How I got a job in Germany: My journey and tips – Part 1

As many people ask me, I am writing here a first post about how I have found a job in Germany.

We already know that Germany lack of professionals in many areas, mainly It/programming, in Health industry: doctors and nurses. This was the first thing I saw back in 2018 when I started my research on the work possibilities.

As you might already seen in my profile, none of those areas is my area of work… Business graduated and with many years in innovation management, I was imagining how hard would be the challenge to find something in my field.

My Personal motivation for seeking a job in Germany

I grew up with a passion about Germany, its culture, tradicional music, food and history. Mainly, because my father’s family are German immigrants in Brazil.

I grew up with a Oma and Opa, and being part of a German-Brazilian community, having Oktoberfest celebrations and having the culture close.

The passion was always here in me, and after the years and some vacation time spent in Germany, I had a strong wish to live and work there.

In 2017 I have made my 4th travel to Germany , I have planned a fantastic travel through the Black Forest, passing through some cities in my beloved Bavaria, the Alps, and catch some Bundesliga matches. It was a wonderful trip and I was very sad to leave. I was so sad that I have cried, spontaneously when I saw the plane landing in Guarulhos, Brazil. I have felt a deep sadness and I couldn’t understand why.

That is the moment I’ve decided that I was ready to work on this new goal in my life: Move to Germany.

The 2 possibilities plan

I transform all the sadness I was felling into action and started to write down all the possibilities that I had to move to Germany and I came to 2 possibilities path: Study or Work.

Already graduated and working since many years, study would be possible only for a Master or Doctorate. To find a job I always thought it would be the hardest as I didn’t had any German skill and no citizenship. That is when I decided to make some actions at the same time, prepare for a scholarship for a master degree and at the same time, start my German classes.

As I am inpatient and impulsive, I have made daily private individual classes to finish faster the A1 and already booked for the next vacation from work the intensive A2 level in Berlin.

Work search

For me wouldn’t be an option to move to Germany for any type of job, I wanted to keep my work in Innovation management that I have invested for a long time, so I knew it would take time, and even with my lack of patience, I have imagined it would take 2 years.

I have searched and subscribed in total during many months for around 200 opportunities in my field, and from that, I have made 5 interviews. From those 5, three denied because of my German level, another because I had no European passport and the other I got the job. 😉

My goal in sharing the numbers here for you is to give you hope and not giving up… I got upset many times when a negative feedback returns, but I know it is not simple when you are from another country and without an European passport, and even more: without the German language.

In Brazil there is a saying that if it is supposed to be, it will be. But I want to add into it that if you are making your part, then it will increase the possibilities to happen.

Some tips for you that is looking for an opportunity in Germany:

Visit the country before: to see the culture and feel the environment. I have been here many times before before deciding to find a job. A tourist view is not the same as living in the day by day. I also know some foreigners that are very unhappy, for that I would recommend to visit Germany and feel also the bad weather days, grey days and evaluate if this is the place for you.
Learn about the culture and laws: it is very very important to respect the place you are going to. We, as foreigners, must learn the rules and laws respect and live them. This also represents the social rules in your building, about separating the trash, taking the trash bin to the street, taking away the snow in front of your home, traffic rules, and so much more… This is a very respectful country, so we need to keep like that. The order that we love so much about Germany depends on us too.
Learn the language: Your life will be. much more easy and light when you learn how to communicate in the country. Not only in restaurants or supermarkets, this is basic, but more sophisticated situations like in a doctor and even at work. We are in Germany, so German in the language to be spoken. It takes time, it is still taking time for me to finish B2, but I guarantee you that my life became much better when I have improved my German skills.

For this first post about job it is quite big, but there are more topics that I can bring. Send me your comments and questions in this regards, that I can also support with tips and learnings. Thank you for reading!

Fotos from Worms, the city that I’ve lived in my first 4 years in Germany. Lucky me, right on my moving week there was the biggest Medieval Festival happening, the Spetakulum: