German Experiences

Hi all, I was chatting to a good mate the other day and we were discussing the amount of foriegners in Germany, although our chat centered on Frankfurt, Berlin etc. However our chat moved to people coming here because of their partners(like myself and my friend), and now curiosity has got a hold of me...so here goes: How many of you all actually came to Germany without a job?..How long did it take to find one?..or If your still looking..how long have you been looking?..

It would be interesting to share some experiences

Answers on a postcard pls

I came here working for an English company to install process control systems. Met my wife and stayed.

I came here 1996.
No job and no hope of one. My Fiancee was a student.
We got our money from the Soz amt.

But now I am working as a programmer in Berlin.

Got my own house and a flat that is rented out.
I can thank my wife for that though.

My husband's job brought us here. I left my job in England to follow him and as I was pregnant did not look for anither one here. Now my baby is 7 months old, i am starting to look for one (a job).

Worked for a small company, gor bought out by big german company, had a choice move to germany or face redundancy in a few years. Karlsruhe had a european school, tough to get in but got lucky, got two young children, seemed chance of a lifetime. Turned out great. Just a bit concerned about the long long term in the uk with respect the price of going back - house prices an all, but there you go. Feeling pleased about it, no regrets.

So Karlsruhe is pretty full of foreigners, the area we live in has is about 50% german, and 50% gods know where else, italians, french , americans blah blah

I'm in the same boat as Roy (RMA) i.e. my company in UK sent me here on loan to the MOD for a year in 1986, I met my future wife and ended up looking for a job after my contract finished with MOD (which wasn't a big problem in the late 80's) and I've been here ever since.

I came over with the Army 20 years ago... and got left behind

Came here with the Army. Got married. Left the Army 2 years ago and got a job as a Truck Driver, which lasted 2 days before getting sacked. Unemployed for 2 weeks then managed to get a job stagging on the camp gate, which I did for 9 months. As from September last year I have been in my present job as an equipment manager for a training team in the Army.

I came over here on a 1 year work placement after finishing my degree. 2 months into the placement the bank asked me if I'd like to take a permanent contract...so here I am still My significant other is moving over to Frankfurt from Sweden next month, without a job and very little knowledge of German (ooops!), but we have a few "bits & bobs" lined up It will be tough, but we have a fall-back plan if the job front doesn't pick up.

Came to DE at short notice in October 83 for a 10 week contract. Went to Ingolstadt in the new year and returned unwillingly to the UK after "Fasching". Got asked 6 weeks later to come back to Cologne.

Decided that Cologne was nice, and central for my intentions, so while I was house-hunting I met the Ex... Been here, or here about, ever since...

Couldn't speak a word then, apart from "guten Tag", "ja" and "nein"... Now I can also speak some Dutch and have trouble with French...

@Dusty: My mind is boggling at what might be involved in "stagging on the camp gate".

I came to Germany last August with my German partner with a couple of rucksacks and around 1500€. Silke had never been to Frankfurt before and well I couldnt even spell "Deutsch" right. We managed to find a place near Eschersheimer Tor, which was a piece of good luck and timing as neither of us were working at the time. I was looking for around a year for a job and after a lot of highs, lows and near misses on the job front I thought i was fighting a losing battle. Anyway after thinking I was on Mission Impossible, I was offered a position as a Financial Analyst on my birthday - Strange, but true. So for those using the board that are looking for a job, all I can say is keep plugging away.

I came to Germany twice on short contracts in 1998 and 2000, returning to the Uk each time. This time I came for a contract in 2001 and have stayed.

On the job front, I have noticed that the UK market has really picked up this year but have heard nothing good about work in Germany. However, this week I was talking to someone from a large computer/network vendor - they said they are really busy now and cannot keep up with the work. Maybe some areas are picking up...

ciao
JG

Its part of Army slang, it means on guard duty,

On stag - on duty watch.

Stag on – A derisory comment shouted out of a car window by your mates as they go down town on the pull

Lemon’d – You are lemon’d when you have been volunteered for something by someone more senior… (Usually to “stag on�)

Jiffed - You're still lemon'd

On Drag – nothing to do with dressing up in girlie kit, it’s driving in convoy, which just drags on and on.

“I got lemon’d no end of times to stag on after drag� actually starts to make sense .

The stag refers to th actual time that you're at your post during your shift. It definitely wasn't my first choice of employment but I was glad of it at the time.

I moved out to Germany about 18 months ago, worked in a bar and a ski lodge.
The reason was for a girl, but sadly when that didnt work out and the job search died a death, I moved back to UK. Been back about 4 months, but still swear in German for some reason :$
I still visit Germany monthly, and when the language side of things improves I will be job searching with the aim of returning.
Ive lived in a lot of places around the world, and The Allgaeu was one of the best.
Apart from the personal side of things it was a great time and with a few friends now in the area, I return for the scenery and the snow when it falls.
UK still doesnt feel like home but living in the Brecon Beacons, the scenery has helped me start to settle.

If any of you need a place to stay with a friendly Brit welcome and loads of activities, then look up www.englishguesthouse.com, great family place and in the best outdoor pursuit area of the Allgaeu.

I can certainly recommend the Allgäu, I went there a few times skiing in winter and then again in sommer for the scenery (we stayed at the Forellenhof, Fischen). I dragged the wife up the Nebelhorn and boy did she complain, oh happy memories

I wonder if The Pigpen is still there

PigPen has gone, I never went there but I worked in the "Flying Scotsman" and a few squaddies asked if it was still open and the regulars said it wasnt. The "Flying Jock" is a good pub, does a mean pint of Murphys and Newcastle Brown.
The English Guesthouse has a bar, and just down the road is another new "Brit" bar, and an Irish bar in Oberstdorf. So lots to choose from.
Nebelhorn is a great day out summer or winter, as is the Fellhorn. Some good "undiscovered by the masses" skiing around the area and your an hours drive from the Boden See.
2-3 hours from Munich if that, 2 hours from Stuttgart and your there!

If anyone is going to the Bodensee (Lake Constance), check out Insel Mainau in the late spring, you wont regret it.

Arrived in Germany with the Army about 1974 after leaving Stayed in Detmold and worked as a tree feller in the Teutoburger Wald eventually met 1st wife and as work died a death we went back to the UK for a while.
She decided she didn´t like UK so we moved out to Holland where I drove trucks for a Dutch Company.
Several tears later we split up and I went to live in Spain and remarried.
Wild horses will not getme out of this country.

Spent the last fifteen years of my army days in Bavaria as a mountain guide, canoeist and skier, got out after 24 years, now run Haus Schwaben, an English Guest house and ski school with my wife Tina, our two children Colin and Sydney and along the way picked up six sled dogs. Five years ago if you would have asked me what I would do after the Army ? I would have said going back to UK to get a job. Its a funny old world :$

Hi Chesty,

Have you got a Home Page? If so sent it or post please.

Would love to go skiing again.

Met my German girlfriend in my last year of University in Newcastle. She was on an erasmus exchange and came back to Germany whilst I finish my studies. After finishing I visited her in Germany twice over the next 6 months and then decided I wanted to be with her so took the plunge and moved to Germany without a job and without and knowledge of the german language.
Been here over 4 years now and have no intention of moving back to the U.K.
What I find interesting is that for people who have never done such a thing, for example my friends and family in the U.K. they just could,nt ever imagine doing something like that. Find it really hard but until I took the plunge and actually done it I found it was a lot easier than I imagined and it was only the fear of going somewhere new with a different culture and language that scares people.
I for one am really glad I came here.

really nice to hear yr story Joolz cos I'm gonna take the plunge very soon! I don't know hardly any German but am determined to learn it. Cross yr fingers for me

Funnily enough, I met my girlfriend during an Erasmus exchange in Belgium and like yourself a lot of the people wouldnt believe me when I said I was going to go for Germany, but I decided to put talk into action and now I am here. The first year coming here wasnt easy with no job, money etc. Some ups and downs which is to be expected, but now that I have a job and not bad German skills, it tastes pretty sweet, especially after people saying it was near impossible to find a job here. It made me more determined to do it.

All the best Hellie, when you come to Germany. Be patient, focused and positive and enjoy the experience and you will reap rewards. Where in Germany are you going to?

Hellie - go for it!

well I'll be near Darmstadt...so anybody out there willing to help me get into the swing of German life, please feel free!

Hi Hellie,

Well you are close to us Southerners, and we will all help you get into the swing of things... Right everyone

When will you be arriving? If you are in time for our next get together I will go to the Crimbo market with you if you want to check it out :doh: and then we can find the others later.

If you won't be here by then we can have another meet up when you arrive.

Sue

Thanks Sue But the house sale is going through at the moment...will prob be getting the one way ticket at the end of January if all goes well Great to know I have some support there already for me! Cheers! The first drink will be on me

Hellie,

Don't forget your truck with all our goodies from M & S and Sainsburys!!

Amanda

I worked night shift in Canada and I'll never forget the day that Chris came home early and asked if I wanted to move to Germany. I said sure and as they say the rest is history. We originally came for a year and decided to stay I took a leave of absence from my job. It brought me great joy a year latter to say I wouldn't be returning, I hated the place. Took us about 6 months to adjust. After 2 years with her Canadian company she got a job with a German firm and we decided to put roots down. Moving from Stuttgart to Frankfurt has helped allot as there are more expats here. I have worked on and off, most zeitarbiet, but after we moved to Frankfurt I decided not to search for work, for the most part the only jobs available are for zeitarbiet firms and for 400 a month it isn't worth the hassle.

Rob "the lead foot Lederman"

BTW any ideas what "a lead foot" would be in German

Bleifuß???

v. short story:

girl
says
come, want, need
I give up great job for shit job
I pick up air ticket
she say change mind, no need, no want
i ask job back
they say tough
i say f*** it!
arrive anyway
meet new girl
shit job turns into good job + Festvertrag
7 years later v. happy and wouldn't change things for the world ... or return to the uk.

The END.

ok, need to add something.

this girl says "no more thanking you ta"

but still very happy ... if not more so?

My partner left England already 2 years before I've met him on vacation in Holland, where he was living then because of his work. He lived in a small flat with just one room and a bathroom and was working for a time work agency.
After a few months seeing each other every couple of weekends we decided that it would be better if he leaves Holland than if I would leave Germany cuz he didnt have to give up as much as I would have.
He moved here End of January and found his first job within 2 weeks. It was only part time though and he quit this one for a fulltime, but shitty job in a factory. He did this for 3 1/2 years until he finally could quit it to start a "Lehre" as "Elektroniker" yesterday. (I posted the whole Lehrestory somewhere else)
His german speaking in general is really good by now and he understands almost everything, even some slang. The writing and grammar still sux a bit though

I followed hubby over here in 1984 after we married in 1983. We were both working in Belgium at the time, and we met because a few friends and I crashed a party some Germans were throwing at the time. Due to pressure of work we got married in Germany on the Friday, and on the Monday I was back at work in Belgium. We never did get a honeymoon. I eventually landed in Germany, after having known each other for only 6 months, for good in February 1984, hung around with (appalling) school German for four weeks before getting a job with the British Army in Hannover in an office. The funny thing is, moving to Germany on my own wouldn't even have come into my head as an option - New Zealand maybe, but certainly not Germany!

Germany was the last place on earth that we thought would open up for us, it has always been our dream to live here as Chris has, via her parents, a German Citizenship. But living in Canada we didn't think it would ever really happen. We had been looking for something different for a while as we were really bored of life. In spite of numerous leads and lot of effort nothing seem to really open up. What happen was that Chris by chance Chris mentioned to someone she used to work with that her dream had always been to live in Germany, it was just a throw away comment, mentioned and then forgotten. Well he called two weeks latter and asked her if she would be interested in working in Germany, turned out a position in the Esslingen office had opened up. I can remember clear as the day it happened Chris coming home waking me up and asking if I wanted to move to Germany, and I said sure.

It took a while to sign the contract and plan everything and as a fall back we keep our house and I took a years leave of absence from Westons. After a year we decided not to return home. The only problem was being it was small company when her boss left the company took a turn for the worse and took quite a while to find another, better position but and shes' been with that company since then.

Also not having to worry about children made the move much easier, but the only thing I would have changed is I would have asked for temporary housing for a few months to get our bearings, they gave us a week to find a place and we ended up out in the boondocks with out a car.

I must say we're not bored anymore, even after living here for 6 years the Germans can still surprise of with their weird rules and regulations.