[Moving to Germany. What lessons can I learn?]

If you're prepared to take a more "travelling salesperson" based role people seem to be easier on the German skills.

 

I had an offer from an equipment manufacturer to be an installation process engineer - the catch is that it would have involved travelling for 70-80% of the time. "60% if you're really good".

 

I'm not very familiar with the advertising industry here or elsewhere but there would definitely be a demand for customer relationship/account managers who were familiar with foreign markets. Just bear in mind that the side effect may be that you don't wind up spending a lot of time in Deutschland.

 

Check out Jobstairs.de and scope out the positions on offer around hamburg - you might as well get a sense of what's in demand now (It has an option for english-only job listings too).

 

In any case you're on the right path with learning the language before arrival.

 

Viel Erfolg!

[Getting into the Automotive Industry]

Thanks for the replies so far (especially big cheers to Marcvs - some great insight there)

 

Looks like both Aachen and Esslingen have great links to all the major auto houses - the latter even offers dual study programs with BMW and Bosch.

 

I've scoured for some more courses and it does look as though I'm looking at a good 18 months of further education. Further to that, I dug deeper none of the institutions offer the option of skipping holiday periods or otherwise accelerate their programs. Tough call, but I might have to pivot back to my old industry and try to nab something that faces the auto industry.

 

In any case I think I'm going to just save myself issues and shoot for C1 German after passing TELC B1. I'm happy that I started learning German when I decided to move across!

[Moving to Berlin and my situation or question is unique]

Seconding what others have said - the banks only want to deal with you at your registered address and changing your registration is very easy (although I currently live in a small village); just get it out of the way and everything will be very easy.

 

My experience in Deutsche Bank in Konstanz when I first arrived was great, the staff mostly spoke english (a bit of google translate for the odd word here and there) and were happy to entertain my poor command of German. The only documents I needed were my passport and residence registration - they didn't even require an opening balance.

 

The only requirement was that I posted more than a certain amount of transactions in the first 12 months (think it was a total of $2,000).

 

Hope this helps.

[Getting into the Automotive Industry]

Hi All,

 

I have a story which I'm sure you've all heard before:

 

UK/Aus Boy meets German Girl while studying for an MBA together in Australia, they fall in love and (after a prudent and positive scouting trip) he decides to move on over. Of course it goes without saying that he doesn't speak any German, has lofty career change ambitions and a blind spot roughly the size of one of the world's major continents for things that happen to lie southeast of the English Channel.

Wanting to get back onto the corporate ladder with a more consumer-centric industry, he decided that an MBA was a great way to cap off his time as an entrepreneur and facilitate a change. He realised, quite happily, that Germany + Consumer-centric industry = Cars; a topic he's always loved and an industry he's always watched quite closely. He also plans on applying to other industries but Auto is his focus. Based on the scouting trip and his girlfriend's career goals they've made a pact to move to Berlin, Stuttgart or München, decided by whoever gets a job first.

He holds an MEng in Engineering (Chemical) from one of the UK's top universities and now an H1 (apparently equating to a 1.0) average MBA from Australia's top business school. He's got 3 years engineering design experience in the oil and gas industry and has run his own company for 3 years, doing various business consulting, web based engineering services development and consumer facing service experiments.

Despite reassurances from various recruiters at career fairs and over the phone that speaking German isn't strictly necessary (es hängt davon ab...) he decides to learn German anyway as language is usually the key to cultural understanding and successful integration. Having lived here for nearly 3 months and studying hard he's now well on the way to getting that TELC B1 for business nailed down. He has also been told that MBA/Eng holders of all backgrounds are highly sought after and can go anywhere. Great news.

He's got the right to live in Germany, savings to do so and even some passive income. That said, he's pretty driven and would really like to plough into a career right this minute.

 

The problem is that now that I'm getting touch with actual recruiters (not phone-answerers or tradeshow/career-fair types) in the auto industry I'm getting a very different story.

 

Now it appears that I really need at least C1 German and prior automotive industry experience. Internships are a no-go due to a requirement that all candidates be enrolled in an approved course (and yes, I'm really willing to work for next-to-free if not actually free to prove myself - after all, a change of career is a big deal and a big risk for all parties).

 

Another grating issue is that not many people really know what an MBA is. I'd heard that this was a problem 5-7 years ago but it was a bit of a shock to have someone ask what thesis I'd written for my MBA. After explaining to him what an MBA was and that they don't typically entail a thesis he basically told me that he didn't believe such a degree existed - and this was a lead recruiter from a very well-known chemical company!

 

I've come up with a few options to address my shortcomings:

- A short Masters course in Auto Engineering, potentially with a placement

- A language internship with the Goethe Institut or the like (finding one of those courses with a position in the auto industry doesn't seem straightforward)

- Just keep applying

 

I'd really like to hear from people who have jumped into the German auto industry (and, naturally, how you did it!) and get some opinions on these ideas.

 

P.S. A very big thanks to the participants in this forum in general - I've managed to organise my driver's licence, health insurance and anmeldung myself and the information in here was invaluable in helping me do that!