Just talking about the situation, here are the official news (in German):
http://heise.de/-2053392
16,000 positions not filled, by lack of experts. 13,000 of them in medium sized businesses with revenues between one and 50 million Euros ("Mittelstand") . The situation is especially tough for start-ups.
71% of the companies are looking for software developers, 31% for application supporters and administrators, and 26% search experts for quality management. (Yes, multiple choices had been possible)
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if you're skilled, it's overly hard to get the social welfare (even ALG I), because there are many hungry 'temporary' work agencies, also with weird Turkish company names, who will gladly ride on your knowledge, thanks to close cooperation with state-owned work agencies (which is called 'fascism' in my book)
Also, a small fourth survival tip about this problem, which actually hits Germans as well, once you leave university and are thrown into the madness of the office:
Encounter the German work agencies("Arbeitsagenturen") with friendly ignorance and maybe also a bit of beginning deafness. Look for your own jobs and don't worry about telling such strange temprary work agencies that you can't afford working for them.
There is a lot of facism installed into the system, even if most employees at the work agencies are actually friendly and goodminded people. They are forced by unconstitutional laws and regulations to be annoying, but if you do it right, these people will be your best friends and allies. Paying a few hundred Euros to haul you to a job interview is cheaper than you being unemployed, so none of their rules forces them to be bad and deny this to you.
Important is just: Act as if they don't exist. Look for your own jobs. They have to offer you jobs that exist in their system. You have your own system.
There can be some questioning, if you send 100 applications for a job and never got any job. Usually, you simply show them your application for the job, and done. If you do it half-way professionally and have inserted a proper expectation of a salary (20%-30% above what the statistic says for your job experience - its a bazar after all, what you want and what you get is never the same.)
And maybe as fifth survival hint: Don't rely on job offers. Make yourself your own jobs. A job offer means hundreds of candidates rivalling you. Telling a company that you would like to work for them and have some interesting skills means that only you compete for a job, that potentially exists. And that path has some good chance for success:
If you are halfway good, the company might at least offer you an internship, so they can decide if you can actually be worth the risk of hiring somebody, they don't need right now. Or just that your application arrived on the desk of a manager, one of his best employees suddenly switched the company and he needs a replacement ASAP.
And if you are really good, the company will not risk letting a competitor get you uncontested and show a lot of interest in you.
You can also do such spontaneous job applications at important fairs. Pack some cards and a few copies of your CV into your inventory and go hunting for managers. talk directly to the person who should become your boss, don't give your CV to some obscure minion (who will trash it instantly in most cases or shelve it for the next time they really really demand a job). Yes, this means that on many stands, you will not meet somebody who can talk business. But those few who really do can be worth the investment. Meet a manager of a bigger local company, have a nice chat about the project and that you are looking for a job and one hour later in the best case, you will have a job interview with one project lead, who was quickly summoned to the fair to meet you.
Just don't think american - the big companies are just decoration here, the real economic power lies at the small businesses. They might be small, but they are international, have pretty good management, good financial situation, challenging projects ... and there are many of them. And they really want to sell something at the fairs and really have interest in good employees - so you can be sure that a good number of them will always have somebody within calling distance of the company stand who can talk seriously should a potential customer or employee appear.
EDIT: And don't mind working for real professional temporary work companies - those can afford paying you a first class salary, because they also take a first class price for your head from their customers. But those companies also only hire people with really good skills and academic background... such companies make around 180,000 € annual revenue per employee.
by jdm » Fri Nov 22, 2013 8:54 am
