What’s on this week? This week’s jampacked newsletter highlights – the best German companies to work for, according to LinkedIn, people’s honesty on job applications, skyrocketing rents in Berlin, and if German people are as hardworking as they are made out to be.

Personal News

🫣 Sometimes, I’ll overshare and/or rant a bit.

This week, I want to give a shoutout to the lovely Zim of Berlin Events Weekly.

Berlin Events Weekly is the answer to ‘What should I do this week in Berlin?’ They deliver the best events and activities to your inbox every Sunday, making it easy to plan your week. Plus, you can join their community members at these events through dedicated Telegram Groups, adding even more fun to connecting with others.

If you’re feeling lonely in Berlin and want to meet others to experience it together, this is one way to get started. 💛

General Community News

🤝 News from our community.

⭐ I mentioned last week that I created an Instagram account for The Berlin Life. It would mean a lot if you followed us there. 💕

⭐  I did a BIG rewrite of the very article that inspired me to create The Berlin Life. Read it: How To Find A Job In Berlin: An Honest & Detailed Guide.

⭐ You can catch up if you missed last week’s newsletter: Freebie Alert: Google Courses & Harvard Job Application Templates. If you’re new here, see the archives.

⭐  In last week’s poll, we asked the community: Do you send thank you notes after a job interview? Fifty-four people voted, and 33% claimed to send thank you notes after interviews, 35% said they don’t bother, 24% do it sometimes, and 7% said they might start to consider doing it now.

⭐ Participate in this week’s poll and tell us how honest you are when applying for jobs. And don’t worry; the answers are anonymous. 😉 Take the poll. 

Food For Thought

💡 Interesting articles about the world of work and other random things.

⭐ Musk wants to charge new X users to enable posting – He claims this measure will reduce bots, but many are skeptical that it will have any effect and could actually damage new user acquisition. Perhaps it’s a cash grab after recently laying off 10% of his Telsa workforce.

⭐ How Perplexity aims to reinvent web search – Have you used Perplexity yet? You can ask it a question, and it scours the web to recommend the “best answers.” Sounds cool, right? Yet, there are major flaws with their product. I experimented with it and found that it repeatedly presented information as “facts,” using outdated and wildly unreliable data sources. It also mixed and connected data in summaries that didn’t make sense. As much as one might despise Google’s search dominance, they’ve been working on their top-secret algorithm for 20+ years and know a thing or two. Maybe that’s a smart acquisition or merger in the making.

⭐ Berlin and Munich aren’t the only startup hotspots in Germany. Check out this map of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern’s startup ecosystem, featuring 100+ startups.

⭐ Jörg Kleis, co-founder of Find a Job in Germany, briefs software engineers on how to answer this intro question in job interviews: “Can you briefly describe the product you’re currently working on?”

Companies Hiring

🇩🇪 German companies that are hiring right now.

⭐ clare&me AI | Berlin

⭐ Priceline | Berlin

⭐ Piano | Berlin

⭐ The DO | Berlin

⭐ High Snobiety | Berlin

⭐ Qonto | Berlin

⭐ Metapic | Berlin

German startups that recently received funding.

⭐ Finmid | Berlin | Jobs

⭐ Pliant | Berlin | Jobs

⭐ Cozero | Berlin | Jobs

⭐ Flink | Berlin | Jobs

Follow our LinkedIn page for even more job postings (and other good stuff). 💪​​

News in Germany

🗞️ All of the news in Germany.

⭐ ​In all things employment, these are the best companies to work for in Germany, according to LinkedIn. Find out what to do and what your rights are should you get a written warning at work. About 16,000 people had their unemployment benefits cut for allegedly refusing to work.

⭐ I hate the overplayed stereotypes about German culture, so I like content that explores it in more thoughtful ways. Check this video from DW – Reality or cliche: Are Germans really so hard-working? 🤔

⭐ In good transportation news, Berlin’s €29 ticket is set to return July 1st. In not-so-good news (for some, at least), the German railway bans cannabis smoking at train stations.

⭐ Speaking of weed, Berlin clubs welcome hard-fought cannabis legalisation in Germany and Germany: Thousands celebrate new cannabis law in Berlin. 🌿

⭐ Is Bavaria the Texas or Florida of Germany? As they always seem to be the anti-everything, wtf are you guys doing state, smoking weed may soon be banned at bars, festivals and parks in Bavaria. Recently, they banned using gender-neutral words in schools and public bodies. Kids can lose points on their homework for using such words!

⭐ ​Nearly 100.000 new organ donors in Germany a month after register moves online – The kind of news we need to read more often. 🩸

⭐ Conde Nast rounds up 18 of the best things to do in Berlin, including visiting Berghain. They should have linked to this guide with tips about how to get into the venue.

⭐ In other cultural milestones, a bunch of Berliners went wild over the weekend when they lined up for the city’s newest exhibition featuring the German Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich. And German president to enjoy 60 kg of Berlin döner kebab in Türkiye visit. The headline is hilariously misleading—Steinmeier won’t be eating 60 kg himself. 🥙

⭐ Here’s an overview of when to consider legal action for your delayed German citizenship application.

⭐ Germany: Far-right leader on trial for using Nazi slogan – This is the guy who was recently chatting casually with Elon Musk about free speech on Twitter.

⭐ Whip out the tissues and start to cry as you watch your hard-earned Euros go to your landlord – Berlin rents increased by an average of 18,3 percent in one year. Dive deeper into the issue and read, German housing crisis: ‘Like winning the lottery!’.

⭐ Berlin has a longstanding reputation for hedonism, and it’s not uncommon to hear your friends bemoan they can’t find a partner who wants a monogamous relationship. Do we live up to the reputation – The naked truth: How kinky, poly and commitment-phobic is Berlin, really? 🫣

How We Can Help

😇 The good stuff offered by the Berlin Life.

⭐ Connect with like-minded professionals in our community by adding your info to our LinkedIn Connect and Exchange list. You can also chat with others in our Facebook and Slack community spaces.

⭐ We offer career coaching (and other services), plus free guides to living, working, and moving to Berlin. Here’s a sampling of some of our guides:

⭐ The Very Best Korean Restaurants In Berlin
⭐ What Are The Best Berlin Job Search Websites?
⭐ How To Write A German CV That Will Get You Interviews