Hello Trust7 members,
This site ist really interesting! it is the best way to learn the real facts about living as a GC holder in Germany.
I first heard about the GC program last year while studying German in my country: Paraguay (south-America). Now I have basic/medium deutsch knowledge (Zertifikat Deutsch) and would like to try my luck in Deutschland.
I have 8 years of experience in System/Network administration and passed some international certifications: RHCE, LPI, CCNA
I would really appreciate any tips to find a job to apply for a GC.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
Gus

Hello Gus! Nice to hear from another sudamerican guy on the block. I am from Uruguay, and I have been living here as GC for 3 days (yesterday was my 3rd. year aniversary!)

Well, of course the first place to take a look at should be

http://195.185.214.164/gc/indexe.html?

This is the official job-seeker place of the Arbeitsamt. Many of us got their first german job thorugh this way.

On a general sense, if you haven't been there before, you may want to take a look at

http://www.arbeitsamt.de/zav/services/greencard/index.html

And I strongly recommend you to take a look and follow the links at Trust7 FAQs page.

I must warn you: it is becoming really hard to get new IT jobs here in Germany. The whole immigration policy for Germany is now stalled in the Parliament, and the recent news are not quite exciting (take a look on the post of today by Mladen). And in a context of 4-5 million unemployed people, the GC program is somehow hanging on a limbo. Also, if you don't have a university/tech degree, you will have to base your application on your experience, and that means getting an employer who will be willing to pay you the minimum 50.000 euro, which to actual market standards is a little bit high.

In all senses, however, Germany is indeed a fascinating country, with lots of things to see and learn, and with hardy, frontal, sincere and friendly people (though it may take some time to understand the deep sense that friendship has here ;-) ). And after learning some rules (and believe, there are quite a few rules here!), you will find here as at home as you can be away from your home, if you know what I mean.

Please feel free to contact me at

carboneta@hotmail.com

if you wish some extra tips, or whatever, or just to talk about this in Spanish!

Have a nice day,

Diego aka Sudaca.

Hallo Gus,

Just use the ordinary ways. You will not miss it!

Regards

D.

Hi Gus,

like sudaca already pointed out, it's most important to find an employer who wants to hire you here in Germany.

It is going to be difficult, if not impossible, to find a company which will fly you into Germany for a a job interview in these days, unless your skills are exceptionally sought-after.

In a first step you could visit the german job-sites such as monster.de, jobsout.de or stepstone.de and do a search for your key skills and certificates. This will give you an impression how the general demand is for your specific skills and what kind of overall profile employers expect from someone applying with your skills. Also this can help you identifying potential employers.

The next step depends on your funds and connections. Ideally you would visit Germany for a period of some weeks or months and write your applications from a German address, thus making it easier for companies to contact you and for you to visit them for job interviews.

Good luck!

Marc

Thanks for the tips and help!
First I plan try the oficial and ordinary way: writing my "Lebenslauf" in the repository from the Arbeitsamt.
I think Monster.de and the other job-seach engines are a good place to start too.
And if don't find any good opportunity I can start saving to make a trip to Germany.
Regarding your own experiences, how did you get your jobs there?
Thanks again,
Gus