Local
January 27, 2024
5
min read

Finding Jobs in Germany

Luis Minvielle

As Europe's top economy by GDP, Germany opens many doors for professional development. However, securing a role that matches your skills, needs, and aspirations takes time and effort. We’ve compiled the most popular and successful job portals so you know where to go next, either if you’re already living in Germany or if you’d like to, and even if you are learning German.

💼 The biggest job boards

The biggest job boards to find work in Germany are also the ones we could feature for almost any country. If you’re tired of asking around for jobs in the service industry so you can earn your first wages, we’d suggest you get onto any of these platforms.

  • LinkedIn - A social media platform and a job board combined: LinkedIn allows users to receive location-based alerts and recommendations. It's a prevalent platform in Germany, just like anywhere else, but not all companies use LinkedIn exclusively for job postings, so you should still check other platforms. This is still a broad network, to say it kindly, and professionals from specific sectors, such as the tech industry, might have trouble finding the right talent or the right company among the adamant job applicants who click “Apply” without checking what it’s all about.

  • Indeed - As one of the biggest job portals, Indeed has numerous job listings, including blue-collar jobs. This makes it an excellent site for young professionals and tradespeople, or even for the so-called “unskilled” workers who are still to find a trade for their livelihood. The platform went global years ago, but you’ll realise that most jobs are based in the United States, where they market their platform heavily with costly ads during basketball games.
  • Glassdoor - it’s known for its reviews, but it’s also a global job board. You'll come across both English and German-speaking opportunities. Glassdoor has been subject to controversy because they’re allegedly removing negative reviews, and the clues are pretty convincing.

  • JobMESH - run from their offices in Frankfurt, is a modern job portal that makes job hunting easy for all educational backgrounds.They pitch it as a “job exchange,” just like crypto brokers call themselves, because they aggregate jobs. They've got a presence in Germany, Belgium, and the United Kingdom, reaching out to more jobseekers, and they have an especially-designed landing page for finding English-speaking jobs in Germany.

The Best Job Search Websites of 2024

🇩🇪 Local job boards

These job boards are more localised to Germany either because they were founded there, count with official support, or because they’re plainly in German.

  • Arbeitsagentur - the Federal Employment Agency in Germany, known as “Arbeitsagentur” (Bundesagentur für Arbeit), or also BA, is a government-operated entity.  Since it’s government-funded, Arbeitsagentur is expected to be a significant player in the job market, and it may be up to you to make best use of it. The BA's Jobsuche, which they call “Germany's largest online job portal,” has a landing page in English but is limited to German at this time.
  • Stepstone.de - it’s one of Germany's more established job-searching platforms and operates similarly to Indeed. As StepStone's job postings can be costly, it is an ideal choice for jobseekers aiming for positions with top companies in Germany. The platform is still more prevalent among German professionals and not among expats who are still learning the difference between das and der. 
  • Xing - dubbed the German LinkedIn, Xing is a social and job platform catering to professionals proficient in German. Initially German-only, Xing has now integrated English. Still, if you find a worker on Xing before you come across her LinkedIn profile, you can guess she’s from Germany or maybe Austria. It’s not as global as its competition.
  • Staufenbiel - If you're a student, recent graduate, or young professional, ​​Staufenbiel is your go-to job-searching site in Germany. Specialising in connecting young talents with opportunities, Staufenbiel operates career portals like Staufenbiel.de and Absolventa.de. These platforms are designed for companies to pin up internships, trainee programmes, and entry-level positions.

🇬🇧🗣️ English-speaking German job boards

While it's true that Germans generally have a good grasp of English, most companies still operate in German, and older managers from some regions, such as Bavaria, would prefer a grunt they can quip in German with on their daily train ride. So, speaking German can significantly boost your job prospects! But if you're not quite there with your German skills yet, no worries—there are expat-friendly German job portals you can probe into.

  • ​​Arbeitnow - Arbeitnow, an expat-founded platform for expats, opens doors for foreigners to find jobs in German or even just in English. Arbeitnow also helps connect users with employers willing to sponsor work visas in Germany with a special filter. Their blog features stories expats would eventually want to know about, such as how much the wisdom teeth treatment should cost in a big city.
  • English jobs in Germany - This platform is exclusively for English-speaking jobs, with no bilingual requirement. You can explore job opportunities across every city and state in Germany. You can recommend this one to your local friends who’re aiming for an international work environment (unless they’re already living in Berlin, in which case almost any job will be international).

Guide for Expats Living in Germany →

🌎 Remote job boards

  • Zuhausejobs - Zuhausejobs, which translates to “jobs at home” in the Denglisch dialect, is a specialised platform designed for jobseekers in Germany who are looking for work-from-home positions. Although it has a modest selection of jobs, with remote work's growing popularity, Zuhausejobs could expand its job offerings and help workers avoid a commute or two.

  • ​​Remote OK - as the name suggests, Remote OK is a job board specifically dedicated to remote positions. You can filter jobs by country, including Germany. The platform covers a diverse range of job categories, including programming, design, marketing, customer support, writing, and many others.

Best Remote Job Boards For Developers →

🧑‍💻Developer-focused job boards

  • WeAreDevelopers - Our platform is widely recognised as the largest tech-focused job board in Germany and Europe. Many of the companies we feature even hire exclusively through WeAreDevelopers. As a developer, you can actively express interest in job postings so that companies, based on your expertise, can approach you with opportunities. There are options for German and English-speaking jobseekers and remote job openings.

  • Relocate.me - is a job board for tech professionals who want to move from their current company. If you're a jobseeker, you'll know by now most companies take the time to clarify they don't sponsor visas, and this job board is an expert in filtering through that. It's convenient for non-EU residents.

  • Honeypot - is a well-respected technology-focused platform established in Berlin. It vets professionals, and once they're green-lit, they shop their profiles around to companies. Honeypot has strong connections to several of Berlin's startups and companies. The onboarding process can be long-winded.

Finding Jobs in Germany

January 27, 2024
5
min read

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