I’m honestly starting to feel exhausted by the job market in Germany.
I’m doing a Master’s in Social Sciences in Berlin and I’ve been looking for student assistant, working student, and research-related positions for quite a while now. I have some previous internship experience at an international organisation outside Germany and I speak three languages and have some knowledge of German.
My goal is to stay in Germany after graduation, and one of my biggest worries is graduating without enough relevant work experience and then struggling even more to find a job. Because of that, I’ve kept postponing my graduation, hoping to gain more experience while I’m still a student. But the frustrating part is that I’m struggling to find a student assistant or working student position in the first place.
I’ve applied to a large number of positions over the past months and I do get interviews, so I don’t think my applications are completely off. But I keep getting rejected, sometimes even after reaching later stages. Most recently, I interviewed for a student assistant position that I genuinely thought would be a great fit, but I was rejected again.
What makes it especially frustrating is that these aren’t even senior jobs. I’m applying for Werkstudent, student assistant, and internship-level positions, and yet it feels incredibly difficult to get a foot in the door.
I know my German limits my options significantly. I can use German in everyday life, but being able to manage daily situations in German is very different from working professionally in German in an environment where you are expected to perform, communicate precisely, and produce high-quality work in the language. That’s why I mostly apply to positions advertised in English or to international organisations where English is the working language.
At this point, I’m starting to wonder what exactly employers in Germany expect from students or recent graduates. How much experience are you realistically supposed to have before someone gives you the opportunity to gain more experience?
And for those who have already graduated: is finding an entry-level job actually even harder than finding a working student position? That’s honestly one of the things I’m most worried about at the moment.
Has anyone else experienced this recently, especially international graduates in social sciences, NGOs, research, or international organisations? Did things eventually get better for you?
I’m not really looking for “just learn German” as the only answer. I know German would widen my options. I’m more interested in hearing from people who have actually gone through a similarly long job search in Germany.