Finding a job in Germany - How is it possible?

How is it that so many people in this forum can find a job and work in germany when you cant speak german? is everyone here as an expat or are some of you actually hired by german companies under german contracts?

I speak perfect german, russian and english and I am having so much trouble finding a job here, so I am just wondering how people who have not the slightest idea of the language can find work?

Keep in mind that many Tech & international companies in Germany has standardized on english as the business language. At my comp. we have people from over 30+ different countries working there, all speak there native language beit English/spanish/German/French but the ALL speak english.. It's a requirement.

Perhaps your not looking in the right places...

With English/German/Russian, If you can't find anything here start looking in UK/Ireland. many companies have their call center there and are always looking for these languages.

@jpp888 - Did it ever occur to you that perhaps a large number of people on this forum DO speak German?

well I can speak a bit of German, but as for how a I got a job without being fluent, well I used a lot of shoe leather visiting places and I admit had a certain amount of luck

As has been pointed out already, a lot of companies use English as the official language - in such cases we've actually got an advantage over the native Germans.

However language alone is not sufficient qualification to get a job - even specific jobs such as translators or language teachers will require other skills. If you're expecting to get a job in German simply because you speak the language, then maybe you should have a rethink about your approach.

In the UK I worked for a company that hired many foreigners, some of whom didn't speak very good English - we were far more interested in their technical skills.

One problem could be your degree. Is it a UK or US bachelors/honours degree? If so, that could be a problem. The Germans don't consider these degrees equivalent to their Diplom, even though they may be. Their degree is somewhere in between a bachelors and a masters degree, but they have a lot of pride in it and consider it equivalent to a masters. They may consider your education insufficient (though, like I said, it may very well be sufficient).

Many of you out there have jobs as unbelievable as that sounds to me. I have been going the freelance route since I came here, but that's unreliable so I want to step into a 9 to 5er if at all possible. What I would like is some advice on where to look for said jobs (besides Monster.de, Jobpilot.de and the arbeitsamt since I already know about those).

My German is passable at a communication level though I still have much to learn but I do get most of what most people say even if they have to rephrase their sentence. What I would prefer is to find a job with an American, British, Australian or some other English language based company. Does anyone know of any listings out there of these sorts of companies in Germany?

Personally I'm looking for Graphic Design work, but would probably be happy as long as I could find a place that would pull me down some decent income. I'm willing to relocate so if you know of a source in Berlin or Frankfurt or Munich or Stuttgart, it doesn't really matter.

Thanks in advance for any help,
Andy

Topics merged by admin

Its all who you know I am afraid. Keep up with your contacts and they can let you know when openings pop up etc... Pretty much everyone I know here from my old company got their current jobs via people they know etc..

As Katrina suggested I found EuroLondon very helpful.
They are dealing with companies all over germany. Their E-Mail address is frankfurt@eurolondon.com
Otherwise just have a look on that thread
International and American companies in Munich
I am currently looking for another job as well.
karriere@loyaltypartner.com

If you search in Jobpilot you also got all the monster adds as they are partners.
And of course there is still Adecco, Accentis, Allbecon etc...
Adecco only accepts applications in german and are not really helpful (imho)

This is very true especially at the moment because we are not out of the recession yet here. Things are getting better though.

Have you considered trying body shops (Leimitarbeit Firma?) as this would get you work and give you chance to build up contacts.

Could you go permenant at any of the firms you freelanced at?

what Kza said. Find suitable firms and contact them even if they don't have current job opportunities. Try and keep in touch with them and get 'pally' with them and something may turn up

http://www.instantmedia.de/

might help

Oh and if you want a software or IT job in the southern bavaria area, I really recommend it-jobkontakt.de Better than the likes of monstor as they are sector and region specific. I recommend you join the mailing list, and you get maybe 10-50 vacancies of actual jobs every week or two. (Whereas I find with some of the bigger sites, a lot of the vacancies are out of date, or just companies fishing to see whats out there without intending to employ anyone.)

This weeks email contained:
1. Freiberufler

-Navigations- und Multi-Mediasoftwareentwicklung 10.02.2005 Überregionales Angebot

2. Festanstellung

-Kfm. Mitarbeiter 11.02.2005 Grassau / Staudach-Egerndach, Lkr. Traunstein

-Softwarespezialist 11.02.2005 Grassau / Staudach-Egerndach, Lkr. Traunstein

-Office Assistentin 11.02.2005 Grassau / Staudach-Egerndach, Lkr. Traunstein

-Javaentwickler Multimedia (m/w) 10.02.2005 München Maxvorstadt, Lkr. Stadt München

-Account Manager eMarketing (m/w) 10.02.2005 München Maxvorstadt, Lkr. Stadt München

-IT-Leiter(IN) 10.02.2005 Rosenheim, Lkr. Rosenheim

-Embedded Architekt Automotive (m/w) 10.02.2005 München Maxvorstadt, Lkr. Stadt München

-Senior J2EE-Entwickler (m/w) 09.02.2005 Aschau i. Chiemgau / Sachrang, Lkr. Rosenheim

-2 Senior-ABAP-Entwickler für SAP R/3 (m/w) 09.02.2005 Aschau i. Chiemgau / Sachrang, Lkr. Rosenheim

-Account Manager EDI/EAI (m/w) 10.02.2005 München Maxvorstadt, Lkr. Stadt München

-Enterprise Architekt (m/w) 10.02.2005 München Maxvorstadt, Lkr. Stadt München

-Softwarearchitekt Clientside (m/w) 10.02.2005 München Altstadt, Lkr. Stadt München

-Senior Java Entwickler - Multimedia (m/w) 10.02.2005 München Altstadt, Lkr. Stadt München

-SAP-Consultant WM/MM (m/w) 10.02.2005 München Altstadt, Lkr. Stadt München

-Senior Entwickler C++ Win32 (m/w) 10.02.2005 München Maxvorstadt, Lkr. Stadt München

-Software Entwickler C/C++/JAVA (m/w) 10.02.2005 München Maxvorstadt, Lkr. Stadt München

3. Praktikum

-Praktikant / Werkstudent im Bereich SAP oder J2EE 09.02.2005 Aschau i. Chiemgau / Sachrang, Lkr. Rosenheim

-2 - 3 Praktikanten Informatik (m/w) für 1. oder 2. 09.02.2005 Aschau i. Chiemgau / Sachrang, Lkr. Rosenheim

Weitere Informationen unter http://www.IT-Jobkontakt.de

because the german workforce are workshy fops who hide behind outdated buracracy to do as little as possible.
german companies cannot get their hands on enough foriegn labour especially from countries with an englo-saxon work ethic.