General advice for a Brit moving to Cologne

Hi Guys

i hope you are all well, i am new to this and struggling to navigate myself around the website, but hey it has only been a couple of hours.

i will get to the point. i am currently based in london, and want to move to cologne, i just wanted to get some insight from pwoplw who have done the same thing, and if they can ofe any assistance.

i have a few questions.

although i know cologne, and i have been there a few times, i am not german speaking.

what is the best way to overcome the employment problem, for a non-german speaking person?

are there english speaking companies?

what do i need to do to prepare myself for the move?

what pitfalls may i come accross?

and i would love some insight on how people are finding it over there, and whether the esperience is still as fab as you imagined.

any help will be kindly appreciated.

many thanks

MTM, your questions are very, very general. You mentioned that you've only been on the site a couple of hours. I strongly suggest that you read some of the threads started by others who have made the move. They will help you with general stuff. Pretty much EVERYTHING has been covered if you take a little time to look.

To give you an idea of what I mean...

what is the best way to overcome the employment problem, for a non-german speaking person?

It totally depends on what your qualifications and experience are. If you are a heart surgeon then you probably stand a better chance of employment than if you've just graduated with a degree in Welsh & Biblical studies.

are there english speaking companies?

There are companies in which English is the main spoken language. But again it depends on which industry you would be looking at.

what do i need to do to prepare myself for the move?
what pitfalls may i come accross?

These are just far too general to allow anyone to give you much of a useful response.

And, eh, Germany is fab

Cologne is fairly international, so until you learn German, it's probably one of the cities where it'll be easier to get by with daily tasks.
If you're not planning on teaching English, most English speaking jobs are secured by already working for a company who has an office in Cologne, and then being transferred. (That I know of. Feel free to contradict me) What is your education background, work experience?
Don't expect to be able to do much without German in terms of working though; you need to be relatively fluent to get any sort of work in general. You were planning on learning German, weren't you?

hi there many thanks for your messages

apologies for the vage questions.

i am currently working in recruitment, and have been doing so for ovr 3 years.

i did a foundation degree in pr marketing and fashion in which i recieved a distinction with the option of doing another year and getting a BA.

i also freelance in the PR, events and fashion world organising events for celebs, fashion houses, corporate companies etc ideally i want to do it on a permanent basis as i don't want to move countries, and continue in recruitment, although i will if i have to.

i hope this helps

Why don't you check on jobs from that side of the pond? The Times, Telegraph, Guardian, Observer all have an international jobs section. Also maybe post your CV on some of the job sites like monster or whatever.

"the best way to overcome the employment problem" - is to learn German!
It is really difficult, but you need it!
There is massive unemployment here, and folk who "cannot be bothered"
to learn the language are disadvantaged.
It's a massive plus to be able to read and speak German.

"the best way to overcome the employment problem" - is to learn German!
It is really difficult, but you need it!
There is massive unemployment here, and folk who "cannot be bothered"
to learn the language are disadvantaged.
It's a massive plus to be able to read and speak German.