Finding a job in Germany – setting up everything you need

Finding a Job in Germany may be a bit different from how you do it in other countries. I wanted to give you some pointers of things you need to take into consideration. I hope it will help some people.

First of all, it takes time. As I see it Germans are carful and need a lot of information and evidence in order to reach a conclusion, the interview processes can take up to 2 months here and that is normal.

CV / Resume – CV’s are also a bit different here. The thing I found the weirdest is the fact that you have to add your picture to your CV (Top right corner). I personally find it really problematic and think it leads to discrimination, but Germens see it as a sign of honesty, and a chance to get to know the person they are talking to.

Another issue you need to think about when you write your CV is to make it really practice. The more numbers and examples you give for what you did is better. Go straight to the point and prove that you actually did what you say you did.

Cover Letter – The next thing you will need is a cover letter. I have to admit that this is my biggest nightmare (: I never wrote one until I started looking for a job here. The good thing is that once you understand the format it pretty much increases the chances of you getting the call. The disturbing thing is that you have to adapt the Cover letter to the place you want to work in, so that adds 10 more minutes to every job application.

Some General tips I can offer for the CV and Cover letter –

  1. Make it pretty. There are many available free templates, choose one that you like and adapt it a bit. Add your stamp to it. For example I added the green color as it is my favorite
  2. Make sure you don’t have any grammatical or spelling mistakes. That is not a good indicator of you.
  3. If you are already in Germany, or you know that you will be very soon, change your residence to Germany, It makes the recruiter’s life easier.
  4. Have some friends go over you CV and keep on improving it until you reach the final version
  5. Adapt your CV to the position – You may need different CV’s. For example for sales positions and for client service positions you need different skill sets
  6. I like going over job descriptions and taking phrasings and skills from them.
  7. If you don’t speak German – do yourself a favor and write your CV in English.

Now that you have all that you need to start, in the next blog I will give you some tips for finding your position.