Anyone living in Germany?

Hail 2 Da Thief

I'm planning on moving abroad at the start on Jan 2011.
I've been mainly considering NZ/Oz but wouldn't rule out moving to another European country.
It would certainly be the less expensive option!
Despite their reputation, I've always found Germans to be fun & easy going people.
I've also heard cities like Berlin & Munich are nice cities but haven't been to Germany myself before.
I'm just wondering, what it's like living there?
Is it currently difficult to find employment over there?
Can you initially get by speaking English or would I need some level of German?

Thanks in advance!

n900guy

Hail 2 Da Thief wrote: »

I'm planning on moving abroad at the start on Jan 2011.
I've been mainly considering NZ/Oz but wouldn't rule out moving to another European country.
It would certainly be the less expensive option!
Despite their reputation, I've always found Germans to be fun & easy going people.
I've also heard cities like Berlin & Munich are nice cities but haven't been to Germany myself before.
I'm just wondering, what it's like living there?
Is it currently difficult to find employment over there?
Can you initially get by speaking English or would I need some level of German?

Thanks in advance!

Employment depends on what sort of industry or qualifications you have.

Usually, you need a high-school/secondary school level of German to be employed reasonably - B1 level minimum. You can get away with visiting Munich or Berlin and only speaking English IMO but working there they will and do expect qualifications if workign professionly (i.e, not in a coffee shop). Usually B2 level or completed Test DAF is the best reference point.

Once you go outside the large urban areas, you will need German in my experience.

munchkin_utd

if you have good qualifications and experience you could pick up a job without english in any of the major industrial bases, Munich, Stuttgart or the likes.
The only premace I'd put on that would be that the more experience you have the less problematic not speaking the lingo is.

In Munich theres 5000 Uk nationals, about the same again from the US and a right amount from France too. Most are there because they are specialists in Aero/ Auto or other fields. To get directly into a well known company like BMW or Audi is next near impossible, but theres lots of independent engineering firms that do design and simulation work onsite that are crying out for people.

Cities like Frankfurt or Düsseldorf are finance and trading hubs so there you'll find jobs relevant to that type of qualification.

Berlin though.......
Nothing there that I know of.
Rumours have it that theres a right number of irish brickies up there, but on internet fourms and on the ground in Berlin, its hard to substantiate if thats true or not.
The german building industry is dominated by east europeans using loopholes in european tendering laws to work for east european companies, on eastern wages but building in germany (and living on site in portacabins). Like the Irish in Britian in the 60s and 70s, the middleman makes the real money, the poor workers are only explioted.
Anyways..... with that as a background I am tending to believe that the rumours that theres loads of Irish building in Berlin dont have much factual basis!

EDIT:
you can also transfer your dole to Germany for when you are looking for a job. Its a bloody pain to get the paperwork done, but a friend successfully managed it abeit the cheques took a while to come.

jester77

Hail 2 Da Thief wrote: »

I'm planning on moving abroad at the start on Jan 2011.
I've been mainly considering NZ/Oz but wouldn't rule out moving to another European country.
It would certainly be the less expensive option!
Despite their reputation, I've always found Germans to be fun & easy going people.
I've also heard cities like Berlin & Munich are nice cities but haven't been to Germany myself before.
I'm just wondering, what it's like living there?
Is it currently difficult to find employment over there?
Can you initially get by speaking English or would I need some level of German?

Thanks in advance!

Germans are good fun, that old stereotype is disappearing. It's a good place to live, everything here just works, taxes are high but you don't mind when you see the quality of services you get in return. Employment is not too difficult depending on qualifications, plenty of openings in IT and it's actually difficult to find people at the moment for these positions. German is not a difficult language, take a crash course to get the basics before you come over and that should be enough to get you by in the shops/bars/restaurants. Lots of multinationals around where English is the default business language but you would still need some basic German for day to day stuff in the office or for just talking with colleagues.

Hail 2 Da Thief

Thanks for the replies guys, some really helpful info! Much appreciated!

In relation to my qualifications & background. I was a Quantity Surveyor in a previous life but would gladly take on pretty much any kind of work just to keep things ticking over.
Having no German would be a big disadvantage in trying to secure a decent job initially anyway I'd imagine!

If any other posters can offer further input it would be appreciated!

jimbo00

Im in the same boat, have a job offer for a job in Munich starting in January. does anyone know what its like to get accomadation over there? ill be working near Aidenbachstrasse on the U3 to Fuerstenried. not sure whats a good area to look for a place and if its expensive

keithclancy

jimbo00 wrote: »

Im in the same boat, have a job offer for a job in Munich starting in January. does anyone know what its like to get accomadation over there? ill be working near Aidenbachstrasse on the U3 to Fuerstenried. not sure whats a good area to look for a place and if its expensive

Munich is expensive for accomodation by German Standards

Try scout24, one of the bigger ones:
http://www.immobilienscout24.de/de/finden/wohnen/wohnung_miete/index.jsp

munchkin_utd

for jobs
try the job center!!

http://jobboerse.arbeitsagentur.de/

641,000+ open positions!!!

maybe browsing unsing google chrome browser if you want an auto translate of the site as you go.

sorchaniri

Just a quick recommendation for Germany, esp. Munich: check out www.toytowngermany.com (website for English-speakers in Germany), it's a mine of information on all sorts of topics.

jimbo00, send me a PM if you have specific questions about Munich, that's where I'm based.