So you have decided to apply for a job in Germany. How the language skills play role in the process of applying for jobs and later on when you start to work in a company in Germany? Let's find out.
Let's first define who you are.
So you are an electrical engineer and you want to work as an electrical design engineer in some engineering office in Germany, on nice German projects.
I will talk about this occupation since I work in that field, so I know the situation. I've been there.
The truth
The rule of thumb is: The more experienced you are, the less German language skills will be necessary for you to land a job in Germany. And this only applies when you want to get a job.
So if you are a well-established engineer with international working experience from working on top projects for top customers worldwide then you probably aren't even reading this because you have more than enough work and money, to begin with.
On the other hand, if you are really into working in Germany then you might want to read further, even if you are an expert in your field.
So to land a job in Germany if you are an expert, your expertise and list of projects will be enough.
Then you start to work. You have to collaborate with your German colleagues on a project, you need to discuss the project requirements with your customer or your boss. And you don't speak German. The senior people in Germany mostly don't speak (or don't want to) English.
Some of them even learned Spanish or some other language as a second language.
Be aware of that. It's not a problem if you work with younger colleagues, they pretty much all handle English very well. The seniors don't. Period.
So at this point, it doesn't even matter how experienced you are if you are not able to resolve daily project issues with your seniors or with your end customer (e.g. factory representatives).
Not to mention you also need to be able to function in your daily routine: shopping for groceries, fixing your car, find an apartment, open a bank account, pay taxes, etc.
It gets 10 times harder if you have a family, kids, etc. I'll explain why in the upcoming posts.
Small vs big company
It might be easier for you to find a job in a smaller company in a rural area (if you still don't speak German) than to find a job in a big, renowned company located in a suburban area of a larger city.
Why is that?
It's simple. The big, renowned company on the outskirts of a larger city is also a goal for many experienced German engineers.
The smaller companies in rural areas tend to have more problems finding suitable candidates to fill in their vacancies. And German companies like to have headquarters in rural areas. Since Germany aims at doing business internationally, it makes normally not much sense to the companies to move their business to the closer vicinity of a bigger city where also costs of maintaining a company, rise. They stay in their area where they started their business and where they already own the land property etc.
Outsourcing companies (German: "Leihfirmen, Zeitfirmen...")
These companies might be your entrance ticket to a better job someday after you upskill your German. Their business strategy is fairly simple. Some of those companies have thousands of workers. Some of them concentrate on hiring only electrical engineers or people with electrical occupations in general (technicians, electricians, etc.). You might have higher chances of getting employed in those companies than to immediately land a job in a well established German company with all the benefits.
So these outsourcing companies hire workers and then they outsource the workers to another company that is in a need of professionals for a certain project, for a limited period of time. It's like you work as a freelancer but you are not. You are in fact employed and your outsourcing company finds you new projects/contracts/assignments, mostly at the customer's location or on a construction site, in the factory etc.
Here's an example
Just a small example here: You are an electrician. Your outsourcing company has a customer that is a system integrator and offers turnkey solutions for industrial automation systems. This customer needs to hire 10 electricians to pull the cables and connect the field devices to the components in electrical cabinets. And this customer doesn't have his own team of electricians because he normally concentrates on programming and commissioning the production line/machine.
So he hires your outsourcing company. This is where you now come into the picture. You and 9 of your colleagues join the project. Your company takes care of the accommodation at the location and transportation from your company to the construction site/factory. Your company also takes care of the daily commute. You get a van or two cars and you travel every day from your accommodation (apartment or a room, hotel, etc.) in the vicinity of the site to the site/work.
You might have a team member that will take care of discussing the daily chores for your team. Or your outsourcing company takes care of that from the office. And you start to work. You pull the cables, your team leader makes sure with the site manager that everything is done according to the requirements of the customers and that's it.
Once the project is over you move to another construction site. And the story repeats itself again and again. As said, just a small example for you to understand how things work.
"Leihfirma" VS "Zeitfirma"
What's the difference between a Leihfirma and a Zeitfirma? A Zeitfirma is generally a mean little brother of the Leihfirma. Leihfirma is reserved for professionals, meaning higher-skilled workers that tend to work for one customer for a longer period of time. Like the example above, an electrician working on a project in a factory. Or engineers, programmers, etc.
A Zeitfirma (company for temporary employment) is a company that generally hires a lower-skilled workforce for jobs that don't require expertise. Such as cleaning personnel.
If you currently don't have other options than to work in Zeitfirma, at least make sure you check the company: if they pay in time, the working conditions, mobbing, etc. The Internet will tell you everything you need to know.
Especially in Germany. You have a number of websites in Germany where people rate companies, such as Kununu.com
At the time of writing this post (October 2020), they had 4.4 million reviews and almost 1 million employers reviewed. The employers are reviewed directly from employees (either current or former employess), so no BS there.
I was also working in a "Leihfirma"
I also worked like this. I was outsourced to a well-established company in the south of Germany. The company offers turnkey solutions for automation systems in the automotive industry ("Karosseriebau") sector. I was working as an electrical design engineer and I was mainly working in ePLAN since ePLAN is where every electrical project is created if you work in the car body manufacturing sector in Germany.
I was lucky that I was already speaking German to some extent so the technical issues were not a problem to resolve with my team members and my project manager.
That's why I tell you this. I speak from my experience. It is important to learn German if you want to work there. Even if you are lucky enough to get a job in Germany although you still don't speak the language, the company will expect you to learn the language as soon as possible. Some companies even pay for the language school.
The higher the degree...
And be aware of the following: The higher degree you have, the better you need to speak German.
So if you are an electrician and you are working in a team, then you might have a team leader that will take care of the communication with German colleagues that don't speak any other language besides German.
But if you are an engineer, then it is expected of you to know German. There are not many engineers on a project (compared to a number of electricians) so no one is going to accept that you don't speak German and you want to work in Germany on projects for German customers. Especially if you work as an electrical designer and you need to discuss the changes on the project during the design phase, with your customer, and with your project manager.
Here's an exception to this rule: PLC programmers (German: "SPS Programmierer" and robot programmers (German: "Roboterprogrammierer").
These experts are currently (always) in such high demand in Germany that Germans are ready to accept that these guys only speak English. On the other hand, at least one of the PLC programmer and one of the robot programmer still needs to speak German in case he needs to discuss project requirements, changes in the design, layout, etc.
It would be great if you would be that guy that speaks both German and English, it doesn't matter in which field you work, wouldn't it? This is then an additional qualification for you, just by knowing the language.
It is nowadays really not a problem to learn a foreign language, with all those free resources on the internet. Don't hesitate and start to learn German today!
Until next time...
Ivan Vidovic
Ivan Vidović