There are many days I think to myself, “Oh my God, why did I leave my good job and move to a country where I can’t find a job to save my life?!” How many of you have thought the same?  In 2009, I moved to Frankfurt from London for personal reasons (personal disclosure: I am American, now married to a German). I worked in finance and thought, it should be a snap to get a job in the banking capital of Germany! But would I need to speak German? If I had a euro for every time someone said to me, “Frankfurt is soooo international! There are so many global companies that will surely be OK if you don’t speak German. They all speak English!” These well-meaning people have no idea how tough it is to get a job here if you are a foreigner and don’t speak fluent German.

First of all, I have heard there is an unspoken prejudice against non-Germans where firms will throw out one CV after another because the applicant’s name betrays the fact that the person is a foreigner. Turkish, Polish, Asian… none of us have a shot! Yes, I admit this is completely unproven, but I know from first hand experience that, only when I assumed my German husband’s last name did I start getting responses back about my CV. Same CV, similar companies, similar types of jobs. And no, I did not translate my CV into German. Coincidence? Unfortunately, I think not. READ MORE »