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Working/Living in Germany

  • 21-10-2014 6:52pm
    #1
    Corvo
    Registered Users Posts: 3,645 ✭✭✭


    Hi everyone,

    Just wondering would you have any websites or places I could get information on working and living in Germany? It would be myself and a friend both aged 25 and would just like some hints and tips from anyone that could give us a starting step.

    Many thanks

    Corvo


«1

Comments

  • #2
    Eponymous
    Registered Users Posts: 1,374 ✭✭✭Eponymous


    Try the Living abroad forum here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=213


  • #3
    kerry4sam
    Registered Users Posts: 15,127 ✭✭✭✭kerry4sam


    Corvo wrote: »
    Hi everyone,

    Just wondering would you have any websites or places I could get information on working and living in Germany? It would be myself and a friend both aged 25 and would just like some hints and tips from anyone that could give us a starting step.

    Many thanks

    Corvo

    Thread moved from our Travel forum over into the Living Abroad forum where it would be better suited.

    Thanks,
    kerry4sam


  • #4
    The Hill Billy
    Registered Users Posts: 22,744 ✭✭✭✭The Hill Billy


    Www.toytowngermany.com would be a good place to start.


  • #5
    Soldie
    Hosted Moderators Posts: 1,713 ✭✭✭Soldie


    Do you have any specific questions? Would be happy to answer.

    On the above, I'd give Toytown Germany a wide berth. It's okay for the odd snippet of info but nothing you can't find out elsewhere. A bigger community of negative, bitter and spiteful people you won't find online.


  • #6
    Mr_Red
    Closed Accounts Posts: 483 ✭✭Mr_Red


    I lived in Dortmund for years. hit me up if you need advice


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  • #7
    murphaph
    Registered Users Posts: 19,018 ✭✭✭✭murphaph


    To be fair there is lots of info on toytown that you won't find anywhere else...in English.

    It is heavily laden with assholes though.


  • #8
    Corvo
    Registered Users Posts: 3,645 ✭✭✭Corvo


    Soldie wrote: »
    Do you have any specific questions? Would be happy to answer.

    On the above, I'd give Toytown Germany a wide berth. It's okay for the odd snippet of info but nothing you can't find out elsewhere. A bigger community of negative, bitter and spiteful people you won't find online.

    Hey, thanks for the replies everyone. I appreciate it. I should provide more specific details which would help, was just in a hurry to start the thread.

    - How hard is it to gain employment? I've been involved in insurance for the past 6 years - both commercial and personal lines. My friend is an experienced barman, but the two of us would be willing to basically do anything though I would prefer personally to stay away from hospitality if I had the option. I would like something in a factory where I could do long hours over a space of a few days.

    - Organisation of living accommodation etc.

    - Study/Education - Night classes available?

    I apologise if I am being vague, its just I have never moved out of Ireland before and I really am a novice.

    Thank you for the replies so far.


  • #9
    The Hill Billy
    Registered Users Posts: 22,744 ✭✭✭✭The Hill Billy


    While the above site may have its fair share of bitter expats (as do most sites of its ilk) - there's no harm in doing a quick search for specific queries that you may have.

    It may help if you can say why you actually want to live in Germany, whether you can speak German, etc... The latter, especially, will determine how easy or difficult it will be for you to get a job. For example, if you do not speak German & you have no experience in factory/production line work, you may find it more difficult to get a job (or at least a job that you could survive on).

    Night classes/adult education will be available, but are you looking for freebies or would you be willing to pay? Again, if you are not a German-speaker the range of classes may be limited to non-existent.

    For accommodation - I usually do a bit of research on the net to identify decent local rental agencies &/or accommodation sites & apply for an apartment through them.


  • #10
    Mr_Red
    Closed Accounts Posts: 483 ✭✭Mr_Red


    You should also get the TEFL Certs as many people Teach English as a Backup


  • #11
    Corvo
    Registered Users Posts: 3,645 ✭✭✭Corvo


    The Hill Billy wrote: »
    While the above site may have its fair share of bitter expats (as do most sites of its ilk) - there's no harm in doing a quick search for specific queries that you may have.

    It may help if you can say why you actually want to live in Germany, whether you can speak German, etc... The latter, especially, will determine how easy or difficult it will be for you to get a job. For example, if you do not speak German & you have no experience in factory/production line work, you may find it more difficult to get a job (or at least a job that you could survive on).

    Night classes/adult education will be available, but are you looking for freebies or would you be willing to pay? Again, if you are not a German-speaker the range of classes may be limited to non-existent.

    For accommodation - I usually do a bit of research on the net to identify decent local rental agencies &/or accommodation sites & apply for an apartment through them.

    Unfortunately I don't have a word of German which will obviously be a huge disadvantage, but the reason I want to live there is because its a place I have always admired from afar - bit of a dream really and one which I do not want to not have realised.

    Is the language barrier a big disadvantage when it comes to employment or is there an niche area for English speakers?

    I would be willing to pay for further education within reason - in whatever area would help me along over there but obviously learning the language would be step one.

    HillBilly, again apologies for being vague - Im just testing the ground and am learning as I go.


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  • #12
    random_guy
    Registered Users Posts: 213 ✭✭random_guy


    If you have good experience in the insurance industry then Frankfurt could be a good bet with all the financial things that go on there.
    I've known people who've lived there without a word of German and got on since the working language is English.

    A lot of advance work will be needed but you can send applications from home. As for your friend? There are plenty of bars of course but are any of them hiring is a different question.

    Toytown is good for information but as was said above, the arsehole factor is high.

    If you (both) are serious then you best is to get some German classes, meet some Germans living in Ireland to practice (easier said than done depending on where you're living) and get yourself to a good level. The insurance industry is going to be full of some crazy long words broken down in to not much shorter Abkürzungen :D

    That said, if you get lucky and find something suitable, then brilliant. There's much worse places to live.


  • #13
    The Hill Billy
    Registered Users Posts: 22,744 ✭✭✭✭The Hill Billy


    Hey, Corvo - no need to apologise. A move like this can be daunting & initially it may take you some time to get the whole thing right in your head & understand the implications of what you are trying to do.

    If you are still in insurance (& if you work for a multinational) would it be possible to request a transfer to a German office, if they have one? Or could any of your contacts in the game give you an introduction to someone in their German network?

    Maybe create a LinkedIn or Xing profile & make some connections with German recruiters that specialise in the Insurance sector?


  • #14
    doopa
    Registered Users Posts: 435 ✭✭doopa


    I don't think its necessary to speak German to live there - though obviously it really helps especially if you want to take anything away from the experience other than a surface level appreciation that things work better there. Finding work may be slightly tougher if you can't speak a word - but talk to some recruitment agents and see. Phone them before you head over maybe? There are definitely jobs for english speakers. Many firms I knew spoke English as a first language - these tended to be very technical firms though. My health insurance company for example spoke English as first language, so maybe look for some more specialised firms. I didn't speak a word of german when I moved there - but the whole immersion thing made me learn really quick.

    Accommodation can be tricky with typically quite large deposits but you could look at 'zwichenmiete' - basically a fixed term (3 months maybe) rental from someone who may be working abroad for a while or something similar. That would give you time/space to find something else. Also its a bit cheaper cos of the fixed term thing.


  • #15
    Soldie
    Hosted Moderators Posts: 1,713 ✭✭✭Soldie


    Perhaps my criticism of Toytown Germany was a little bit harsh. It's true, it is a decent source of information. It's just that if I had taken some of the 'advice' there a little too seriously I'd probably have bottled making the move myself. I'm very glad I didn't! I'd hate to see someone talked out of a potentially good move by a bunch of begrudgers, hence my previous post.


  • #16
    Soldie
    Hosted Moderators Posts: 1,713 ✭✭✭Soldie


    Corvo wrote: »
    Hey, thanks for the replies everyone. I appreciate it. I should provide more specific details which would help, was just in a hurry to start the thread.

    - How hard is it to gain employment? I've been involved in insurance for the past 6 years - both commercial and personal lines. My friend is an experienced barman, but the two of us would be willing to basically do anything though I would prefer personally to stay away from hospitality if I had the option. I would like something in a factory where I could do long hours over a space of a few days.

    - Organisation of living accommodation etc.

    - Study/Education - Night classes available?

    I apologise if I am being vague, its just I have never moved out of Ireland before and I really am a novice.

    Thank you for the replies so far.

    Reverse order:

    - Evening classes are widely available in the bigger cities.

    - It's relatively cheap and easy to rent in Berlin, though it's becoming more expensive. Hamburg's rents are higher but not extortionate, although it's very hard to get a place. In Munich the rents are far, far higher, not sure how hard it is to get a place. I don't know much about other cities. Check out www.wg-gesucht.de for short- and fixed-term private rentals. It's probably your best bet to start out with.

    - A sensible question but also a "how long is a piece of string?" question. From my experience, there are lots of English-speaking jobs out there, but learning the language is a good idea if you really want to increase your prospects. That being said, I know loads of people who've been living and working in Berlin for years and they still haven't got a word of German. I also know some people like that in Hamburg. An increasing number of German firms have English as their internal language. Contact recruiters and look on Indeed for English-speaking positions (e.g. http://de.indeed.com/Jobs?q=english+title%3Ainsurance&l=).

    Do you have any idea where in Germany you'd like to live?


  • #17
    murphaph
    Registered Users Posts: 19,018 ✭✭✭✭murphaph


    Munich is the centre of the Insurance industry in Germany. One of the world's largest re insurers is there, Munich Re. Allianz are also headquartered there.


  • #18
    hfallada
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,180 ✭✭✭hfallada


    murphaph wrote: »
    Munich is the centre of the Insurance industry in Germany. One of the world's largest re insurers is there, Munich Re. Allianz are also headquartered there.

    I second that. OP Munich is one of the richest cities in Germany. I lived there for the Summer and even people from San Francisco could not get over how wealthy it is. Unemployment is pretty much non-existent. Literally every street has signs looking for staff. But they want German speaking staff.But Munich has a lot of Finance and Insurance companies.

    But due to its amazing economy and wealth. It makes looking for a place to rent in Dublin seem easy. I heard from people putting up a room on a house sharing site, that they got over 150 replies in a night. But Irish people are well loved in Munich and there is a huge amount of them there. I heard rarely heard English accents, but a ton of Irish accents. There is like 8 Irish bars in Munich and a huge expat community. Night clubs have open end and its a fun city to live in. But its not wild like Dublin through. Its super safe and the public transport is amazing(but expensive).

    OP Ryanair fly to Memmingen (Munich West). So why not pick up a cheap flight and see how its goes for a month. Stay in a hostel as they are cheap during the Winter in Germany. If it fails get a cheap flight home. But Summer in Munich is so nice. Its about 30-35 degrees(rains more than Dublin). But the Winters are supposed to be cold enough. You can go skiing easily enough from Munich.


  • #19
    munchkin_utd
    Registered Users Posts: 7,820 ✭✭✭munchkin_utd


    hfallada wrote: »
    <snip>
    OP Ryanair fly to Memmingen (Munich West). So why not pick up a cheap flight and see how its goes for a month. Stay in a hostel as they are cheap during the Winter in Germany. If it fails get a cheap flight home. But Summer in Munich is so nice. Its about 30-35 degrees(rains more than Dublin). But the Winters are supposed to be cold enough. You can go skiing easily enough from Munich.
    not a bad idea. Hostels can be as little as a tenner a night during the winter .

    weatherwise in the summer, it indeed rains (mm wise) more than say Dublin but it rains (amount of time when its wet and miserable) much much less.
    The rain normally comes as a bit of a summer storm in the evening or even depths of the night and buckets for a few hours - but you would have the daytime before and after lovely and sunny.


  • #20
    zweton
    Registered Users Posts: 2,683 ✭✭✭zweton


    anyone know if it would be handy enough to pick up an english speaking i.t job there?


  • #21
    murphaph
    Registered Users Posts: 19,018 ✭✭✭✭murphaph


    In a word, yes, it would. I work as a Java developer here in Berlin. I speak fluent German but our office language is English as there are a number of devs who don't speak German in the company. Our head office is in Munich and they also have guys who don't speak German so they also hold meetings in English,


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  • #22
    zweton
    Registered Users Posts: 2,683 ✭✭✭zweton


    cool,how are you enjoying berlin? also whats the best site for english i.t jobs there?


  • #23
    murphaph
    Registered Users Posts: 19,018 ✭✭✭✭murphaph


    Ah I'm settled here now. It's home to me. To be honest I don't know the best jobs site. I have gotten all my jobs since the first one through word of mouth.


  • #24
    Soldie
    Hosted Moderators Posts: 1,713 ✭✭✭Soldie


    Try indeed.de.


  • #25
    random_guy
    Registered Users Posts: 213 ✭✭random_guy


    Somewhat related:
    http://www.thelocal.de/galleries/lifestyle/ten-of-the-best-expat-jobs-in-germany


  • #26
    keithclancy
    Registered Users Posts: 9,222 ✭✭✭keithclancy


    Hi OP.

    I've been working in Dusseldorf for the past 7 years and was living there half the time for 2 of those, now I live on the Dutch border and commute over :)

    I would say its possible to find a job with English only although more limited.
    Definitely find something BEFORE you turn up in Germany, don't just walk around handing in CVs.

    Tailor your CV to specific jobs, only have the relevant experience on there.

    If possible I would say find a place where you can rent month to month in the beginning. It's better to do this so you can get a feel for the area when you arrive and live where you actually want to live rather than live in a place you rushed into because you had nowhere to stay :)


  • #27
    hfallada
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,180 ✭✭✭hfallada


    Soldie wrote: »
    Try indeed.de.

    I think xing is more commonly used in Germany. Everyone in the summer told me in Munich, its far more popular than linkedin


  • #28
    nicewan
    Registered Users Posts: 1 ✭nicewan


    Soldie wrote: »
    Do you have any specific questions? Would be happy to answer.

    On the above, I'd give Toytown Germany a wide berth. It's okay for the odd snippet of info but nothing you can't find out elsewhere. A bigger community of negative, bitter and spiteful people you won't find online.

    Agree with this, they're a weird bunch of folk who seemingly don't take one iota of joy from having moved to Germany and will tell you (at best) that it's too difficult and not worth the hassle (it's not) and at worst will sneer down their noses at you and deem you not worthy of moving to their beloved Deutschland. I've been here a year easy enough and I'm the most disorganised and lazy guy you can imagine, Berlin is class.


  • #29
    jester77
    Registered Users Posts: 11,262 ✭✭✭✭jester77


    Toytown can be a little strange and at times intimidating, but it's not all that bad. I've been there for years, before it was even Toytown. it initially was a forum for British ex-pats in Munich, Britboard, and then it expanded when they merged or took over some other forum. So you will notice that a lot of the old core users are southern based and mainly from the UK. Some of them have had failed business dealings together and some of them are pushing their own agenda so you will regularly see that threads can quickly go off topic and get bitchy. It is still a good source of info for new comers, just use the search. The same basic questions get asked all the time and have been answered multiple times so you can understand why some answers might come across as rude.


  • #30
    keith16
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,061 ✭✭✭keith16


    Sorry for keep going on about ToyTown, but it really is a horrible place.

    The Swiss equivalent is not much better either. There is one thread on there about driving in Switzerland. Huge mod warning at the start of the thread that you should read the ENTIRE thread before asking questions.

    The thread has thousands of posts that date back to 2006 with a lot of the info well and truly out of date. :rolleyes:

    Anyway OP, have you considered Switzerland?


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  • #31
    keithclancy
    Registered Users Posts: 9,222 ✭✭✭keithclancy


    keith16 wrote: »
    Sorry for keep going on about ToyTown, but it really is a horrible place.

    The Swiss equivalent is not much better either. There is one thread on there about driving in Switzerland. Huge mod warning at the start of the thread that you should read the ENTIRE thread before asking questions.

    The thread has thousands of posts that date back to 2006 with a lot of the info well and truly out of date. :rolleyes:

    Anyway OP, have you considered Switzerland?

    Expats are a weird bunch and it seems to be uniform no matter what the country.

    The ones that move from the UK/Ireland seem to do the following:
    • Complaining about the Public Transport (oh my god the train was 6 minutes late, when in Cork you're lucky if the bus turns up)
    • Complaining about people being rude (Cultural difference, Germans/Dutch/Swiss/Belgian are all just more direct, on the flipside a German can end up going mental trying to work out what people actually mean when they visit Ireland, wtf does 6ish mean)
    • Complaining about the cost of Healthcare (Even though in a Hospital in Ireland you could be sitting on a trolley in A&E for 2 days and die before anyone remembers you are there)
    • Complaining about high taxes (although all these services and infrastructure cost money)
    • Complaining about tourists (Ironically)
    • Complaining about Expats complaining about things (I guess that's me.. crap)

    Basically they try to compare the worst of everything in the country they are in to the best of everything in the Country they are from. The whole place where they are living is an expensive xenophobic shíthole, with stupid *insert government authority* and too many fines/taxes/administration and X country is waaayy better than where they are.

    When you ask them, why don't they just go home rather than every single little thing they say.

    WELL F*CK YOU ITS NOT THAT EASY YOU DON'T KNOW MY SITUATION, HOW DARE YOU.

    :pac::pac::pac::pac:

    **Don't take the above seriously, its meant to be a joke :P


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