Moving to Munich from the UK

Im moving to Munich in August next year and am asking for any advise you can give me before i move.
I have somewhere to live already but am concerned with finding work.
I have no qualifications to speak of, but have a Army background and am willing to do most things.

Thank you for any comments.

do you speak the language? if not, seeing as you'll not be coming over until August next year you could enrol at night school to learn German. life is certainly easier here if you speak the lingo.

Reading this book would help. It is basically a book that covers everything you need to do to prepare, and everything you need to do to once you get here. I found it invaluable:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Culture-Germany-Su...8989&sr=8-2

I also echo the sentiment of above. If you have a year then learn as much German as you can (if you don't speak alread)
. Go on Ebay and buy the "Michel Thomas" German CDs.

I'd echo the sentiment...learn as much of the language as you can - but I would only use CD and Audio books as a secondary source...enroll in a class where you will have to speak. I learned German in the Uni for two years but we hardly spoke a word and it was very difficult at the beginning. So try to find somewhere with smallish classes, say between 8 - 12 people and find out will they be doing speaking exercises in class.

Deutsche Welle is an excellent source of German language learning, such as this self-learning course... Deutsch Interaktiv

I hope to be moving to München myself in August next year! See you there

@ the_cat... had no idea that book existed... think I'll order it now to keep me going till next year.

I was lucky. I had friends already here who pointed me in the direction of things like that book!

Thanks for the advice,
i am very lucky my fiance is German so learning the language should hopefully be ok,
the book looks great, think i will be spending some pennys.
Cant wait to live in Munich i love the city.

yeah i regard the above answers, make the most of learining the german language in the uk although in munich there are plenty of german schools. as far as work here, if you have a skill to sell then thats a different story.. and as you say you do not then you are faced with the same problem back in the where ever you come from..its the truth.. except if your are are already rich.

lol @ bd

believe me, what the people above are saying about learning the language isn't just friendly advice, its serious shit. Without speaking German to a very good standard, you will not find a job above basic service level,unless you have a specific qualification in something like computers.Harsh but true. its not like england. they are not interested in you if you cannot speak really good german. this is a fact and will help you more than you can know right now. learn german and learn it good, and then you can have a good life here.

What the hell? How many people in England get a good job without speaking English? They are a lot more language tolerant here in Germany than they are in England. Can you imagine going to the local town hall and trying to register yourself with German in the UK? At least here, there is a chance that English will get you by.

There is a lot of truth in both what "worm" and "Hutcho" say. From a German employer's point-of-view, what can you do that a German cannot do in the workplace? Ok, so you can speak native English, which could be useful depending on the company, but if you can, for example, speak native English and are a SAP guru then you are going to have no problems at all. Native english can be used to your advantage in specialist areas eg. IT, teaching, but for general semi-skilled office work your German will have to be very good. Fortunately, when you get here, there are a lot of good intensive courses and if your partner is German then you are going to pick things up far quicker. Best of luck, and yes this is a great city to live!

Thanks for replys, I know that learning the language is going to be the most important thing i will have to do,
I agree with the points from "worm" and "Hutcho".
I have visted Munich a number of times for 2-12 weeks at a time and have found English/American people working in pubs, cafe's etc, with very basic German speaking skills.
i understand that they may not earn a fortune but from working there German will improve naturally.

Does anyone know of any good work agency's in Munich that are worth registering with? Or are they just a waste of time .
What about a job centre type place like we have in England, with websites, that you can register with.
I was in Munich last weekend just on a quick vist to see where we will be living next year, and went to Munchen Freiheit.
Does anyone know when all the road works will be finished, its a nightmare there at the minute.

Agentur für Arbeit München ... Internet addresses for job seekers

Not sure if anyone can help with this but will try. To become a security guard in England you need to have a SIA license to let you work.
Is there any such license needed in Germany for that work, or would an English license be ok.

Being a security guard is VERY VERY popular in Germany. In fact I think around 90% of the population are qualified and operate at least part-time in this capacity, often without pay. A wonderful country indeed.

The labour market here does not move anywhere near as much like the market in the UK. The pervasive prescence of the bloody betriebsrat crap in companies, and the socialist stance on protection of workers means hiring and firing work differently here, and the churn rate is simply much lower, pretty much across the board, and certainly in my field, which is computery stuff.
Consequently, there are nowhere near as many employment agencies as there are in England. There are some, sure, but many are rather specialised in what they do. Go to pretty much any town in England, and you'll find craploads of agencies offering catering positions. Millions in fact. It is an industry with massive staff turnover. In Munich, I've never seen anything like that in 14 years of knowing the place.

On a different subject, i enjoy the odd bet every weekend if its on football, horses or whatever takes my fancy.
Does anyone know if there are any bookies in Munich? Is so where?

There is a job centre system - Arbeitsamt - now Agentur für Arbeit
They have a job vacancies database which is easily searchable
if you have moderate German skills.
If nothing else it lets you see what the market is like.
I've found work using it