Career guide for international students
Degree completed - the next steps
Career entry in Bonn and the Rhein-Sieg district
If you decide to take up permanent employment after your studies, the first step is to look for a job. If you are interested in a specific company, it is advisable to look for advertised positions on the company's website. However, if you are open and flexible when it comes to your potential employer, it is best to search online job portals for advertised positions that match your qualifications and desired job title.
For example, the job portal "Stellenwerk" of the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences, the job portal "Berufsstart" of the University of Bonn, the job exchange of the student union or the employment agency can help you in your job search, but you can also look for jobs at the career fairs mentioned above and actively approach companies.
Stellenwerk
Job portal of the HBRS
https://www.stellenwerk-bonn-rhein-sieg.en/ (H-BRS only)
Links
An overview of numerous German job boards with a focus on
http://www.berufszentrum.de/artikel_0804.html
Detailed information on professions, entry requirements, job descriptions and prospects
http://berufenet.arbeitsagentur.de/berufe
With JOBBÖRSE, you can search specifically for jobs in Germany and abroad and for apprenticeships, enter and maintain your applicant profile, create your complete application portfolio and apply online:
The application
If you have found a job advertisement or a company that you can imagine working for, you must first finalise your application documents and submit them to the company.
In the pdf file linked below, you can find out how good application documents are designed.
In Germany, written applications are sent in digital form by email or uploaded online in pdf format via the websites of the respective companies. Sending an application folder by post is now rather rare. Inform yourself thoroughly about the application process in advance on the website of the company you would like to apply to.
In general, you should pay attention to the following aspects in your application and CV:
Checklist
- Letter with your motivation and signature
- CV with career history, photo, signature and date
- Certificates and diplomas only in copy, if necessary certified and translated into German
- Certificates and diplomas only in copy, if necessary certified and translated into German. certified copies translated into German
- Correct name of the company and contact person
- No typing errors
- Registered email address (first name.surname@...)
The job interview
If the potential employer likes your application, you will usually be invited to an interview in Germany. This invitation means that you have a good chance of being hired and that the company is seriously interested in you as an employee. Under no circumstances should you skip a good and intensive preparation for the interview. Take enough time to prepare and find out about the company. In the pdf file linked below you will find some tips for good preparation for the interview.
LINK
Here you will find a pdf file in which you can find out what you should consider when applying, at the interview and in the assessment centre in order to be successful:
https://www.h-brs.de/files/related/leitfaden_fuer_eine_erfolgreiche_bewerbung_deutsch.pdf
Assessment centre
In some cases, an assessment centre is used by companies to select personnel. An assessment centre often takes place for a whole day or even several days in a row.
The companies primarily want to find out more about your personality and professional competence through the practical courses in the assessment centre by having you complete various exercises and tasks. The companies also want to use the assessment centre to find out how you behave with other people or how you deal with stressful, challenging situations.
LINK
Application tips for the German job market:
http://www.berufsstart.de/personalsuche/medien/Berufsstart-Bewerbung.pdf
Doctoral programme
The doctorate is the highest academic degree that a university can award. Germany offers a wide range of excellent doctoral programmes. As part of a doctorate, you focus intensively on a specific topic or research project. A basic distinction is made between an individual doctorate and a structured doctorate.
Before you apply for a doctoral position, you should therefore check which path suits you best: an individual doctorate with a PhD supervisor or as a PhD student in a structured doctoral programme.
In addition, you should find out about the application process and the course of the doctoral project as well as the formal requirements for the doctorate at the university of your choice at an early stage. In addition to supervisors at a university, it is also possible to carry out doctoral projects at Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg (H-BRS) or other universities of applied sciences (HAW). In addition to a cooperative doctorate with a university partner it will be possible in future to do a doctorate via the doctoral college for applied research in NRW, in which H-BRS will be involved.
You can contact the deaneries, doctoral offices, the International Office or the graduate centres at the universities for advice on doing a doctorate.
Funding for a doctorate is usually provided by scholarships, funding programmes or employment opportunities at the university.
LINKS
Requirements for a doctorate: https://www.hochschulkompass.de/promotion/promotionsvorbereitung/zulassungsvoraussetzungen.html
Bonn Graduate Centre: https://www.uni-bonn.de/forschung/argelander-programm/ueber-das-bonner-graduiertenzentrum
The Graduate Institute (GI) of Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg: https://www.h-brs.de/de/gi
Promotionskolleg NRW at: https://www.pknrw.de/
Research in Germany: https://www.research-in-germany.org/de/karriere-in-der-forschung/infos-fuer-doktoranden.html
DAAD: https://www.daad.de/de/in-deutschland-studieren/promovieren-forschen/
Business start-up
In Germany, there is the so-called "freedom of establishment" and "freedom to conduct a business", which applies to EU citizens, persons from the European Economic Area and citizens from Switzerland. If you are a citizen of a non-EU country and would like to set up your own business, you can obtain a special residence permit for this purpose. In order to obtain this residence permit, a number of criteria must be met, such as submitting a business plan, proof of language skills and insurance and a plausibility check to determine whether your business idea is viable.
You must submit the request for self-employment to the immigration office responsible for your place of residence. If your request is successful, you can realise your idea and take the plunge into self-employment. It can be very helpful to get support in the initial phase. H-BRS supports its students in taking their first steps towards self-employment. The following offers support you in setting up your own business:
The BusinessCampus Rhein-Sieg
The BusinessCampus Rhein-Sieg is a centre for the establishment, settlement and growth of young companies in the Rhein-Sieg district and in the Bonn science region.
Business support services are offered for all phases of company development and the provision of regional business contacts.
In addition, the BusinessCampus offers offices, laboratories and conference rooms:
CENTIM - Centre for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and SMEs
CENTIM is the scientific partner in matters relating to business start-ups, innovation and SME management. CENTIM offers activities for the further development of practice-orientated, academic teaching, research, further education and consulting.
https://www.h-brs.de/de/centim (H-BRS only)
City of Bonn - Economic Development, Service Centre Economy
Individual consultations for start-ups, contact person Gertrud Hennen
BonnProfits
BonnProfits supports people with skills, knowledge and ideas on their path to self-employment. It provides information, advice and events aimed in particular at founders in Bonn from knowledge-intensive sectors such as IT, communications and technology. In addition to individual advice, it also organises events for start-ups or young companies in the start-up phase, lectures, workshops and networking meetings. An offer from the Bonn Economic Development Agency and Sparkasse KölnBonn.
Rhine-Sieg Start-up Academy
The Rhine-Sieg Start-up Academy aims to encourage people interested in setting up a business, young companies and the long-standing self-employed to realise their start-up ideas or to build up their company and make it fit for competition.
https://www.rhein-sieg-kreis.de/wirtschaft-bildung/wirtschaftsfoerdeung/index.php
enaCom at the University of Bonn
enaCom is the central service unit for promoting all transfer activities at the University of Bonn and supports the transfer culture across the university in all areas. The "Knowledge Transfer and Intellectual Property Rights" department of the Research and Transfer administrative unit offers members of the University of Bonn an individual initial consultation
LINKS
This internet platform supports international students, academics and skilled workers from abroad in setting up a business in Germany:
www.wir-gruenden-in-deutschland.de
Information on entering the German labour market through self-employment for people from non-EU countries:
Information from the City of Bonn on setting up a business:
https://www.bonn.de/themen-entdecken/wirtschaft-wissenschaft/existenzgruendung.php
Women entrepreneurs and women in management positions who provide advice on starting a business:
https://beraterinnennetzwerk.de/