What’s on this week? 

Tax breaks for newbies in Germany. Berlin is no longer poor but sexy. You actually need to learn German to stand a chance of finding work. Refer people to us and score a free career coaching session.

Personal News & Musings

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

⭐ I’m sending the newsletter one day early as I plan to be hung over tomorrow. Prost!

⭐ I’ve launched an exciting new referral program. All you need to do is send me more subscribers. If you refer 25 people, you’ll get a professional review of your CV or cover letter for free; if you refer 50 people, you’ll get a review of both for free; and if you refer 75, you’ll get a career coaching session with me for free. Read about what those services include.

Community News

🤝 News from our community.

⭐ Our next Professional Women in Berlin event is set to happen in two weeks. We’ll be taking a picnic along the Spree.

⭐ This week’s featured Berlin Life guides include Berlin Life Hacks (tips for mastering life in the city) and Everything You Need to Know About Probation Periods in Germany.

⭐ Save money with our partners: Order groceries from Flink – use FLINK-3TDV5T to get €15 off your first order, and order from Uber Eats using eats-cherylh421 to get €10 off your first two orders of €20 or more.

⭐ If you missed it, read last week’s newsletter: Germany Drops in InterNations Expat Survey Ranking. To see our past editions, explore our archives.

⭐  Take part in this week’s poll. Results are anonymous, so be honest.

Food For Thought

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

⭐ I recently asked my community – As a non-German speaker, how easy has it been to find a job in Germany? 55% of respondents say that finding work has been difficult or impossible, while 29% say it’s somewhat hard but not impossible. A mere 10% say that it’s “easy”.

⭐ Misinformed influencers often tell you it’s easy to find work in Germany, regardless of your language level. Our survey says otherwise, as did a “quick check” I ran on Indeed. I applied a city filter, looking for jobs in Berlin. There were 29,000+ jobs available. When I applied an additional filter for English, that number shrunk to about 2,000. I did the same for Munich, where the number went from 25,000 to 2,000. This translates to Berlin having 7% of the total jobs available in English and 8% in Munich. While our survey and the check I ran on Indeed are not scientific and highly anecdotal, I firmly believe that official stats would not be that far off.

⭐ Don’t underestimate the importance of learning German and how it impacts your employment opportunities. Recommended reads: Are There English Speaking Jobs In Germany? and The Top German Language Schools in Berlin.

⭐ For fun and out of boredom, I ran another poll on X asking, “What’s the biggest Berlin cliché?” Being a part-time DJ or in an open relationship was almost tied, with DJing slightly edging out open relationships.

⭐ File this under useful—if you plan on applying for a freelance visa anytime soon, buy this video course from Red Tape Translation. They provide detailed step-by-step instructions and success tips to ensure your visa gets approved.

⭐ Employees in the UK have opened court cases against companies forcing return-to-office mandates. While many prefer remote work, data shows that in-person meetings are more valuable and inclusive.

⭐ Psychological safety at work is found to dissipate quickly, especially for our younger generation.

⭐ A bias that needs to disappear now – women in menopause are often perceived as emotionally unstable and less productive on the job.

⭐ European tech investments rose in the first half of 2024, with €29 B in funding being raised.

⭐ AI capabilities are developing so rapidly, it’s hard to keep up. They will massively change how we work, but humans and their skills will be sorely needed.

Companies Hiring 

🇩🇪 German companies that are hiring right now. 

⭐ Audible (Berlin, 18 jobs, DE &/or EN required)

⭐ Bytro (Hamburg, 2 jobs, EN required)

⭐ ESMT (Berlin, 8 jobs, DE &/or EN required)

⭐ Fleetster (Munich, 5 jobs, DE &/or EN required)

⭐ ING (Various German cities, 160 jobs, DE &/or EN required)

⭐ PlayPlay (Berlin, 2 jobs, DE required)

German startups that recently received funding.

⭐ alcemy (€10 M) | Berlin | Jobs

⭐ epilot (€10 M) | Cologne | Jobs

⭐ kolum (€2.1 M) | Berlin | Jobs

⭐ Helsing (€450 M) | Munich | Jobs

⭐ lemon.markets (€12 M) | Berlin | Jobs

⭐ Northbound (€1.3 M) | Berlin | Jobs

⭐ planqc (€50 M) | Munich | Jobs

⭐ SciRhom (€63 M) | Munich | Jobs

⭐ trail (€1.45 M) | Munich | Jobs

ℹ️ We post new jobs on LinkedIn every single day. Follow us to learn about employment opportunities in Germany (and other bonus content). 💪​​

News in Germany

🗞️ All of the news in Germany.

⭐ Berlin is no longer poor but sexy. It’s now expensive AF and is now officially more expensive than Munich. The Local also shares what’s gotten more expensive and cheaper in Germany.

⭐ Germany is proposing to tax foreigners less during their first three years here. It’s actually not a bad idea, but the right wing is already complaining it’s discriminatory against Germans.

⭐ We always complain that integrating into life in Germany is difficult, but we’re doing better than many countries. Does anyone know that it takes literal years to get an appointment at the foreigner’s office in Nuremberg? Noteworthy is that contrary to right-wing propaganda beliefs, most new immigrants are not refugees or asylum seekers but people from other EU nations.

⭐ Despite the high marks, no one can claim that life is safe for foreigners in Germany. Those right-wing buffoons might as well don their brown shirts rn. Thankfully, even in the hardest of times, there are always those who resist.

⭐ It’s hard being an immigrant, but Germany’s government offices are a headache to all – Germans renewing their passports are often waiting 2 months, as opposed to the usual 2 weeks in processing time.

⭐ In a sign of the times, the US helped Germany disrupt a Russian plot to assassinate Rheinmetall’s CEO. Rheinmetall is a major German weapons manufacturer that has seen record profits since the start of the war in Ukraine.

⭐ The FDP wants to scrap the traditional 8-hour work day and move toward more flexible work schedules.

⭐ The price of a Deutschlandticket ticket will not go up after all. It will remain at €49 for the rest of 2024. The coalition government’s budget maneuvers may have saved us there, but funding for integration courses has been slashed by half.

⭐ Germany’s hospitality industry only marginally benefitted from us hosting the Euro Cup.

⭐ The Berlin police, in their ongoing lust to ban people from speaking their native languages at demo, mistakenly banned Ukrainians from speaking Ukrainian at a protest this week.

⭐ Germany may now allow you to smoke up without consequence, but the country does not want cities like Berlin to become a new Amsterdam.

⭐ The legal drinking age in the US is 21, and in Germany, kids can drink while under supervision from their parents at 14. They’re about to change this.

⭐ We all need some feel-good content, and The Berliner dependably brings it:

⭐ Prost! Our guide to Berlin’s best Biergärtens

⭐ Berlin’s best lakes: From crowd-favourites to hidden gems

⭐ Best of Cinema: The classic films coming to Berlin Kinos this summer 

⭐ Row your boat: How to explore Berlin by water

⭐ I recommend purchasing Take Me to the Lakes – Berlin Edition.

⭐ Wanderlust Magazine also highlights 7 charming towns in Germany to visit, while DW tells you about Queer Life Around Nollendorfplatz.

⭐ Did you know there’s an Angela Merkel detective series (a German take on Murder, She Wrote)? It recently premiered in Italy.

⭐ In a hilarious blow for Musk, the Berlin Gigafactory is missing 65,000 coffee mugs.

How We Can Help

😇 Good stuff from the Berlin Life.

⭐ Connect with like-minded professionals through our LinkedIn Connect and Exchange list.

⭐ Attend one of our networking events.

⭐ Benefit from our career coaching (and other services).

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