written by Iana Stupina

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4 Jul 2023

How to find a well-paid job in Germany fast? If you immigrated to Germany, you’ve probably asked this question and googled something already. Immigration, in general, is a labour-intensive and mentally exhausting process. Finding a new job that will bring you joy and satisfaction might also be time-consuming, depending on your industry, experience level, and fluency in English and German.

In this article, we will share 7 practical tips on structuring your job search, staying focused and motivated, and landing a job in a new country.

It is split into two parts:

1. What you need to do to find a new job
   • Practical tips, frameworks and websites for a job search
2. Prepare mentally, stay focused and motivated while searching for a job
   • Practical recommendations from AdviSpace coaches

Job markets vary from country to country. The best start would be to do your research on a job market in Germany: to gain an understanding of the industries, volume of opened vacancies in your field, hard-skills requirements, and salary expectations. Identify areas and adjacent fields that align with your qualifications and interests.

How to do the job market research for a Germany? The easiest and fastest way:

1. Go to LinkedIn → search field → type in your specialization and city (or area you’re located) → you will see a huge list of open vacancies. But not all of them are relevant and updated.

2. Apply filters to narrow down your search and get access to the recently published opportunities: select experience level options, location type (on-site/remote), date posted (pick past week option) + play around with other filters such as industry, job functions, etc.

3. LinkedIn will show you all possible openings according to your requirements. You'll see the number of results on the upper side of the search area. It’s the volume of open positions in your particular case.

4. You can follow these steps and check the number of vacancies on the following websites:

• Sperstone: https://www.stepstone.de/
• Workwise: https://www.workwise.io/
• Indeed: https://de.indeed.com/
• English Jobs: https://englishjobs.de/
• RelocateMe: https://relocate.me/
• Total Jobs: https://www.totaljobs.com/
• Remote OK: https://remoteok.com/
• We Work Remotely: https://weworkremotely.com/

After defining the number of open positions, try categorising them: high interest, moderate interest, and low interest. Start from the high-interest category and do the following exercise (the numeric continues the steps from above):

5. Select top-10 vacancies you think can perfectly fit you and check their requirements: hard skills, soft skills, language requirements, and others.

6. Write them all down and think about what is missing in your case and where you have a lot of experience. Sometimes, your experience or knowledge in one specific area can compensate for your weak sides.

7. If you see consistency in missing one or two hard skills in every perfect vacancy for you, for instance, the knowledge of SQL, invest some time to cover this gap before applying for similar positions in the future. Probably, it’s a vital skill that will be checked during your interviews. You can take an online course and continue your search in parallel.

Note: ⁠If you decide to work remotely in a company without a German legal entity, ensure you know the tax rules for such a case. We recommend consulting with a tax advisor and clarifying all details with them.

Sometimes, finding a job in a new country requires the reinvention of your experience, skills, and background in general. Following step 7, time to update your application documents.

In your CV, you should unpack your skills and achievements from your previous experiences and align them with the requirements of the position you’re applying for.

• Your name, and contact details take up the narrow upper side of the first page
• About me section goes next: short (max. 3 sentences) description of who you are and your key skills, and the greatest achievements of your previous positions.
• Coherent, logical sequence of your working experience, education, and volunteering activities
• Focus on your achievements rather than on your daily routine
• Adapt your CV for a position you are applying for:
  • According to the research, candidates have a higher response rate to their CVs when they adapt a CV for a position. It doesn’t mean that you should re-write your CV for every vacancy. It would be sufficient to use the job description wording in the upper section “About Me” and in the description of your experience on the first page.

• More CV recommendations you can find in our Career Guide

• Don’t underestimate the power of your current connections and the power of LinkedIn. After updating your LinkedIn profile, make it “Open to work” on LinkedIn. Make a post describing your experience and what kind of next challenge you are looking for. Ask your network to support you.
• Check where your network currently works and ask for a reference if you have found a relevant vacancy in their company. Don’t be shy to ask for feedback on a company’s culture, managers, and overall experience working there.
• After applying for a vacancy, add an HR manager of this company to your network, leave a note specifying who you are, and express your interest in a role.
• Attend Job Fairs (online and offline) and talk to recruiters there. Leave your CV if you feel relevant and ask for this person's business card. Add him or her after a fair on LinkedIn and remind about yourself in a message. Job Fairs are also a chance to get to know new company names and establish personal contact. Sometimes, not only HRs represent a company but also managers and heads of some departments.

Tracking your progress with a job search is a great practice to have a complete picture of all your efforts and time that you already invested. The simple approach is to create an Excel sheet where you can have 5 columns: Company name, Position, Date of application, Status of an application, and Comments. You can add other columns such as first response date, contact of HR on LinkedIn, date of an interview, etc.

• Fill such a table continuously and try catching some patterns which will arise. For instance, in which cases do you have a higher response rate? Why? How fast do companies respond to me and what kind of questions do they ask during the interviews?

• Don’t forget to celebrate small achievements, when you were invited to your first interview, when you could get further in the hiring process, and of course, when you got your job offer! When you consciously celebrate your achievements, you admit your efforts, time, skills, and experience and therefore gain more confidence.
  • What exactly do you expect from your new role?

You’ve probably heard this phrase “Finding a job is also a job”. And this is a mentally challenging activity, especially for immigrants who are new in a country and compete not only with other foreigners but also with native speakers.

To stay motivated, define your job search goal.

These questions sound obvious but try answering them honestly in writing, stay grounded and be realistic. Our previous blog post shares a technique for setting and achieving goals. It’s a step-by-step one-hour mental exercise to help you gain more clarity and map your first steps toward your objectives.

Looking for a job is not always a straightforward and fun process. It’s inevitable to learn how to deal with rejections and stay focused and motivated after receiving a negative response. Thorsten Löffler an Empowerment & Career Expert at AdviSpace with more than 10 years of experience in helping immigrants to find a job in Germany shared the following tips:

• Don’t underestimate your mindset during the job search. You should stay positive to deal with rejections, not take them personally and prevent yourself from self-doubting. To stay positive, you can practice positive affirmations and meditations to ground yourself and return to your inner power.
• Perceive every rejection as a learning opportunity. Ask for feedback from HR managers, especially if you received a denial after a call or a meeting. Don’t be shy to ask for a reason for their decision and what you can improve for other open positions in the future.
• Reflect on your hiring experience with every company:
  • Apply “Reframing practice”: instead of asking, “Why I haven’t got this job” → “What have I learned out of this process?”
  • What you liked most, what would you improve in your answers and in your behaviour? document the questions you were asked, and practice answering them in a calm environment. This practice will help you gain more confidence to nail your future interviews.

📺 You can also watch his responses in a video about how career coaching can help you with your job search in a new country.

I want to close up this article by repeating this phrase: Finding a job is also a job.

Don’t give up if something goes out of your plan. Celebrate your small achievements, and don’t take the company’s decision personally. All companies are looking for a fitting puzzle for their teams. Try to adapt your CV according to a job description and stay confident while presenting yourself in the interview. Consider your job search experience as a fun game where you want to win at the end🙂

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