How to find a job in Germany

I currently live in Austin, TX. My spouse is from Gettorf and we want to return to Germany, preferably Kiel/Eckenforder area, to live/wor/raise out family. How does any suggest find employment in Germany. Not teaching English either We hav not be to Germany in 11 years, so we need as much advice as possible.

I am a Registered Nurse with an M.S. in Health Information System.
American.
Speaks Basic German.
Working on my Nurse Pracitioner Certification, but I'm currently a Staff Nurse.

My wife is a Certified Bilignual Education Teacher (EC-4th Grade) with a M.A. in Linguistics and Laguage Education
German.
Native Speaker.
Want to teach German elementary.

Here in the U.S. we use "Craigslist.com" - which Germans apparently don't as I seen. We also use News paper or Monster.com. Any Advise on where we should start looking?

www.arbeitsagentur.de (also good general information)
www.jobpilot.de
www.monster.de
www.stepstone.de

and many more:
http://www.bildungsserver.de/zeigen_e.html?seite=822

On the difficulties of finding a job in germany, there are several threads on this forum. Try the search function.

Before doing a job search, you may want to check with the appropriate authority as to whether or not your qualifications will be recognized here.

Good luck...

One other thing, try to get Zeugnisse- your wife should know all about them. Jobs also get advertised in local papers, but if I were you, I would rely on your in-laws or childhood friends of your wife for advice on local conditions and maybe even job leads themselves.

Maybe others who have been in your shoes can comment more knowledgeably, but I would think that you would want to be sure your qualifications and your wife's will be recognized before you come over and can do a proper job search. Not speaking excellent German may keep you from being hired even if your qualifications are recognized. Now is the time to consider these issues, and remember that for most people, it is tough to get a job here.

Here's a vacancy you can probably fill, and th benefits are really good(no German taxes) http://jobsearch.usajobs.opm.gov/getjob.as...bNum=1&rc=6

Did the link work?

Sanwald, that's a nice find. Hopefully the OP will not mind that it's far from Kiel.

Sanwald,
Thanks, but I look at that a lot already. They just don't offer anything around Kiel. Its mostly Lundstuhl, K-town, and etc.

You see, I google earthed Kiel and seen 13 hospitals + the medical university there and was hoping for soemthing there. Any suggestions how one can find positions at the hospitals in Kiel?

Here you can go to the hospitals website and look at the open positions - is it the same or a different procedure?

Stanely, you and your wife may want to take a look at this:
http://www.insm-tagebuch.de/wp-content/upl...2/kiel_2006.pdf
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/foo...ticle793030.ece

Note especially the unemployment rate for Kiel, which probably hasn't changed that much since 2005.

I hate to see someone come all the way over here without being prepared, and given what you have posted it seems like you aren't. Do yourself a favor and take the advice proffered. Make sure your qualifications will be recognized, and those of your wife. If they are recognized, also consider regions in Germany with the lowest unemployment. Be realistic as to whether or not you will be able to get work with your current level of German and your qualifications. And get written references- do a search here on Toytown for advice on how to have them worded. I have no idea what employment trends and conditions are like for someone with your skill set, but, generally speaking, there are incredible numbers of applicants for any permanent position in Germany. I would think someone in nursing whose application is lacking anything, or doesn't speak fluent German is unlikely to be considered. BTW, non-EU citizens cannot do temporary work.

One thing about the Landstuhl position is that they might pay for relocation (I didn't read the posting intensively, so I don't know all details)

This almost certainly isn't the answer you want to hear, but it's honest. If I were you, I would look at the Landstuhl position before frustrating myself with applying everywhere in Kiel.

EDIT: folks on this discussion board can be of a lot more assistance than I:

http://www.krankenschwester.de/forum/arbei...-staatsbuerger/

I concur with Conquistador that the employment situation in Schleswig-Holstein isn't too rosy (it is better in Bayern, Baden-Württemberg, Rheinland-Pfalz, Hessen for example). German hospitals are under pressure to reduce costs. Check this list of clinics in the Kiel area . Look for "Stellenangebote" via "sitemap" on their web sites.

Since Kiel isn't far from the Danish border, you may consider looking for jobs in Denmark, too. It's an option for quite some Germans who can't find employment in their region.

Rainydays, good advice with Denmark, but I think that they will have to live there. AFAIK, Stanley can't reside in Germany and work in a neighboring country.

Wow - bleak, but honest. Thanks for all the insight. It's really discouraging. My sister in New Orleans, LA makes $50-65k a year for four days a week here. If we do make the move I will make sure I have my degrees/licenses in order.

We are married by German law too, so I wonder if that helps me with the work permit?

We have also move to make our house "German Speaking Only." (except the bedroom...)
Thanks again all.

@ Conquistador: I see ... life as an expat is really complicated!

Yeah, it can be, at least in some circumstances. I think that some of the US citizens who think about coming to live in Germany are not fully aware of some of the difficulties they will face. That doesn't mean they should rule out coming, just that they should gather more information in order to be able to make an informed decision. I think the US and EU should negotiate an agreement to make it easier for US citizens to work in the EU and citizens of EU countries to work in the US.