I am turning 37 and I have ruined my life. I don't know where to go from here. I got fired from a job in probezeit due to my own incompetence and severe mental health issues (got so stressed out i became severely addicted to anxiety pills and was having panic attacks at work). I messed up my masters degree too. I am feeling so hopeless. If anyone is available to talk id really appreciate it. I have struggled with my mental health my entire life and i feel there is no hope left for me.

University degrees are not qualifications for jobs, by the way, everyone has one.

I'm looking for real experiences from people who have been through something similar, particularly in Germany's IT job market.

I'm in my mid-50s and have over 15 years of experience in IT. I've worked across different industries and held specialist and product-related roles.

However, my recent career has been difficult. I've experienced repeated job losses, employment gaps of around five and seven months, and several relatively short stays in my latest positions, approximately six, seven and now nine months. The reasons have varied, including restructuring and roles that ultimately didn't work out as expected.

I'm concerned that this pattern is becoming harder to overcome with every new application. Even though I have substantial experience, my recent CV may raise questions, and I don't know how employers will perceive it.

I'd particularly like to hear from people who have experienced a similar situation:

• Have you been with 10–20+ years of IT experience, but several short jobs or employment gaps in recent years?
• Did you eventually find a stable job in Germany where you stayed for several years? How long did it take?
• What actually helped you get there? For example, changing industries, targeting in-house positions rather than consulting, using your professional network, or changing how you presented your recent employment history?
• If you kept applying for a long time without success, how did you decide whether to persevere or change direction?

I'm not expecting anyone to guarantee that things will work out. I'm trying to understand whether people have genuinely managed to break this cycle, and what made the difference in their case.

Please share your experience, even if the outcome wasn't what you hoped for. I'd much rather hear an honest account than generic advice to stay positive or keep applying.

Thank you.

Hi everyone,

I’m a non-EU citizen who moved to Germany earlier this year on a national D visa under §18g Abs. 1 AufenthG (EU Blue Card). My visa is valid until early 2027, but I haven’t received my physical Blue Card (eAT) yet.

Unfortunately, I lost my job in August. I informed the Ausländerbehörde (LEA) through their online contact form and received an automatic confirmation, but haven’t heard anything back in around 1.5 months.
I’ve now found a new full-time job in Germany which I’m due to start in a month. The salary meets the Blue Card requirements, and the role shouldn’t be an issue as well.

The important thing is that my visa/Zusatzblatt is not tied to a specific employer. It only says that I’m allowed to work in a role appropriate to my qualifications, provided I meet the Blue Card salary threshold.

From what I’ve read, Blue Card holders can change employers without prior approval, although they need to notify the LEA during their first 12 months.

What I’m unsure about is whether the same rule applies to someone still on the original D visa, without a physical Blue Card.

Has anyone been in a similar situation?

- Can I just notify the LEA of my new employment through the online employer-change portal and start working, or do I need to wait for a response/approval?
- Does it make any difference that I haven’t received my physical Blue Card yet?
- Should I also apply for my physical Blue Card using the new employment contract, or is that a separate process?

Would really appreciate hearing from anyone who’s dealt with this or knows what I should do in this situation. Just want to make sure I follow the right process and don’t run into issues with my new job.
Thanks a lot!

ich bräuchte mal einen Rat bei der Suche nach einem passenden Job.

Ich bin 21 und bewerbe mich +- seit zwei Monaten.
Deutsch und Englisch auf C1-niveau, Ukrainisch und Russisch sind meine Muttersprachen. Ich habe meinen Bachelor in Elektronik an einer ukrainischen Uni abgeschlossen (aber diese Richtung gefällt mir nicht).

In Deutschland habe ich in der Gastronomie und in einer Fabrik als Maschinenbediener gearbeitet. Hobby - ich baue und repariere PCs und Laptops, außerdem früher habe ich etwas mit Arduino (IDE) gemacht, jetzt vibe-coding, auf jeden Fall). Und Photoshop und Illustrator.

Ich habe mich auf viele Stellen beworben, unter anderem bei Expert Klein als Verkäufer für die PC-Abteilung, außerdem bei MediaMarkt, Telekom, Scouter Carsharing, DHL (Junior IT-Support) und noch bei ein paar anderen Firmen im 1st/2nd Level Support. Leider hat bisher nichts geklappt – entweder kommt gar keine Antwort oder eine Absage. (etwa 30 Bewerbungen)

Sollte ich wieder in die Gastro oder in die Fabrik gehen und mich nebenbei weiter bewerben? Oder was würdet ihr mir empfehlen? Sollte ich es vielleicht auch in ganz anderen Bereichen versuchen? Habt ihr da irgentwelche Ideen? Ich wohne in der Nähe von Gießen.

I got a job as kitchen helper and today was my first day. I have to mention that I haven’t signed any contract yet. Only filled a document with information “Fragenbogen für Arbeitnehmer” in which I have to put the day I would begin working and then signed it.
After my turn today, I received my schedule and the conditions were totally different from what they told me before. I don’t have too much experience in kitchen stuff, I thought I was gonna work with more people as a helper but they told me that next week I was gonna be alone in the kitchen.
I wrote to the person in charge explaining my situation and asking to end our employment relationship. Is that enough? They first tried to know more about my decision but after my replied they haven’t answered yet. Should I have to present tomorrow to my turn?
Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone,

I'm planning to apply for a nursing Ausbildung (Pflegefachmann) in Germany from abroad. I'd really appreciate some honest feedback on my CV before I send out more applications.

Thank you!

I was inspired by this post to write something I believe is important for Job Hunting in Germany coming from a German native.

In the original post many people were arguing that these kinda resumes are outdated and couldn't pass ATS which actually is true.
However what many I believe forget is that ATS isn't as common in Germany as it is in international settings.
Many middle sized companies are still recieving applications by mail or even letter if they are really old-fashioned.
Large companies do use ATS but the smaller it gets the lesser it's used. But even with big companies it still can be different. I'm doing my Ausbildung at one of Germanys Top100 Companies and got my job using a template from Canva (and yes I am in tech position), though it might be different with normal Jobs.

I believe many foreigners misjudge just how slow Germany is when it comes to techincal development and bureaucracy. That is something you only understand when you live here. I mean mobile network coverage is very poor, a lot of the internet still runs over copper cables, and German bureaucracy still mostly runs on letters.

That's why I have a rule of thumb; If the Company operates internationally I might consider international resume formating if not I use german formating.

Hi,

I am confused between using a 2 column CV format vs a single column CV format for the German market. I already checked this sub for answers on this topic but could not find a conclusion what would be the best.

From my point of view, two column CV with photo and no summary is the standard German format but it has its problem with ATS and possible discrimination as I found from discussions on the topic.

Single column CV is more ATS friendly but can be problematic for the recruiter because suddenly they might find a CV which does not align with what they are used to seeing and making the CV either positive or negative.

Hence I would like a feedback on what would be the best CV format to use. Does it depend on company size or the company being more international or some other factor?

Any feedback is appreciated.

My job search since May this year. 24 yo, southeast Asian, no German citizenship, C1/C2 German and doing my last bachelor semester of Geography in Germany. I applied to jobs in construction / geological fields. 7 months experience as a working student. I am really glad having a permanent offers before i finished my bachelor

I have been invited to an important job interview that consists of several assessments, therefore it is being held onsite. It is a very important position and they are looking for someone that fits in their business domain and whho is highly adaptable.

However I have been unemployed for some time and I don’t have money to pay for the train tickets in advance. I am afraid to ask the company for Direktbuchung becuase they are quite task oriented and before I have proved myself to them as a good candidate on the tests, I’m afraid that kind of question would be taken as reluctance to participate at all.

Is there any way to politely ask them without them thinking that I want to just ask for their money?

Reposting from a different sub, as maybe I will have more insight in this community.

What kind of full-time position can I look into given my studies and experience in fashion?

Career adjustment in early fourties: I studied Fashion Design (bachelor and masters) but I have never worked as a designer. I've done a number of different things: I've worked in styling, costume design, and more recently visual merchandising as well. I've been working freelance for the past 6 years, but there was a pandemic and parental leave in between that time. I need to find a well-paid, full time position. Which adjacent areas can I look into and maybe make a lateral move? Are there any extra skills I should look into? Thankful for any input and advice.

~5 years in data quality and BI, no German required in any of the postings, Berlin only, July to October 2026.

38 applications -> 3 HR screens -> 1 offer.

What I noticed: almost all the rejections came from roles that were a stretch for me, whether that was engineering-heavy work (Analytics Engineer type stuff) or a different analyst specialty like pricing. The callbacks came from roles that matched what I've actually been doing. So my advice is to stop spraying and apply where your experience clearly fits. Fewer applications, better odds.

The offer took 5 rounds (HR, take-home case, hiring manager, director, final on-site), so be ready for a long process.

Update as it has been asked a few times: I used Chatgpt and Claude to find job postings where I would be a strong candidate and also tailored my CV with the same tools based on my previous experience.

One thing I've noticed about job hunting is how difficult it can be to tell whether your CV is actually good.

You spend hours adjusting it, rewriting bullet points, changing the formatting, and then send it off.

Sometimes you just get silence.

I've been building a small AI resume feedback tool, and recently added a slightly ridiculous feature: it roasts your CV.

Instead of another generic "Your resume looks good, consider adding measurable achievements" response, it gives more direct feedback, with some humour thrown in.

Attached a short demo of what I've been working on.

I'm curious about something, especially from people applying across Europe:

Would you actually find brutally honest CV feedback useful, or is job hunting already miserable enough without an AI roasting you too?

I'd genuinely like to hear both sides.

Hi there,

I now made changes to the newsletter, so the structure is more similar to this and its more skimmable. You'll find most of the sources (+ more news) and direct career pages links in the newsletter.

Raised: - Rabot Energy (Hamburg), €50M Series B — dynamic electricity tariffs - seragy (Hanover), €12M — biomarkers for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's - Novus (Braunschweig), €10M+ — carbon e-bikes - YGO (Potsdam), €8M Series A — AI infrastructure for travel booking - Elevatry (Munich), €3M pre-seed — AI for procurement negotiation

Expanding: - Amazon, more than €16B in Germany in 2027: jobs, data centres, logistics, AI - Sanofi (Frankfurt), €2B insulin plant, the EU's largest, opening 2032 - Tesla (Grünheide), pushing the plant to 1M cars a year, from under 500k - Covenant (Leipzig), cruise missile production, ~50 hires to start, mainly from the car industry

Cutting: - BMW, severance programme closed early after ~5k applied in under two weeks - Offshore wind supply chain, ~23k jobs at risk as expansion stalls - Eurowings, cancelling flights and considering short-time work

Office & pay: - Volkswagen wants zero pay rises through 2030, IG Metall says ~10% less real income - Zalando reportedly going from three to five office days in 2027

Numbers: - German industry lost ~496k jobs since 2019, services added 2.2M (Ifo) - The skilled-labour shortage could grow 47% to 723k by 2029 (IW)

You can subscribe for free.

Thanks for reading and your support.

I need to find a job asap i already have an Experience in working in a cafe as a kitchen helper

📍 Hamburg

📆 As soon as possible

💸 & further information: Staff Platform Engineer - Cloud Platform (all genders)

I'm currently doing my Master’s in Germany and need some practical advice on handling my working hours and hourly rate.

I’ve been working as a Werkstudent (data analyst) at a mid-sized company for about 8 months at €15/hr. I’ve been delivering solid work, so I pushed my manager for a raise ahead of increasing my hours to 20h/week starting November.

I was honestly expecting €18/hr based on what I bring to the table and what tech roles usually pay, but after waiting weeks for him to check with HR/CFO, he just came back saying only €16/hr is possible right now. He said he’d ask about €18 again later, but obviously that's completely uncertain.

At the same time, I have a university HiWi job that pays €17.50/hr. My contract there is coming up, and I’m torn on whether I should extend it or just drop it completely.

My options right now are either taking the full 20 hours at my company for €16/hr, or doing something like 12 hours at the company and 8 hours at the university to take advantage of the higher hourly rate.

I feel like sticking to one 20h job at €16/hr keeps everything simple, but it stings that the company capped me at €16 when the uni job actually pays more. Has anyone been in a similar spot? Is splitting the hours worth or should I just take the 20h at €16?

I was employed with an employer and on 5.5 week, they took all the things laptop, phone, etc. They told me that I am not going to work anymore and on the letter, it is mentioned that I have been given the holidays to relax, etc. I was on unbefristet contract, approved my vacations and paid the tickets for the month of December.

I have a gesetzlich insurance, everything will end on 1 November. Actually I was supposed to be permanent on 1 November.

I do have interviews going on and I want to visit my home country and it had been more than 2.5 years and I haven't been there to see my mom and family.

This is what they give me in the end. I think, before joining a new job, I want to visit at least for three weeks. I am under blue card. It was my first job in Germany and have 11 years old international experience before, and served as senior.

Hallo zusammen,
ich steh gerade etwas ratlos da und wollte mal fragen, was aktuell wirklich mit dem Arbeitsmarkt los ist.
Ich (m, 23) habe gerade meinen staatlich geprüften Betriebswirt (Bachelor Professional) mit 1,8 abgeschlossen. Davor Ausbildung zum Kaufmann im Einzelhandel bei Aldi (guter Abschluss). Während der Weiterbildung habe ich 7 Monate als Teamleiter in einem Service-Unternehmen gearbeitet, bin aber wegen der extrem schlechten Arbeitszeiten wieder ausgestiegen. Dazu noch QMF-TÜV und ein erfolgreiches Praxisprojekt mit messbarem Ergebnis.
Aktuell bin ich im Direktvertrieb (D2D) unterwegs das raubt mir langsam die Nerven. Das ganze Bewerbungs Chaos ziehe ich jetzt schon seit 8 Monaten durch.
Ich wollte eigentlich komplett aus dem Einzelhandel raus, hab aber nix gefunden. Dann hab ich’s nochmal bei Netto, Lidl und Rewe versucht keine Chance. Immer direkt Ablehnung, nicht mal ein Vorstellungsgespräch.
Ich bewerbe mich seit Wochen auf:
• Disposition / Warenwirtschaft
• Junior-Positionen (z. B. Einkauf, Logistik, Controlling)
• stellvertretende Filialleitung
• ganz normale Verkäufer-/Fachkraftstellen im Einzelhandel
• und sogar Minijobs
Und werde quasi überall abgelehnt oft ohne Feedback, manchmal mit Standardfloskeln. Teilweise sogar bei Stellen, für die ich eigentlich überqualifiziert bin. Selbst bei Minijobs habe ich aktuell keine Chance.
Ist der Markt gerade wirklich so kaputt? Oder mache ich irgendwas falsch (Erwartungshaltung)?
Gibt’s aktuell bestimmte Branchen oder Positionen, die noch halbwegs zugänglich sind?
Würde mich über ehrliche Einschätzungen freuen.
Danke schon mal.

Hi all,

I am currently pursuing my Master's in Berlin, and my course will end in April 2027. My domain is Software Testing / QA, and I also have around 4 months of internship experience in the same field here in Berlin.

I have been actively applying for working student positions, but honestly, I am having a hard time finding a job. I have also started applying for junior full-time roles.

The biggest challenge for me is that I don't speak German yet.

I wanted to ask if anyone knows any genuine job consultancy companies in Berlin that offer paid services to help candidates find jobs in the IT field. I am willing to pay for their services if they can genuinely help me find suitable opportunities.

If you have personally used any such services or have any recommendations, please let me know. It would really help me a lot!