wrote:

No its not true,cannot generalise from some people experiences,as i told you before not 1 or 2 there are hundreds of people i seen recently who got job after coming on job seekers visa in germany with very little or even no knowledge of germany,offcourse not all can be lucky so one takes risk leaving existing job,time,money ,efforts,one has to calculate risk and in situation to face this challenges and backout plan also required if not successful

Again, your English is so bad that it is hard to guess what you mean. But you are delusional if you think people are going to get a job seekers visa from India and then get a job bartending in Germany. One has to have high level skills to even get the job seeker visa and bartending is not one of them. And yes, there are some exceptions where say IT people might get a job without good German language skills but the point is that they will have MUCH more chance if they do speak German. And if such a person doesn't even speak English well, and little to no German, then they are going to find it nearly impossible. This is not an over generalization whether you want to believe it or not.