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Angela talks about her experience getting work in Germany in this video. Check it out

Video transcription

Hi I’m Angela and I’m a Greek expat living in Berlin. I am a Social Media Manager and I’ve been working in Germany for almost 1 year and a half now.

My experience getting a job in Germany

We used to live in Amsterdam with my partner and a headhunter offered us some jobs and we agreed to move to Berlin and take the chance. My first job was in a really small startup in the beginning. And then after that I started working for KAYAK. For one year now I’ve been working for KAYAK as a Social Media Manager.

I was working in Greece as an Assistant Brand Manager, and in 2013 we decided to leave and look up other opportunities abroad. We first moved to Berlin, but only for 6 months, then to Amsterdam where we stayed for 3 years, and then back to Berlin which is now more than 1 year and a half.

My #1 tip for expat jobseekers in Germany

Living in Germany, in Berlin specifically is very nice, but it can be very challenging if you don’t speak the language. So I would suggest that you have a bit of patience on that, especially in the first phase because there are a lot of bureaucratic things that you have to go through. Knowing the German language or at least basic knowledge of it is a big pro. I would suggest that you take some courses in advance, just a little bit, and then you can upgrade it here. Also a lot of companies, especially startups, offer in-house German courses which is a really good thing to have.

Another thing is that you have to accept the culture, and not freak out from the beginning because it is going to take some time – once you are settled everything is going to work well. If you like adventure, if you like living in a big city that is super international – Berlin is the place to be – Lots of startups are here so you can switch around if you don’t like something. Big companies are also here. The quality of life is very good. The only thing is that if you are specialist it is way easier for you to find a job in Berlin, but if you are looking for something more like in retail, you have to speak the language which is something you have to try to learn. Other than that it’s a normal western European capital, as the rest of them.

If you are looking for jobs in Germany, then look at expatjobseeker.de

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