Germans Are Among the World's Best English Speakers

Nov 17, 2024

Personal News & Musings

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

A few notes:

After 15 years, I closed my Twitter account and highly encourage others to do the same.
I’ll be taking a break in December, so there will be no newsletter blasts, and I won’t be offering any career coaching sessions or job application review services during this time. We’ll be back in January. 🤗
You’ll still find me active on social media - LinkedIn / Bluesky / Threads / Instagram

🤝 News from our community.

Our last poll asked: How do you prefer to search for job opportunities? 84% of respondents said they use online job boards. I’d expected more people to vote for networking, as it’s so key to finding a job in today’s market.
Take part in this week’s poll. I asked this question last June, and I’m interested to see how people’s stances may have changed.

This week’s featured Berlin Life guides: How To Find A Job In Berlin: An Honest & Detailed Guide & Send A Thank You Note After A Job Interview In Germany.
Read last week’s newsletter: The Percentage of English Jobs in Germany is … For more, browse our archives.
Work With Our Partners: Use resume.io to quickly and easily create nicely designed CVs and cover letters.

💡 Articles about tech, the world of work, & other random things.

While women are barely represented in the startup world, studies show that female entrepreneurs outperform males.
Not all CEOs are like Elon Musk—Fortune profiled the uber-successful Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.
Failing to embrace AI can diminish your career prospects.
There are three top countries you can consider relocating to if you’re an AI expert, and Germany is one of them.
Knowing your values may help you find meaning in work and life.
When starting or changing careers, you need to identify if you want to be a specialist, generalist, or T-shaped. Find out how to choose the right path.
When interviewing for a new job, watch for these red flags.

🇩🇪 Companies in Germany that are hiring right now.

Behamics (Berlin, 2 jobs - account manager & behavioral scientist, DE and EN required)
Epic Brands (Berlin, 3 jobs - all working student/internship roles, DE required)
Raisin (Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, & Munich, 25 jobs, EN &/or DE required)
Remind Me (Berlin, 1 job - product manager, DE & EN required)
WongDoody (Berlin, 11 jobs - mostly creative roles, DE & EN required)

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

Connecty AI (€1.6 M) | Berlin - No open jobs rn.
HelloBetter (€3 M) | Berlin | Jobs - They seek German-speaking psychotherapists in Berlin & Hamburg.
Hula Earth (€1.5 M) | Munich | Jobs - 9 jobs, EN required.
Feld.energy (€1.7 M) | Munich | Jobs - 4 jobs, DE C2 required & basic EN.
Klim ($22 M) | Berlin | Jobs - 13 jobs, EN &/or DE required.
KUGU (€8.5 M) | Berlin | Jobs - 10 jobs, EN &/or DE required, some roles B2, some C2.
mediaire (€12 M) | Berlin | Jobs - 2 jobs, EN &/or DE required.
MONA AI (€2 M) | Saarbrücken | Jobs - 4 jobs, EN &/or DE required.
Quantune Technologies (€8.5 M) | Berlin | Jobs - 10 jobs, EN &/or DE required.
Tourlane (€25 M) | Berlin | Jobs - 3 jobs, EN &/or DE required.
Tozero (€11 M) | Munich | Jobs - 14 jobs, EN required
🇩🇪 Valuedesk (€5 M) | Bielefeld | Jobs - 9 jobs, EN &/or DE required.

ℹ️ Follow us on LinkedIn, where we share new job postings daily.

🗞️ All of the news in Germany.

General

Germans are among the best English speakers in the world. West Germans also tend to speak more English than Easterners.
Destatis, the national statistics agency, has taken its portal offline due to a suspected security breach.
Berlin’s public toilets system is a literal shitshow. Find out why.
A Kreuzberg taco place that went viral has caused trash to pile up on the streets.

Transportation

Due to the amount of sexual violence on Berlin’s public transit, women’s only carriages are being proposed.
FlixTrain nabbed permission to run a Berlin <> Warsaw route. The Paris<>Berlin night train has also resumed.
It’s possible that the EU could implement a unified train booking system by 2026.
The collapse of the coalition government may see the end of the Deutschland ticket.

Politics & Economy

Elon Musk recently criticized Germany for fining a politician for his racist words. Of course, he didn’t offer the full context.
Lilium, the failed startup people wanted the government to give a 1B + bailout to, is being sued for misleading investors.
3 million pensioners in Germany are at a high risk of poverty.
St. Pauli is the first major soccer club to leave X. Meanwhile, the national football team regrets defending human rights at the World Cup.
The electoral commission claimed a paper shortage could hinder the upcoming elections, and the paper industry clapped back.
The government collapse may actually benefit the Eurozone markets.

Labor Market

Immigration

If you’ve ever wondered why so many people from India immigrate to Germany, here’s why.
Germany saw a 50% increase in citizenship applications compared to 2022.

Fun, Interesting, and/or Useful

Each decade, German farmers in Osing gather for a land lottery, where plots of communal land are assigned to new farmers. Read about the long-practiced tradition.
When The Berlin Wall fell, East Germans tossed their belongings for Western goods. People are now longing for GDR relics.
If you believe in cryogenic freezing and a Futurama’ish future, a Berlin-based startup will keep your frozen body for €50/month.
German cheese was rated the worst in Europe.
Have you ever heard of Berlin’s flock of gay sheep?

😇 Useful stuff served up by the Berlin Life.

Get help preparing for job interviews and creating standout job applications through our career coaching and review services.
Connect with other professionals in Germany with our LinkedIn Connect & Exchange list.
Settle into your new life in Germany and save money with our partners on insurance, banking, and more.
Read our 50+ free guides to living, working, and moving to Germany.

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