What’s on this week?

Layoffs abound and people are feeling the pain. Advice from a career coach is back. A list of purpose driven, high impact European startups. A new high-speed train will take you from Berlin to Paris.

Advice From A Career Coach

🙌 Practical advice about finding work in Germany.

Changing Your Career or Growing Within Your Company – Continued

In a previous newsletter,we shared the first steps to change careers or grow within your company. Today, we share more advice about how to advance yourself professionally:

The next step is to get it on paper and do your research. Hopefully, you’ve identified one or two intriguing career directions by now. Write down the things you like about the potential new roles, open questions you have about them, and things that worry you. The simple exercise of writing things makes the next steps more clear.

Now, you can start answering those questions and addressing those worries to create an action plan to change roles. Use the resources available to you.

Begin having honest conversations with your manager to assess their openness to you changing roles at some point. Start looking at courses in your area, talk with others to get further recommendations on formal training and guidance on other learning options. Use ChatGPT or Perplexity AI – they’re powerful tools that can do so much more than what you may think. Use them to discover the best books to read, start deep diving into specific topics, and doing practice exercises. If you feel nervous about that chat with your manager, figure out what to say using ChatGPT. You can even use ChatGPT to help you develop that action plan for your career change.

Next is to just do it. Start your learning journey and be diligent about executing your plan. Keep your manager updated. Maintain a journal about how things are going. Seek support from others.

Stay tuned, as next week, we’ll offer some last advice (do’s and don’ts) about how to successfully change roles within a German company.

🗣️ I offer career coaching to help foreigners improve their chances of finding work in Germany. Check out how I might be able to help you.

Community News

🤝 News from our community.

⭐ Our last poll asked: Has your German company laid people off over the last one year due to the current economy? 121 people responded, and unfortunately, 61% confirmed their employer had let people go. Yikes!

⭐ Take part in this week’s poll: Despite the current market in Germany and dealing with the uncertainty of a six-month probation period, would you consider quitting your job for a new one?

⭐ This week’s featured Berlin Life guides: A Moving To Berlin Guide – Move Here & Settle In Like A Local and These Are The Berlin Public Holidays In 2024.

⭐ Read last week’s newsletter: It’s Hard to Get Promoted at German Companies. For our past editions, see the archives.

⭐ Check out our partners: If you work as a freelancer in Germany, consider using Sorted to create invoices, track expenses, and file taxes.

⭐ Upcoming events: Our “Professional Women in Berlin – Networking Dinner Event” scheduled for Oct 16 is now fully booked. We’ll keep you posted if any spots open up.

Food For Thought

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

⭐ X (ahem, Twitter) fans are leaving for other parts, with Bluesky boasting 10 million+ users. In a satisfying moment of “karma is a bitch”, Elon must pay full severance to one of his former Twitter employees.

⭐ Meta (aka Facebook) finally acquired the Threads domain name.

⭐ I’m skeptical, but this dude on Threads shares some ChatGPT prompts to craft a standout CV.

⭐ A CrowdStrike exec attended a congressional hearing and apologized (again!) for their July debacle.

⭐ There’s a rise in loneliness among single young and middle-aged men.

⭐ A list of 49 of Europe’s most promising impact, purpose-driven startups, with about 10 companies based in Germany.

⭐ Amazon is making all employees return to the office full-time, and 91% of staff surveyed admit to being unhappy about the decision.

⭐ A fun Instagram account to follow is Corporate Era, maintained by the lovely Ranya, who offers advice on surviving the corporate world and puts the pro in professional.

Companies Hiring 

🇩🇪 Companies in Germany hiring right now.

⭐ Atlantic Labs (Berlin, 8 jobs, DE & EN required)

⭐ BASF (Multiple locations, 400+ jobs, EN &/or DE required)

⭐ Home2Go (Berlin, 17 jobs, EN required)

⭐ Microsoft (Multiple locations, 32 jobs, EN required, DE a plus)

⭐ Snyk (Munich & remote, 4 jobs, EN required)

⭐ STUR (Berlin, 2 jobs, DE required)

🇩🇪 German startups that recently raised new funding also have vacancies.

⭐ Biovox (€2.2 M) | Darmstadt | Jobs

⭐ Cariqa (€1 M) | Berlin | Jobs

⭐ Distribusion (€80 M) | Berlin | Jobs

⭐ EGYM (€200 M) | Munich | Jobs

⭐ Enginsight (€6 M) | Jena | Jobs

⭐ Family.cards (€1.2 M) | Brandenburg | Jobs

⭐ Marvel Fusion (€62.8 M) | Munich | Jobs

⭐ Repath (€3.6 M) | Hamburg | Jobs

⭐ Syte (€6 M) | Münster | Jobs

ℹ️ We share new job postings every single day on LinkedIn. Follow us.

News in Germany

🗞️ All of the news in Germany.

General

⭐ Germany’s breweries are experimenting with climate-resilient crops while educating others at the same time.

⭐ A recent survey found that Germans pay close attention to labels and examine food products’ health and nutrition scores.

⭐ Astronauts can train for space missions at a new facility in Cologne.

Politics and Economy

⭐ Homes in Munich and Frankfurt are the most overvalued in Germany.

⭐ Starting next year, the Deutschland ticket will increase to €58 per month. This guide summarizes all of the related changes. Sending mail is also set to get more expensive.

⭐ Old technology is one of the country’s shortcomings, preventing the Federal Statistics Office from being able to deliver reliable economic numbers.

⭐ The SPD managed to win last week’s state election, but the far-right radical AfD and BSW were not far behind.

⭐ Germany’s new border control measures hit differently for Polish people who lived under the former Iron Curtain.

⭐ The German economy is expected to contract again this year. And op-ed: Germany’s political and economic crises threaten all of Europe.

Labor Market

⭐ 7,000 Kita workers plan to go on an unlimited strike on Monday.

⭐ A reason to hate Elon even more: Tesla workers on sick leave recently had their bosses pay them visits at home.

⭐ Volkswagon is mulling plant closures in Germany, and the union vows to make it difficult. For a deeper dive into the potential impact of this, read this article (paywalled).

⭐ If you’ve lost your job, read what to do should you find yourself unemployed in Germany.

Immigration

⭐ A new report from the European Council on Foreign Relations shows Europe is becoming more xenophobic. On that note, Germany’s lack of openness to foreigners should concern us all.

⭐ Wahlheymat, a new Berlin-based organization, is working to help give foreigners more of a voice in Germany.

Fun and/or Useful

⭐ Transport: Discover is offering a new flight from Germany to the Norweigan Arctic Circle. Meanwhile, a new high-speed train between Berlin and Paris will open in December.

⭐ Museums: The Ramones Museum has been resurrected in Berlin. Urban Nation is hosting an exhibition, Love Letters to the City.

⭐ Learn about the history of the famous (and imho, yucky) Berliner Luft.

Less or More … That is the Question

A final question before we part ways for the week. Would you continue to read this newsletter if you occasionally received a mid-week edition? Answer here.

How We Can Help

😇 Good stuff from the Berlin Life.

⭐ Connect with local professionals with our LinkedIn Connect and Exchange list.

⭐ Save money with our partners as you settle into your new life in Germany.

⭐ Read our 50+ free guides to living, working, and moving to Germany.