# Smoothest Trasition from USA to Germany



## Eahoge4329 (Jul 16, 2013)

I have been reading up and down the forums of this site but I haven't gotten an exact idea to smoothly transition from USA to Germany. I am a college student about to graduate with a major in International Affairs (International Relations) and double minors in Russian and German. I have studied in Germany 2+ times with an internship and Russia once. Since then it has been really hard to find a company or NGO to hire me. What sites should I go to and what are my chances of finding a job comfortable in my given field within Germany. I know languages such as Russian, English, and of course German can greatly influence my job application.


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## beppi (Jun 10, 2013)

Try academic exchange programs, or get a few years useful work experience first.
As fresh graduate without EU citizenship, you have very low chances of finding a job, as you have nothing to set you apart from unemployed locals who must be hired first.


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## James3214 (Jun 25, 2009)

I agree with Beppi, it will be very hard to find a job or even get a visa without experience. There are already a lot of native speaking graduates having difficulty finding a first job.

As you have studied languages I would suggest you could try getting a teaching english qualification (TEFL,etc) then get experience teaching in the US and then apply to the many language schools in Germany. You will probably be exploited and be offered really low rates of pay to start with though.


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## Nash000 (Apr 25, 2013)

beppi said:


> Try academic exchange programs, or get a few years useful work experience first.
> As fresh graduate without EU citizenship, you have very low chances of finding a job, as you have nothing to set you apart from unemployed locals who must be hired first.


I would be not so pessimistic. I'm pretty sure there aren't that many unemployed locals speaking English, German, and Russian and have a university degree in international affairs. 

Did you get any feedback why you are not invited / hired?

It might be easier to start at a multinational NGO / company in the US and then after some years switch to Germany within that company.


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## Nononymous (Jul 12, 2011)

Does your university offer any guidance here? 

My advice would be to look at internships, exchanges etc. - anything to get you over there and into a position where you can work on building connections to eventually find something more permanent. It will not be easy as a recent graduate, particularly with youth unemployment rates in Europe. 

Purely anecdotal, but I always had the sense that many of my German friends prolonged their educations and strung together badly paid part-time and contract jobs for years and years before they could finally land something permanent and secure - in their thirties.



> what are my chances of finding a job comfortable in my given field within Germany


Here's the thing - you have an IR degree, which is great general training, and also languages, but doesn't mean that you have skills that are directly useful to an employer (other than perhaps the foreign service). I have a graduate IR degree and wound up in the internet business... This is of course the fundamental dilemma of general liberal-arts education - great in the long run, but tough right out of school. Again, this is something your career/guidance office might help with.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

One other thing to remember is that most European university degrees include a certain number of internships that are a part of the degree program. Most US universities don't require these, so you're starting out a bit behind on the "practical experience" when competing with local graduates.
Cheers,
Bev


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## Eahoge4329 (Jul 16, 2013)

Thanks guys, I have had one 6 month internship which was required from my Bachelors. I do not have my Masters for IR though I know that i make myself even more marketable. Should I finish that off and then start looking and at the same time try to do more internships?


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## Nononymous (Jul 12, 2011)

Eahoge4329 said:


> Thanks guys, I have had one 6 month internship which was required from my Bachelors. I do not have my Masters for IR though I know that i make myself even more marketable. Should I finish that off and then start looking and at the same time try to do more internships?


Any advice I could give you on that score is now twenty years out of date.

Except this: unless you go into the foreign service, there's not a lot of jobs where you "do" IR. So you probably need to combine it with some other skills to make yourself marketable.


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