So the job hunt has been going pretty slow.
As previously mentioned, I did not choose to stay in Berlin and a few of the suggested places to look for work are not available in Nürnberg. For example, Berlin has a magazine called Tipp Berlin that comes out every two weeks and can often be found for free in local cafes. I have googled all of the Nürnberg magazines, sorted through the piles in café’s or bars and checked the local News stands and none of these magazines have job postings. Another suggestion was the local tabloids, you know, the ones with the half naked girls on the bottom? I bought one and did not find a single job posting, except for the Astrological signs that I had initially mistaken for job postings.
The Saturday/Sunday Newspapers do have pages of listings, but sadly, no return calls from that.
I have posted my resume on a few sites now, including Monster. Last Friday morning, I received an e-mail asking me to contact them by phone. I thought this might be promising, but sadly, the lady did not speak English and I could not understand her German. Needless to say, it was an awkward phone conversation followed by a German e-mail from her explaining that most companies require a good amount of German and she would not be able to help me, followed by an exclamation mark! This makes me wonder what employers interpret the line that reads”German language level-Basic” as, on my resume.
You may want to try The Local, Germany’s news in English which has a jobs section easily accessible from the main page. While I check this site regularly, sadly again, most of the jobs are not in Nürnberg.
You may also want to try a temporary staffing agency, but if your level of German is like mine, you should probably inquire in your letter whether it is possible to communicate in English.
Cautionary notes on using Google Translate. While it has been extremely helpful navigating the sites and translating job descriptions for me, I have started to notice that it even translates people’s names!!!! For example, Frau Schuh becomes Mrs. Shoe. So, while I am certainly not the one to be telling anyone “don’t use it, it sucks” because I don’t know what I would do without it, just remember that tidbit before you go and address your cover letter to a perspective employer.
As previously mentioned, I did not choose to stay in Berlin and a few of the suggested places to look for work are not available in Nürnberg. For example, Berlin has a magazine called Tipp Berlin that comes out every two weeks and can often be found for free in local cafes. I have googled all of the Nürnberg magazines, sorted through the piles in café’s or bars and checked the local News stands and none of these magazines have job postings. Another suggestion was the local tabloids, you know, the ones with the half naked girls on the bottom? I bought one and did not find a single job posting, except for the Astrological signs that I had initially mistaken for job postings.
The Saturday/Sunday Newspapers do have pages of listings, but sadly, no return calls from that.
I have posted my resume on a few sites now, including Monster. Last Friday morning, I received an e-mail asking me to contact them by phone. I thought this might be promising, but sadly, the lady did not speak English and I could not understand her German. Needless to say, it was an awkward phone conversation followed by a German e-mail from her explaining that most companies require a good amount of German and she would not be able to help me, followed by an exclamation mark! This makes me wonder what employers interpret the line that reads”German language level-Basic” as, on my resume.
You may want to try The Local, Germany’s news in English which has a jobs section easily accessible from the main page. While I check this site regularly, sadly again, most of the jobs are not in Nürnberg.
You may also want to try a temporary staffing agency, but if your level of German is like mine, you should probably inquire in your letter whether it is possible to communicate in English.
Cautionary notes on using Google Translate. While it has been extremely helpful navigating the sites and translating job descriptions for me, I have started to notice that it even translates people’s names!!!! For example, Frau Schuh becomes Mrs. Shoe. So, while I am certainly not the one to be telling anyone “don’t use it, it sucks” because I don’t know what I would do without it, just remember that tidbit before you go and address your cover letter to a perspective employer.
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