I've been in Germany for 8 years – studied Masters and got a PhD. My German is B2. Got 6 years of work experience. I'm trying to move from Academic to Industry (Product Management or Consulting) in Health Tech or Life Science sector. What am I doing wrong? Which job profile could this CV work for?
by Kind-Relationship559
32 comments
It is not you, it is the market acting so bad these years and Germany got affected by it quite a lot.
the market isn’t great plus your CV is not in the German standard format German companies prefer. So unless you applied to huge multinationals which process your application abroad the wrong format is either a reason why their algorithm didn’t like you or why HR didn’t like you.
German style looks like this: [https://careerprofessor.works/?da_image=germany-cv-sample](https://careerprofessor.works/?da_image=germany-cv-sample) yes, a picture is normal here and not having one can be a reason why HR puts you on the “no” pile
To much fragmentation. The first impression is, you change your jobs like underwear.
Try to summarize and separate optically all those small student jobs and Fokus on the real ones. Put your PhD more into the focus.
Do you include a cover/motivation letter and certificates in your application?
What you describe in your CV aligns more with positions in the Engineering department of a pharmaceutical firm. I work for a CDMO, and I don’t see you fitting into the Project Management department with an engineering background. At least in our company, the requirements are purely natural sciences with experience in development, production, and quality control.
With a Ph.D., you are too valuable for the often simple tasks that a typical technician in the Engineering department could handle. However, you would be a good fit for a Team Lead position, but you lack the necessary experience for that.
It may sound strange, but I’d recommend an internship. This often helps – even if you have a Ph.D.
B2 German, first problem
if a phd can’t get a job then fuck me i am undergrad
Are you spamming applications or carefully crafting applications to jobs that closely match your experience?
I recently got a new job in Germany in a similar field. I sent 10 applications and was offered interviews for 4 of them, and got 1 offer. That was over a period of 9 months though, those 10 jobs were the only ones I thought I was a great match for. I’m always really sceptical when people send loads of applications in a short period of time, in my experience there are just not that many relevant job advertisments.
It’s *not* a numbers game, you just need one perfect application (and some luck).
You have been a PM for a few months and want to go to the next PM position? That doesn’t look good.
What qualifies you to be a PM? You got a PhD, great, but that doesn’t tell the employer anything for the PM role.
Why is a role for 4 years having the same space like a role for 6 months? Further, text reads boring. Look for harvard verbs. The profile text at the top is not memorable. That must be better.
Yes, market is bad, but cv is really not well written as well.
For a product management role I think you need better than B2 German.
Transitioning from academia/research to industry could be rough..some may see that you are overqualified but under experienced for management roles.
I’m no pro in applications, but as a designer I can tell you it’s hard to read.
* the lines are too long (80–120 characters is the suggestion, I didn’t count yours, but I bet it’s more)
* the date on the right is not easy to connect to the correct paragraph, as there’s no guidance like lines, background or distance
* the headline font looks old fashioned. Use a sans serif
* it’s overall too much text with no white space. We call this Bleiwüste
I always found it crazy that the Lebenslauf requires such personal information and photo… that same information is illegal to ask for by an employer in Canada, and generally found upon if applicants provide it.
Go to Switzerland
8 years in Germany, stuck at B2 and you’re wondering why you don’t get responses? If you can’t even learn the language of the country you’re living in, why do you expect someone trusting you with a higher job position?
Die Formatierung und in Teilen der Ausdruck scheißen richtig rein.
Wie ist die Konkurrenzlage in der Branche? Je nachdem bricht dir das bereits das Genick.
Inhaltlich ist es ja nicht schlecht. Wie war das letzte Arbeitszeugnis? Wie hoch ist der Deckungsgrad zwischen deinen Angaben und dem amgestrebten Job?.
Hast du die Buzzwörter beachtet (nicht, dass der IT-Türsteher dich direkt wegschickt)?
You need C1 to work in any medical professional field as far as I know.
Someone said me that, at winter time it’s nearly impossible to find a job that you prefer.
There is a typo, Detektions-zeit. Not saying that I wouldn’t continue reading after this, but it does look sloppy.
You’re better off using your network to find work and not just applying to jobs right now. Many many companies are in cost cutting, hiring freezes and it’s a terrible time for job seekers in general.
Apply to NNIT. https://www.nnit.com/de/karriere/
Life Sciences + Project Management + Engineering background is a good balance and fit at the company.
I’ve been there for over 8 years. They recently took on a much greater focus on life sciences, so apply if you haven’t. They are based in CPH but are mostly global.
Hate to break it to you, but you got “one” year of work experience. University jobs like “wissenschaftliche/studentische Hilfskraft” don’t count as work experience for most companies. And trying to change your PM jobs after only a few months makes you look indecisive.
Engineer but mostly experience doing PM job, doesn’t look good right now. Too much competition plus the market is bad.
No real advice, but I just love how your resume looks like a dnd/ Pathfinder stats block ♥️
Als hiring manager suche ich vergebens deine Ergebnisse: was hast du denn erreicht, was hebt dich von anderen ab?
You are too good. The level of jobs you would consider taking with that CV won’t be on the free market. You get them by knowing someone in the company that recommends you.
Either tune back the accomplishments on the CV a bit to get an entry job or start talking with people in your field you know that might help you with your job search. Or maybe a headhunter, even if I am not sure how effective that would be.
The German medical device industry (of which I am an expert) is highly interested in someone with your profile, BUT there are a view relevant points:
– You have next to no industry experience. Neither in Product Management nor R&D. Your salary expectation better reflects this unless we speak about the specific nieche you did your Dr.-Ing. in
– Btw. unless we are talking about large corporate C-Level positions the Dr.-Ing. is not really an advantage
-Your German being on B2 is just not enough to cut it in the industry in Germany. The vast majority of positions and companies are located in Baden-Württemberg. Have fun speaking to a 60 year old Swabian. Improve this definitively to C1 (at least spoken / hearing) asap
-Forget about Consulting outside of maybe Validation Engineering at a Prüflabor / -Institut
-Consider instead to apply at a notified body – but I assume your exposure to ISO 13485, IVD / MDR / MDSAP / 21 CFR 820 has been very limited so far?
-Consider speaking to Executive Search Agencies (even though they strongly prefer experienced profiles)
-Just make your profile two pages long, insert a picture etc. Otherwise you trigger the impression even harder that you did not really arrive here mentally
-Try at all costs to achieve reasonable stays in your position. Product Management in medical devices – I would say definitively not below 3 years. Unless you change vertically
-If you are able to relocate, send me a private message and MAYBE a colleague of mine has something for your, but it depends on some parameters I do not want to discuss here
The labor market is not the best currently, you only speak B2 which is to low for most positions especially if you are supposed to manage projects, you cv is not in the german format and has a lot of text.
I would argue C1 is a must for most companies in germany especially in a management position where communication is key. Additionally most companies would only count the last 10 month or at max 2 years of working experience (includes the first and last job). In germany the work experience while studying is mostly ignored. Yes it is strange and unfair but that how most companies count. Additionally the industry often requires slightly other skills and methodologies as academics related jobs.
Besides that timing is a bitch. It is probably really bad time right now to look for a job in germany due to a lot of uncertainty and 2yrs of recession.
I love your CV. really nice to read.
BUT, I think you are “Überqualifiziert”.
in my years here, I have never seen a Phd without “Führungsverantwortung”: those with Phd are either on the top management level, C level, or own the business, or leading a research group.
And those people can speak good german, or understand german very well, but no interest on speaking german.
So, if your german is in the Basic level, try smaller company, having english as second business language, stay there few years until you gain a lot of trust/responsibilities. Yes, it will be hard. But you need to gain something with what you have. I have a good friend who does that, it has been 10 years. He has Phd in engineering, can’t speak german, barely understand it. Started working in a small company as engineer, lead engineer, product manager, now in the sales.
Make your CV in english as well. Try Berlin and Munich. The living costs are expensive, but most of the companies/business are speaking english as business language.
Your CV does not look like what German HR prefers
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