Excerpted from the Germany Career Guide
Networking is very important in Germany, especially for newcomers. Personal relationships and friendships with Germans are usually slow to develop. This fact increases the benefits of networking. It is an important tool to stay informed about job and business opportunities. Joining, or at least attending, clubs and associations is a great way to meet people with a common interest or background.
Business Organizations
Business and Professional Women
http://www.bpw-germany.de/ (German)
This organization is the German delegation of an international organization; it was founded in 1951 in 35 German cities and is present in about 100 countries worldwide today. It represents approximately 1,000 women in Germany with a wide variety of professional backgrounds. The club offers networking for projects, cooperation and synergies.
Business and Professional Women Germany eV
Sigmaringer Strasse 1
D-10713 Berlin
Tel: +49 (0)30 311 705 15
Fax: +49 (0)30 311 705 16
Email: info@bpw-germany.de
Industry Organizations and Councils
Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft eV (Ver.di)
United Services Union
http://verdi.de/ (German, some pages in English, French, Spanish, Polish, Czech and Russian)
Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft has more than 2.7 million members in more than 1,000 professions. On March 19, 2001, five German trade unions—the OETV (Oeffentlicher Dienst, Transport und Verkehr) for the public and transport sector; the HBV (Handel, Banken und Versicherungen) for the commercial, bank and insurance sector; the DPG (Deutsche Post-Gewerkschaft) for the postal sector; the IG Medien (Industriegewerkschaft Medien) for the media sector; and the DAG (Deutsche Angestellten-Gewerkschaft) for white-collar workers merged to form Ver.di. This union is divided into 13 specialist areas, including Section Nine, which specializes in telecommunications, information technology and data processing.
Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft
Bundesvorstand
Paula-Thiede-Ufer 10
D-10179 Berlin
Tel: +49 (0)30 6956 0
Fax: +49 (0)30 6956 3141
Email: info@verdi.de
Networking Groups
Connect: The English Speakers Cultural Club - Berlin eV
http://www.connectberlin.de/ (English)
The English Speakers Cultural Club - Berlin eV is an international circle for casual conversation in English. Whether new in town or a resident of Berlin for a few years, this is a great place to meet interesting people from all walks of life. This club meets once a week at a pub or, during the summer, in a beer garden. People who attend Connect are either expatriates living in Berlin who would like to speak their native tongue occasionally, Germans who have been living abroad for some time and want to maintain their English-speaking skills or just people who are interested in speaking English. Connect has about 250 members aged 15 to 60 from at least 15 different countries. Approximately 20 to 40 people attend the weekly meetings. The website includes a number of links to other English-speaking social clubs.
English Speakers Cultural Club-Berlin eV
Beckumer Strasse 32
D-13507 Berlin
Email: committee@connectberlin.de
Chambers of Commerce
Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce
Deutscher Industrie und Handelskammer (DIHK)
http://www.dihk.de/ (German)
DIHK, the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (Industrie und Handelskammer), is the central organization for 82 chambers. All German companies registered in Germany, with the exception of handicraft businesses (they are represented by Handwerkskammer, the chamber of handicraft), the free professions and agricultural farms, are required by law to join a chamber. Thus, the DIHK counts as its members more than 3 million entrepreneurs. Its duties include representation of the members’ interests, encouragement of trade industries and vocational training, and preparation of surveys. The DIHK is represented all over Germany; the following address is that of its central organization in Berlin.
DIHK
Breite Strasse 29
D-10178 Berlin
Tel: +49 (0)30 203 08 0
Fax: +49 (0)30 203 08 1000
Email: infocenter@dihk.de
Telephone Directories
Das Große Deutsche Branchenbuch
The Big German Industry Book
http://branchenauskunft.klicktel.de/ (German)
Das Große deutsche Branchenbuch (the modern online version of the German Yellow Pages) provides names, addresses and telephone/fax numbers for 3 million German businesses in 7,000 different sectors. Searches can be done by industry sector, name, street and zip code (postleitzahl - PLZ).
Major Trade Publications
Wirtschaftswoche
Economy Week
http://www.wiwo.de/ (German)
Wirtschaftswoche (Economy Week) is a German-language business magazine founded in 1926 under the name Deutscher Volkswirt (German Economist). It is published weekly and reports on business, economics and capital markets. There is an annual subscription fee.
ISSN: 0042-8582
Handelsblatt GmbH
Kasernenstrasse 67
D-40213 Düsseldorf
Tel: +49 (0)211 887 0
Fax: +49 (0)211 887 2980
Email: online@wiwo.de
This is just a short sample of what you’ll find in over 100 pages of information in the complete Germany Guide.
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