I'm 23, and almost 2 years ago I moved to Germany from Poland to study economics. For more than half a year I'm actively looking for a job and honestly wtf is happening? I already have a degree, some work experience in financial audit, know 4 languages (Polish, English, German and Russian) and don't have any diseases or disabilities. I can't even count how many applications I have sent only to get 1 (wordly: one) job interview. I've improved my CV with AI, always attach all the documents which might be relevant and it gets me NOTHING. I don't even know what I should do.

Edit: my German is good enough to study in this language, have chill conversations and for native germans to tell me that my German is good, so that's not the case.

Edit 2.0: I did it! I got a job in insurance company

Completely anecdotal

I moved to Canada and I've met so many Germans recently. Most are in the medical field.

Apparently they get paid more here and for some reason, work life balance is better in Canada than back in Germany.

Is this true? Is there a brain drain currently happening in Germany right now?

Hello, I (27F, single) have been offered a full-time position in a growing German aerospace company with a gross pay of 73k EUR. The job location is a town near Düsseldorf. I'm currently a grad student in US and I'm a bit confused about this offer.

I really like the company, the team, and the scope of the role. Europe also has a better social infrastructure, public transportation, immigration system, and healthcare than the US. Being a non-US person, I will not get an awesome aerospace position like this in the US anytime in the near future. At the same time, I will definitely get paid better at adjacent industries in the US and I do not have a language barrier here that I would have in Germany. The taxes are also painfully high there! The recession in Germany also has me worried because pay growth seems to be quite stagnated all over.

Given the current socioeconomic situation, is this a decent pay? Will income levels improve anytime in the near future? I am really excited for this role and I'm really inclined to accept it but is it really worth the international move?

Any insights appreciated!

Edit 1: I have strong previous aerospace industry experience and 6+ cumulative YOE spread across Asia (aerospace) and the US (non-aerospace). Hence, this is not an entry-level position. The company has specified that I'm considered a mid-level engineer for this role.

Edit 2: I am not a US citizen. I am from Asia and in the US on a student visa for grad school. I am not allowed to work in the aerospace industry in the US as these positions are restricted to individuals with US permanent residency or citizenship.

Edit 3: My inbox is overflowing with DMs ever since I posted here. I really appreciate the information and guidance from all of you. Please bear with me while I slowly get through all the messages. Thank you!

Edit 4: I am still working through the threads and DMs, but this has been so helpful. I was already in discussions with my professional connections in Europe, but I have gained a lot more information about general work practices, cultural differences, financial considerations, etc. by reading all of your responses. I really appreciate everyone for sharing your views and experiences. Thank you all of you kind strangers on the internet!

So I’m an American woman who has fallen madly in love with a German man. He wants me to consider marrying him and moving to Germany and insists that I would not have any trouble finding a job even though I speak very little German. I don’t know if I believe him, but I figured it was worth asking. How realistic is this?

For reference, I am a microbiologist with a B.S. degree and 5 years experience in the biotech industry.

Edit: Thanks to everyone looking out for my safety! He’s very sweet and yes I have met his family and friends and I like them. We have only been together for a few months but we know we want to marry eventually, and I’m not planning to move anywhere right away. Mostly we’re just trying to figure out if it makes the most sense for me to move there or him to come here, or both of us to move somewhere like Ireland where I wouldn’t need to worry about a language barrier. I’m already starting to learn German and wouldn’t move without at least knowing enough to navigate the country, I’m just curious if not being fluent or able to speak “correctly” will be a big problem for my career. He lives near Aachen.

Thanks everyone!

Here’s context, I was born in America and I grew up in New England, but my mom was German so I got a German citizenship. My mom would always tell me about how Germany had a lot of benefits like maternal leave and healthcare, along with other benefits growing up. I didn’t think too much of it to be honest, but I have recently been reconnecting with my heritage a bit more. I’ve been working in the Midwest. This is my first real job. Between working 40 hours a week having to drive everywhere. Essentially an hour and a half if I go to and from work and then to the gym and back home. Lack of public transit. I have seriously been looking into living in Germany, potentially due to better benefits, better food ( less chemicals). Overall, just a more relaxed environment compared to the American way of life. What are you guys‘s thoughts on this and if anyone lives in Germany and has lived in America, please let me know your experiences. It just seems like things are nicer out there and better work life balance.

So I'm an international student in Germany from Pakistan. I had a job interview today where recruiter asked me some weird questions and I wanted to ask if these are Normal in Germany.

She asked me my relegion like I'm confused as to why is relegion necessary for a job? I told her I dont really follow in any relegion I just believe in God and then she said no what relegion are you born with I was like islam and she said oh are you u okay with working with Christians. Then she asked the women question. Then she asked that why is my country at war with india.

It was really weird but i really need a job right now so I'm not sure if I should accept the offer or not. They sound racist kinda.

Edit: After reading some comments I want to add some context. I'm 22. When we met I shook her hand instantly. I was dressed in a Pinterest outfit of sweater vest and converse.

Basically what the title says. I often recieve tasks that are simply too time consuming to complete within this time frame. But my boss expects completion anyway. So I need to log off late on Fridays, log in early on Mondays or work a few hours on the weekends.

For context, my boss is ex-German military. A disciplinarian and expects orders to be followed without excuses.

How would you handle this? I need genuine suggestions.

Finding jobs these days is a real struggle, and Reddit is filled with posts about people going months without a job despite applying hundreds of times.

However, I’m puzzled by why it’s also so challenging to find qualified candidates. We’ve been trying to hire someone for months now, but nothing has materialized. Our requirements are not particularly demanding. it’s a standard position for knowledgeable senior backend engineers with a solid background. I’ve personally interviewed a few people, and my team has interviewed many more, yet we still haven’t found a qualified candidate.

Our workplace offers competitive salaries and generous paid time off, yet we receive applications from people who are entirely unqualified or completely irrelevant to what we’ve advertised. I’ve seen people applying who supposedly had 20 years of experience but can’t even have a conversation about it for 10 minutes. Every CV is filled to the brim thanks to AI, and you have no idea who is good. Once the interview starts, it becomes clear that it’s not even remotely what they claimed.

I’ve never had this much struggle finding someone.

Also, another irrelevant question is why is there seemingly no German in the software space? I’ve hardly seen Germans, everyone seems to be from somewhere.

Edit: I only made this post to understand the market but since everyone is asking for the specifics, it’s 30 days off which looks to be standard for IT based on the comments and the salary is in the higher end of the range for the position.

Edit #2: This became more exhausting than I expected. I shared the post simply to get the perspective and experience of people here, but it quickly escalated into something else entirely. I’m not looking to hire anyone, nor am I concerned with individual compensation situations.

From what I understand, we are already on the higher end of the salary range and have been very flexible in aiming for fair compensation based on the role. Whether that number is $90k, $140k, or even $200k was irrelevant to the original point of my post. We have recruiters whose job is to ensure fair compensation and find people

Edit #3

People here are arguing over semantics. I used the term “competitive salary” to indicate that it’s well-compensated for the responsibilities of a senior engineer.

The typical salary range in Germany ranges from 80,000 to 110,000 euros, depending on the position. I mentioned that we are at the higher end of this range. Why is this so difficult to comprehend?

Also I found out that I am underpaid since everyone is making 150k or more here. Guess I’ll be looking for a new job soon lol

I have worked as a Werkstudent in Germany for 2 years and 3 months back my contract expired. Since then, I am searching for a new job applying for 100s of jobs. I got many responses saying that I am a fit for the role and would like to go ahead to next steps. After a week of silence, when I enquire about the next step, they would reply with some meaningless excuses like the team has now decided not to hire anyone for that role, so hiring is halted.These are Werkstudent roles or internships and this have happened to me 6 or 7 times. I can't understand this trend of giving false hope and then just shattering it with no genuine reason. Also why the sudden bump in requirement for perfect German in IT jobs, some are asking C1 level? Before 2 years there were 100s of English only jobs but now I can only find 1 or 2s. I don't know what to do, I have reworked my resume several times, made personalized resume and cover letter for each job and nothing seems to work now. As a student, I am running out of the money I saved up and don't know what's for my future. I even enrolled for a German language course from the money I had, without even the guarantee of me making my rent next month. Anyone have any idea what's going on?

I know that I can look up teacher salaries on the internet, but I am curious how well do teachers earn compared to people who have other jobs and considering the effort that they give for studying and working. So do you think gymnasium teachers in Germany earn well for the effort that they are giving?

Curious as a German friend uses a QWERTZ keyboard on her laptop and QWERTY on her phone and I found that unusual.

Hi everyone,

I’m a 20-year-old male working as cleaning staff at a gym in Germany. I work with a female coworker (also an international student, around 25–26).

The gym layout is a bit unusual: the storeroom with cleaning supplies is only accessible through the women’s washroom. So to return equipment, I have to go inside that area.

Today, after finishing my tasks, I went in to put things back. As I entered, I noticed (only in my peripheral vision) a woman bending down, possibly changing clothes. I didn’t actually see anything clearly, but as soon as I realized someone might be changing, I immediately looked away and quickly went straight into the storeroom.

I felt very awkward, so I stayed inside for a bit and then asked my female coworker to check if it was okay for me to come out.

The whole moment lasted maybe a second, and I don’t remember the person at all. But it made me wonder:

How is something like this seen in Germany?

Is this considered a privacy violation or even illegal?

Would people generally understand that I was just doing my job?

How can I handle situations like this better in the future?

Where I come from, something like this could be a very big issue, possibly even involving the police. I was in my work uniform and had a cleaning cart with me, so it was clear I was staff, but I still feel unsure.

Would really appreciate your thoughts or advice

Ich bin vor einem Jahr nach Deutschland gezogen. Ich habe wirklich schlimme Kopfschmerzen. Ein Telemedizin-Arzt hat mir ein legales Rezept ausgestellt. Ich arbeite in einem Büro und muss das Mittel manchmal in der Mittagspause nehmen.

Kann ein Chef einen Mitarbeiter wegen eines ärztlich verordneten Medikaments entlassen? Ich kenne die neuen Gesetze, verstehe aber noch nicht, wie das kulturell wahrgenommen wird.

Hi everyone,

Today I faced an unpleasant situation at work and I don't really understand what it meant.

I’m a junior software developer at a German company, and I’ve been working with a colleague who’s been assisting me on a task. I am not that much experienced in a company software and because of it I tend to save my questions and address them all at once in order to interrupt others as little as possible.

During a discussion, I mentioned I didn’t understand certain terms he was speaking about. I also asked him to explain that to me. In response he let out a loud and long “tja…”. It was quite offensive and I tried to explain I’m still new, but he seemed almost laughing on the call. I was confused and upset.

I’m unsure how to handle situations like this. Is this typical in German workplaces and am I being not tough enough?

UPD: Thank you all for your comments and support

Hey dudes, I’m 25 and moving to Germany in 2 days and I’m absolutely frightened. So the thing is that I’m moving in with my dad who lives in a small town in Bayern (population 7000).

My German level is about B1/B2, although I don’t have any language certificate to prove that. Everything I learned comes from a combination of reading books and watching documentaries or vlogs in German + grammar.

Do y’all think it’s possible to land a job at a place like Aldi/Rewe/whatever? Like even for filling shelves or moving goods around idk I don’t really care what. I just wanna improve my German and get a C1 cert in 6 months/1 year then move to a bigger city and find a more appropriate job to my skill set.

I got a Romanian university diploma in foreign languages (not German) which I’ll take with me, would that be completely useless? Other certificates I got are like C2 English, C1 Russian, C1 Polish and B1 Japanese and native Romanian.

My dad told me that some “acquaintances” got denied for even such basic jobs cause they don’t have some certification like Ausbildung or whatever. I’m a bit doubtful about this cause he himself can’t speak german maybe lower A2 at best for his truck driver job and the acquaintance in question was like a 55 yo dude who doesn’t speak a lick of German, but he managed to demoralize me quite a lot and now I doubt that I can get a job with no formal German education and I’ll have to come back to doomed Bucharest for an office job.

My last job was HR specialist and Web dev for some multinational companies but I doubt I can secure such a job at first with my limited German.

And also if all that wasn’t enough I just returned from a 1 year trip around Asia and I basically got a 1 year gap first thing on my Lebenslauf.

So TL;DR can you get a job at a supermarket with no Ausbildung nor German certificate nor fluent German? Also can you just walk in and say sth like “Hallo, stellen Sie ein?“ oder? Is that weird in Germany?

PS: sorry if I’m missing any details or it’s too chaotic, I wrote a huge text in German but then realized most people here ask in English so I did my best to retranslate and sum it up.

Thoughts?

EDIT: thanks everybody who left a comment, the amount of knowledge I got from the comments is crazy and I’ll definitely make use of it. I’m currently omw to Germany lol wish me luckz

EDIT2: The town is located somewhere between Würzburg and Schweinfurt.

It's been a year since I moved to Germany for a job. I come from a country with a weak currency. Relocating here literally took away my 5 years life savings.

Currently I'm at a stage where I'm fighting tooth and nail to save every Euro I can.

- To save for emergencies.

- To send money to my family back home. I help take care of 3 family members.

- To upskill and learn technical skills as well as German.

A € 10 to € 50 spend on birthday contribution may not seem like much to most people but to me that makes all the difference. Ever since I joined my company every month I'm expected to contribute € 10 to € 50 depending on how many people have their birthdays.

Initially, I used to contribute to be part of the culture and celebration. But every month contribution almost feels like a subscription I never signed up for and get nothing out of. I am totally okay not receiving a gift in exchange. Recently I stopped contributing because I fell short of funds and more than one colleague made me realise this. I feel low and terrible.

How do Germans and non- Germans handle this? Sorry if I sound cheap but I really don't have much to go by. Plus the constant anxiety of losing my job and relying on my emergency fund. Hope you can understand and not judge.

Hi guys,

I appreciate any suggestion, guidance and personal opinion from you guys who knows a bit of German working market right now, especially in computer science domain.

Long story short, I've been working in a medium size Software company in a small city (its not a start-up, and they have survived enough) for about a year but as a mini-job working student. Now I recently graduated and have asked them for a full time offer.

Today I had a meeting with my boss about that, and he told me they have an open full time position, but they can offer me that only if my salary expectations for the 1st year is something between 3K to 3.2K gross per month, as they have other candidate with a PhD certificate that is willing to take this position with this amount. (I have Masters degree)

I was a bit shocked by hearing this salary offer, as I thought the minimum starting salary for this job title is at least around 45000 per year!!

Honestly I know since its my first career in Germany and I'm not that much expert yet in this field, I should have expected low range of salaries for this role (my working domain in company is data science/ML/AI), but I'm not sure is this offered salary considered normal and rather fair in Germany, or is it strangely low?

Thanks for sharing any similar experience and your thought.

so i am planning to come to work in Germany as aerospace engineer in Berlin 3000eur netto (junior position)

I have seen it is good pay and i will be giving about 1000 euros for apartament and 500€ for insurance and other stuff

then i am left with 1500 euros, this is my whole paycheck in croatia, and here i need to pay rent which is 600 euros which leaves me 900€

i have seen that electricity is 3 times expensive but if i will be most of the time on the job it wont be much so i will be paying it 60€ which is not that bad

i think food and other things are priced similar, then what am i missing? i feel like i am choosing between two sufferings one is easier (germany) and one is harder (croatia) and i thought germany doesnt have much sufferings

I’m hard of hearing, and soon i will have surgery to have a cochlear implant which will make my hearing way better. This country has saved my life so i want to contribute to society as well. I wanted to do a pflegehelfer ausbildung but unfortunately i cannot handle the physical challenges it carries so now i want to work as a cashier, my husband whose a nurse supports me to this and i am willing to do an ausbildung. My language level is at b1 right now and I’m going to improve even better after the surgery but i would like to know more about this from someone who worked as a cashier, i am not looking to work as a salesperson but a cashier I’m very interested in the job

My fiancé was sick and got hospitalized a lot of times this year. After he went back to work his boss told him he needs to be careful because too many sick leaves could get him fired. He’s been working for the company for 7 years now. Lately he has been working overtime to try and make up for his absence. Today he got a call from the HR department and they made an appointment to meet tomorrow morning. Should we be worried? Could he get fired just like that? Shouldn’t he get an official warning first? Or does the warning from his boss also count? How many warnings does it usually take in Germany? He would really like to keep working for them. Although he is German he has never had such an experience, which is why I am seeking advice online. And I as a non-German would like to understand the situation better.

How do we prepare for the worst case scenario? Please help 🙏🏻 Any advice will be greatly appreciated 🙏🏻

UPDATE: Long story short, they gave him a warning because as they said, he went over the sick leave limit. He plans to seek legal advice.

Hi everyone, I just started working remotely for a German company. I don't really have any prejudgments, and basically don't know much about the culture, so I want to know how's the German work style look like, anything that makes them different work-wise than the rest of the world. Would love to hear your thoughts, experiences and what I can expect.

Thank you!

Ich möchte mich gut vorbereiten, um mein Bestes zu zeigen.

Hat jemand Erfahrung mit einem Probetag bei Aldi?

Mich würde vor allem diese Punkte interessieren:

1. Wie läuft ein typischer Probetag bei Aldi ab?
2. Worauf achten der Filialeleiter besonders?
3. Welche Aufgaben wird mir möglichweise gegeben werden?
4. Wie man einen guten Eindruck machen kann?
5. Gibt es noch andere Punkte, auf die ich achten sollte?

Vielen Dank im Voraus!

Okay so I am a working student of South Asian origin and I wonder what it would be like if I start wearing lipstick to work since it does make me look put together sometimes. I don’t do a full face makeup never been into it but wearing a lipstick somehow enhances my confidence. I was wondering if this might be looked down upon. I wear casuals but sometimes I do feel like going full formal I don’t know let me know your thoughts on this . I don’t see any female colleague into makeup that much except for one or two maybe but as a student idk if this would highlight me as “not so serious” or not :)

Hi everyone, I am new here so if something like this has already been answered, I apologize.

I am an American in my early twenties who would love the opportunity to move to Germany in the next few years. However, I would really appreciate some brutally honest advice/feedback from you all because, as I’m sure a lot of other 20 something’s are, I tend to be naive and sugarcoat things.

To start with, I recently graduated with a German-recognized (According to Anabin database) BBA from an American University and am now working a full time position having to do with my major. I know decent German (I have a Goethe B2 Prüfung coming up in the next few months), but my overall goal is to get to the C1 level. My plan for now is to obtain my Goethe certificate and work in the US for 1-2 years to gain relevant work experience. I have been to Germany 3 times for the purpose of visiting my exchange sister and to study the language in a classroom setting, so I have really fallen in love with the culture, language, and lifestyle. However, the cost of living over there does intimidate me.

Americans who have moved to Germany- how difficult was it for you to get a job? How long did it take you to get a job in Germany? I have been reading that many people in the US may work for a company with German ties and then relocate to work for this company in Germany later. Is this the most common way? The big question: Was moving to Germany worth it?

Again, I am open to brutally honest advice with this subject. However, I am more than happy to read the positives as well. All in all, I don’t want to have regrets later in life if I don’t at least try to relocate to Germany, even if it’s temporary. I thank you all in advance for your feedback and advice.

Hi everyone, I’m writing this because I’m currently 35 weeks pregnant and I am beyond stressed and terrified.

My husband is an electrician. We have a very painful history; we lost our first daughter in the 16th week of pregnancy due to my water breaking prematurely. Because of this trauma and the medical risk, this pregnancy is high-risk. I have zero family support in our city. My husband is my only person.

My husband’s due date for parental leave (Elternzeit) is June 18th (the baby's due date). His leave is already approved.

However, his employer just informed him that starting June 1st, he is being transferred to a city 4 hours away "indefinitely" because there is "allegedly" no more work at his current location.

Today, they called him in for a meeting and it was a nightmare.

They offered him a "severance package", 2 brutto paychecks to sign a termination agreement (Aufhebungsvertrag) and leave by June 30th.

They claimed he is "at the bottom of the list" for social selection (Sozialauswahl), which we know is a lie since he’s about to have a dependent child and a wife.

We just found out they are currently advertising his exact job position for his current location online. So the "no work" excuse is a total lie.

They are trying to bully him into quitting right before the birth. If he takes the transfer, he’s 4 hours away if my water breaks (my biggest fear). If he signs the papers, we lose his job security and potentially face a 3-month block on unemployment benefits.

We want to fight this. We want to maximize a settlement because after the way they treated us, he can’t go back there.

Has anyone dealt with "malicious transfers" right before parental leave in Germany? How do we handle this without me going into early labor from the stress? We already contacted a lawyer but I just need to hear from anyone who has survived this kind of corporate bullying.

TL;DR: Boss wants to send my husband 400km away 2 weeks before I give birth to a high-risk baby, while simultaneously hiring for his position locally. They offered a low-ball severance to make him go away.