Hospitality Jobs in Hamburg

Hey everyone,

I'm a 22 year old girl planning to move to Hamburg some point early next year I've been reading this forum for a few months now... Its very interesting, has made me realise how much I don't know about living in Germany!
Quick background: I lived in Bonn for a year when I finished high school, so I can speak what I like to think of as very good albeit accented German, and I have been back to visit a few times so I have tried to keep my German up over the last few years. I'm just finishing my Honours degree now, and have decided I need several years break before tackling the worst and best idea I've ever had, doing a PhD.

So it made sense to move back to Germany. Right now I'm just worried with getting a job once I get there. I'm looking for just some cafe/bar work... I've worked in hospitality for the last few years whilst at uni, so I'm well experienced. Does any body know how hard it is to get this type of work if I have experience + relatively good German skills?

I am looking to eventually move up and do some work in the universities, I understand I might need to do volunteer research work first etc etc, so I am just concerning myself with making enough to live off of (and I am good at living cheaply) for a few months whilst I freshen up my German skills.

Soo.... any info on finding hospitality jobs and how much they pay (is it just minimum wage? Which I think is 6-7 euros + tips?) and whether its viable to live off of one would be amazing!

Thanks!!!

well, i'll throw my hat into the ring on this one. personally, i've never worked in gastronomy/hospitality, but two of my former roommates did as well as a number of other friends. so i've heard a lot about what they did.

there's not a standard minimum wage (as far as i know) and it really depends on the type of establishment that you're working in. it can really range anywhere from like 6-12 euros + tips. 8 euros seems to be kind of an average, but like i said it depends. also there are the so-called minijobs (also called 400€ jobs). such a job would be the 400€ + tips.

also keep in mind that tax/gratuity/service charges are included in the menu price, so you don't get the 15%-20% tipping that you get in places (like say, the u.s. -- where i'm from). on top of that, it also depends on how the tips are split in the particular place (i.e. do you get to keep all of your tips or are everyone's tips divided equally among the service staff or do you get to keep most of your tips except for a certain amount that you have to give to the cooks, etc.)

at my brokest moment, i managed to scrape by on a bare minimum of about 500€/month. This covered my rent (shared flat w/roomate - 250€), monthly public transportation ticket (hamburg has a CC-Karte, which is relatively inexpensive, at the time only 45€, the only catch is that it's not valid between the hours of 6-9am and 4-6pm) and 205€ for living expenses. this was about 3 years ago and i'd say you'd need at least 700€/month net to get by.

as far as searching for such jobs, check out: www.stellenwerk-hamburg.de. that's a jobsite from uni hamburg, so mostly for students/grads, but there are often these types of hospitality jobs offered.

Thanks for the info, it gives me piece of mind knowing that I will be able to live off of hospitality work.

Also thanks for the link, if anyone else is interested I've also found: http://kleinanzeigen.ebay.de/anzeigen/

This is the new site for kijiji.de which used to be the German version of gumtree, I'm not sure if E-bay has bought it up or whats happened... either way there seems to be more jobs there than there was a little while ago, but that might just be the time of year too.

Hey there! I used to live in Bonn for about 20 years and had to move to Hamburg a few years ago. Hamburg is really expensive compared to Bonn and by far not as beatiful and calm (Hamburg is a very large city). Living in Hamburg is quite stressful. You will have to earn at least 700€/month to cover all costs (if you share a flat and do not spend anything on alcohol etc.). And: Even though you may find a job in Hamburg quite easily I would rather go to some other place especially if I was interested in experiencing the German way of life. Hamburg is a merely place where people try to make money.

Having lived in London for 5 years I am not sure you can really call Hamburg stressful or expensive in comparison. I think it is a beautiful city! Many parks and trees, plenty of water and lots of cultural activities. My thumbs up for Hamburg....

Well, Hamburg is paradise on earth compared to London. I had to live in London for about 4 months and I was so glad when I could leave. It always depends on the angle from which you look at things. London may be a cool place for people who have got the money. Unfortunately, I am not a millionaire so there is not much to enjoy for me in London. It is pretty much the same here in Hamburg (even though it is by far not as bad as in London). And by the way: What cultural activities are you talking about? The "Koenig der Loewen" musical? Most of the "cultural activities" that can be enjoyed in Hamburg are for rich people who are 30 plus. There is no genuine music scene in Hamburg because young artists can not afford the rents for rehearsal rooms (have you ever tried to find one here? no? see ...) and the studios are much too expensive for young painters. All you can find here is an interesting theater scene. That's pretty much about it. If you are culturally interested you should rather go to Berlin. Berlin is less expensive than Hamburg. The music scene is thriving there. Plus you will find that Hamburg is overcrowded with so-called young urban professionals (usually between 30 and 40 and earning at least 100.000€/year) who believe it is a "cultural activity" to park their Porsches in the Schanzenviertel. If you are a student, better stay away from Hamburg. This is a place for old people who want make money and spend it afterwards. Ever heard of the word "kaputtgekauft"?

Ah this makes me sad .... I know it may seem a bit silly to decide to move overseas on a whim, but I went to Hamburg for a day and fell in love with it and thats why I want to move there. Its a bit sad to think (if its true) that its full of rich yuppies with more money than sense. Especially because I'm all for a bit of grunge, and the music scene is important to me...

SO I suppose the only thing to do is move to Hamburg, but keep my options open. Suss it out. Don't sign any leases, only take sublets. And then, if its not to my liking, hop on the train and keep going to Berlin. I had that planned at some point anyway

Well, if your first impression of Hamburg was that good, then you should give it a go, of course! However, first impressions may be deceiving at times. The first problem that you will have to face when you arrive here is to find some affordable accommodation. This can already be something like a fulltime job as the following post shows:

http://www.toytowngermany.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=151143

There is such an enormous influx of young professionals into the city that there is a notorious shortage of accommodation. When looking for a room or flat you will have to compete with lots of people in their twenties or thirties who earn A LOT more than you. So your chances of finding accommodation within 4 weeks or so will be rather small as landlords prefer tenants with a higher incomes even if you're only looking for a sublet (one of my mates from uni had to search for more than 2 months until he found a room). So, you should definitely keep your options open if you come to Hamburg! Maybe you're lucky and find something straight away. Who knows :-)?

hey, I moved here recently from Melb and I love Hamburg. Its a great city, and I wanna stick around for a while (maybe while doing a PhD too). I think the accom thing is pretty much the only black mark against the city for me so far, and look you'll find something it might just take a while or you might have to compromise on quality/location. I would definitely recommend looking for a place to live once you get here, as you'll definitely need to go for a inspection before anyone will give you a room. I presume you'll want to live in a share-house so wg-gesucht and studenten-wg should be your fave sites.

I don't find Hamburg stressful at all tbh, I think the lifestyle here is great. I would say minimum of 600 euro/month would cover you depending largely on your rent and lifestyle (going out etc.) Good luck and PM me if you have any more qs regarding coming here from Aus. Sorry I don't know anything about the hospitality job side of it though...

I agree with this, I love it here and even though I come from a much smaller city, find the lifestyle here relaxed. There is a University here consequently there are plenty of young people on a budget - you needn't hang out with the yuppies, you may not want to let alone be able to afford to...see how nicely that works out?!!

If you live in a less cool part of the city you'll find the rents much more manageable and that the trains can always take you to where the coolness is. . :-)

That is precisely what I was told before I came to Hamburg as well. Now that I have been here for more than four years I need to tell you that what you say is just bollocks. It is not true that there are "plenty of young people on a budget" in Hamburg. Compared to the huge mass of young urban professionals, university students constitute a very small minority. Have you ever tried to find a genuine "Studentenkneipe" in Hamburg? I have, and I could not find anything apart from the Pony Bar (which may not even count as genuine Studenkneipe). So, tell me, my dear Frau 4940, where can I find those young people (I consider people over 25 as old) on a budget in Hamburg? My friends from uni are scattered all over Hamburg. They usually live somewhere in the outskirts (in Heimfeld for instance) since they can't afford to live any closer to campus. There is no studenty epicentre in Hamburg. We only have something like a Yuppie-centre in the Schanzenviertel for people who are 25+.

Now, I do not say that this is bad per se. However, it has been very diffucult for me to get by in Hamburg due to the unfavourable conditions that I mentioned earlier. ailiem is 22 years old and looking for a job on the low-wage labour market. How could I ever advise her to come to Hamburg?

Loquicadio, I don't know where they hang out, other than together at house parties, which is what students who can't afford to go to bars do. I went to Hamburg University, and much like my University in the states, that's what we did, lots of house parties. Young people manage to get together and have fun regardless of income. Hamburg is definitely an expensive city to go out in, so I'd imagine it would be difficult to find young students on a budget at a bar or pub.

That doesn't negate that they don't live here. I'm a dinosaur by your measure and several of my friends have children at university and each one of them live together with other Students in various areas, Grindelallee, Barmbeksüd, Schanze, and Hamm. As I said in my previous post, if you live in a less cool area, such as Hamm, for example (no offense), the rent is significantly lower and you're likely to find people who are more on your income level living nearby. The Reeperbahn offers some cheap alternatives for young people but since it is much cheaper for them to buy some beer and vodka at Aldi and sit in someone's WG, I can imagine that a house party would be more appealing to them than going out to a bar or pub with frequency enough to support a regular student hang out.

The bars in the Schanze are expensive, and it's hip to hang there, naturally there will be young working professionals there. If you find a cheap pub elsewhere, there are old men there. Integrate into the young crowd and get in on the party scene and you will have endless amounts of fun on a budget. This isn't rocket science, it happens in University cities and towns all over the world.

This is a totally fair question. You can't advise her to simply come and set herself up which isn't easy even in favorable conditions. What you can do is tell her that it is possible under certain conditions, like having flatmates and a job prior to moving. And that she needs to have a financial back up plan, such as a savings or parents, should something go amiss one month or another. She may not be able to create these conditions and then it would definitely be unadvisable to move, but when someone wants to move, sometimes they are willing to suffer to affect that move, even if they don't know the degree of suffering involved for them personally. All you can do is share your experience with them and let the cards fall where they may. I think you've effectively done that.

Hamburg is no more expensive than big Aus city like Melb or Syd, for going out or living or what have you. Or any other big city I imagine. As a student researcher here I don't find going unreasonably expensive, and have found a uni crowd of friends without too much trouble...