A friend from JYM, last year's German exchange program, wrote me the other day. Having graduated at the normal time, she is now faced with the wide wide world and all the possibilities - and naturally, she asked if I had any advice re: moving to Munich.
I do, as it turns out. I have pages. I wrote on and on in response to a one-paragraph question. I hit "send" and watched in horror as my advice filled the screen.
Then I reread it, and it turns out that most of it isn't that bad. It's true that much of it is only applicable to people in exactly my situation (as she is, what with the German boyfriend living in StuSta and so on), but some of it is salvageable for any country anywhere! Not bad for before coffee!
So without further adieu, here it is: my advice to a graduate fleeing the US for another, more refined nation.
"Congratulations on graduating - and yeah, life in Munich is pretty great! It's been sixty degrees for at least a month, the bikers have become less aggressive, and we're about to experience StuStaCulum - the largest student party in Munich - directly in front of our back door. Also, knock on wood, it's rained way less this year. Party time!
Now for the bad news. In my experience, it's super hard to get a job in Germany as a native English speaker without them actually seeing you in person. I think this might be true for any country, but Germany is especially into a personal impression. I feel like they'll only hire you overseas if it's some corporate job for which you are ridiculously qualified. They're like that.
But if you're serious about moving here, why not just do it? As a lucky American, Germany will let you into the country for 3 months to search for jobs. You come in on a tourist visa, a friendly tourist visa that turns into an overstayed evil tourist visa if you're here longer than 90 days without fixing it... but I digress. If you've got money saved, come here, hang out, interview furiously. Don't worry about apartments: live with a friend. Live illegally in a supposedly unoccupied corner of StuSta's Green House. Live in a hostel! It seems risky, but it'll help if you somehow get one of those magical flexible-return-date plane tickets.
Second: what do you want to do? Jobs, here, are both easier and harder to come by than in the US - easier because hello, no economic crisis, no sad middle-aged man beating you out for an entry-level position, but harder because you um don't really speak German as well as you think you do.
So I'd look for jobs that attract native English speakers - both for the obvious reasons and for other, more technical legal ones, which I'll explain in a minute. (Unless you are an engineer or computer genius or have some other valuable skill that transcends language, of course, in which case what am I doing giving you advice? Go do whatever it is you do to get jobs, you well-educated person you, and I, the English major, will continue angrily blogging in her bathrobe while you earn much more money than me.)
In my experience, the absolute easiest-to-get - although shittiest-paying - job is in a bilingual kindergarten or preschool. They are everywhere, and a good way to improve one's German. If you like children at all, have any experience whatsoever, and don't come off as a serial killer in person, do it. The hours can be terrible, but German children are ADORABLE.
Other options:
There is always the good old standby: teaching English. Here in Munich, a freelance teaching visa is (apparently, although I wouldn't know) easy to get. But: you have to have job offers at two schools in order for them to take you seriously at the visa office, and it helps if you have some kind of flimsy TEFL qualification, available online or in an intense and expensive 6-week course somewhere. Another drawback is that you have to be really, really good at doing your own taxes and finding your own health insurance. Also, as in child-caring, the pay is weird, the hours erratic - unless you really love it and are talented at it, of course, in which case you can find a sweet gig at a corporation somewhere.
Then there is my route: nannying. Felicity Nannies - look them up! It's how I found my ridiculously easy job. They're an agency devoted to placing English-speaking nannies in families that want their children exposed to the language. This job will not improve your German, at least if you're me. It may even wither it. However, it may also place you in an elegant mansion with two well-behaved teenagers and bowls of expensive fruit. I'm just saying.
Last of all comes the option I considered first: English-speaking secretarial work. Apparently these jobs can be well-paying, rewarding, and have loads of upward mobility. If you've ever done anything like this before and are really good at wearing suits, hit patent offices and law offices up. They may just need your skills.
None of these are probably what you want to do for the rest of your life. They are, however, good ways of being allowed to stay in Germany - visas are a little hard to come by, especially since your employer has to be able to prove that the job can't be done by an EU citizen. Mine got around it by putting "will instruct our children in the American way of life" on the visa form. I still have no idea what that means, but it worked.
If you want to continue emailing applications before you take the plunge and actually move there, go ahead: just keep in mind that a German employer expects a personalized cover letter, a 2-page CV (WITH education information on it; sources vary on what that means), and a Bewerbungsmappe, which is basically copies of every certificate you have. (Diploma, certifications, immunization records... kidding, but still). So if you want to scan that stuff into your computer, do it it now, before you leave; life will be much easier later. Scan everything, every document you've ever received ever. Germans love documents. Have all of them.
Last of all - you're expected to have health insurance if you're in the country. I'd advise doing what I did: my worried mother bought me a not-very-comprehensive travel healthcare package good for five months, and then when I got a job my employers decided to pay for it, so now I have a shiny card in pinks and yellows with my name on it. Hooray! However, if you're going the freelance route, be aware that you'll have to provide your own, and there are only so many agencies that the Bavarian government finds acceptable... I'd buy one month of travel insurance, then try to find some while you're here.
Best of luck. My advice basically boils down to this: you can fuck things up a lot and you'll still be okay. I never thought they'd let me stay in the country, but look at me now!
Love,
Jessie.
PS, toytowngermany.com. Jobs, apartment, expatriates, angry vitriolic forum rages, funny stuff - all about living in Germany as an expatriate. Just don't spend too much time on it. Oh, how easy it is to spend too much time on it...
