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JOBTALK GERMANY: ENTREPRENEUR SERIES

JOBS

Not your usual job website

In our weekly feature series, The Local looks into a successful entrepreneur's life - the story behind their successes, major challenges and how being an entrepreneur changed them forever. This week, Sparsh Sharma talks to Robin Eric Haak, founder and COO of Berlin-based Jobspotting.

Published: 13 January 2015 15:36 CET
Not your usual job website
The Jobspotting founders' team. Robin Eric Haak is second from left.

How did you come up with this business idea?

Jobspotting's founder and CEO, Hessam Lavi worked at Google in Dublin for many years. There he met Jan Backes (founder and CDO) and Manuel Holtz (founder and CTO). Lavi also met his German wife there and they moved to Berlin, where he found it was needlessly painful for foreigners to find jobs in startups.

In order to give himself, and other jobseekers, a platform, he started BerlinStartupJobs and later, LondonStartupJobs. Though these websites were started on the side, their huge popularity showed a vital need for this kind of information. The sites have over 100,000 views per month.

Lavi is a big fan of sites like Pandora that make recommendations based on the users’ taste and figured there was need for a similar system in job portals too. So he called up Jan and Manuel, given their expertise in data backend, to discuss the feasibility of this idea.

They have now created technologies that classify job ads, analyze semantics and can produce detailed skills graphs for users, providing relevant job matches.

When they met Saeed Amidi, investor in Dropbox, Paypal and 2,000+ other companies, he encouraged them to join the Axel Springer Plug and Play accelerator, which I had co-founded.

That's how I became friends with them. Next, they received investment and Stefan Gross-Selbeck, one of the angels and former CEO of eBay and XING, asked them to appoint a business head. That’s where I came in and became a co-founder.

What were the initial challenges? How did you overcome them?

The technical backend is pretty hardcore. This is most likely why no company in the classified job market has really stood out – with the exception of LinkedIn. As we have a mind-bogglingly amazing engineering team, we are well on our way to solving this problem.

This is no hipster, boy-band startup but a group of experts trying to solve a serious problem by working efficiently. The founders’ have a combined work experience in Google of over 20 years.

How has the journey been so far?

Creating the technical backend took us 10 months. Now our focus is to make the product really exceptional.

We have created a personalized job-feed that adapts to each user, an explore function that allows people to discover how the scenario is in different job verticals and locations, an iOS app, a magazine as well as company pages that provide users with info about the companies that have posted jobs. This was no piece of cake!

The core ideal of our product is not only for jobseekers to find the most relevant jobs but also use Jobspotting to visualise their futures and make the most informed career choices.

We have partnered with companies like XING, Monster, Stepstone, CW and many more to provide the widest net for all jobs being posted. It will be a constant challenge to find the perfect jobs for jobseekers and take the pain out of the process for them but also exciting. Personally, I am extra excited about the magazine where you can read insights, interviews and information about all things career.

How has becoming an entrepreneur changed you, personally?

I came to Jobspotting from one of the most influential corporates in a country that is the world’s third biggest exporter. There are a lot of corporate challenges that I no longer have to solve. I have much more time to focus on working efficiently without worrying about causing offence or internal office politics.

Everyone believes in the company, and our goal of helping people. We are not doing it for fame and fortune but for people unhappy in their jobs or unsure about jobs best suited to them.

Certainly, I now have more responsibilities and a tighter budget, so the pressure to succeed is higher. But I also have complete ownership of the pace I work at and how fast I can keep pushing forward.

Personally, I think now is the time to utilize what I have learned, and hope that by giving it everything, we can change something. Sometimes it’s hard to stay confident when you know that nothing in life is forever, or can be taken for granted, but following a vision to positively influence people’s lives makes it easier.

Any other personal reflections or message to budding entrepreneurs?

I don’t understand people who say, ‘I don’t have the time’. I always have time, it’s about prioritizing. I think a lot of people need to work on this.

I hope we, in Europe, will come around to the US point of view where everyone just gets one shot. For e.g. if I meet Andreessen Horowitz, he will give me just an hour. If we agree, it’s a deal. If it doesn’t work, I won’t get another chance, which is fair enough.

In Europe, everyone is so busy and important that the same process takes a lot longer. I really don’t get it and hope the startup mentality will change our working culture and lead to more efficiency in the future.

Are you an entrepreneur in Germany? Contact us and we might feature your story

Sparsh Sharma works as a freelance journalist for The Local and blogs about his experiences in Denmark. You can follow him on Twitter at @sparsh_s.

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WORKING IN GERMANY

Four steps to take straight away after losing your job in Germany

Losing a job can be a nightmare situation for foreigners in Germany - but following these simple steps will get you back on your feet in no time.

Published: 10 September 2024 16:34 CEST
Updated: 15 September 2024 08:14 CEST
Four steps to take straight away after losing your job in Germany

In times of economic downturn, layoffs are far from unusual – but that doesn’t make it any more difficult for the people who find themselves suddenly left without work.

For foreigners in Germany, the situation is even more frightening. You may wonder whether your residence status is in jeopardy, how hard it will be to find another position, and whether you can support yourself while you look for another job.

Though it may be hard to think clearly at a time like this, following these four simple steps will set you in good stead to move forward – and hopefully, it won’t be long before another dream opportunity comes your way. 

1. Negotiate your terms 

Before signing or agreeing to anything, it’s crucial that you’re familiar with your rights and understand how much notice your employer has to give you and what kind of settlement you may be owed.

Generally, the rule of thumb is that you get half a month of severance for every year you worked at the company. That said, higher settlements can be negotiated in return for signing a termination agreement (Aufhebungsvertrag), so you may want to seek legal advice before settling. 

Even during a probationary period, your employer will also have to give you a certain amount of notice before your last working day. During the interim, you can either work for the company or be put on what is known as gardening leave in English, where you stay home but are paid as if you were working.

This can all be negotiated as part of a termination agreement, so you should think carefully about what works best for you and consider speaking to your labour council (Betriebsrat) or a legal specialist before making any firm decisions. You should also be aware that you have no obligation to sign any agreement and can legally dispute the layoff if you want to. 

READ ALSO: Can I get unemployment benefits in Germany if I quit my job?

2. Get all the necessary documents from your employer

Once the terms of the layoff are final, ensure that your employer gives you all the necessary documents you need to navigate the next phase of German bureaucracy.

The main two to think about first are the confirmation of work (Arbeitsbescheinung) and the confirmation of your holiday entitlement (Urlaubsbescheinigung).

The first can be sent to the Agentur für Arbeit (jobcentre) as proof of your last job and recent layoff, while the second will help your next employer calculate your vacation days for the rest of the year.

An Arbeitszeugnis, or German letter of reference

An Arbeitszeugnis, or German letter of reference. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-tmn | Zacharie Scheurer

On top of these documents, you’ll want to ask your employer for a letter of reference (Arbeitszeugnis), which is useful for finding a new job in Germany.

You should also keep hold of your last payslip and statement of earnings (Lohnsteuerabrechnung), which are helpful for tax purposes and may also be requested by the Agentur für Arbeit.

Speaking of which… 

3. Register as unemployed with the Agentur für Arbeit

As soon as you know that you are soon to be unemployed, you should register as a jobseeker with the Agentur für Arbeit. To get full unemployment benefits, you usually have to do this within three days of receiving your termination notice or at least three months before leaving.

Depending on what type of residence permit you’re on, you may or may not be entitled to long-term unemployment benefits (ALG II), but most employees are able to get unemployment insurance (ALG I), which covers a proportion of your former salary while you look for a new role.

It’s important to be a little bit careful here, as claiming long-term unemployment benefits (ALG II) can affect any future citizenship applications. Any severance pay you agree to can also result in you losing some months of unemployment benefits, so these are all factors you will have to consider while deciding on the best way forward. 

READ ALSO: What happens to your work permit if you lose your job in Germany?

4. Inform the immigration office 

If you’re on a residence permit that is linked to your job in some way, like a Blue Card or work visa, you’ll need to inform the immigration office about your change in circumstances as soon as possible.

This should be done in writing, and in German, within two weeks of receiving your termination notice.

You should include all relevant personal information, such as date of birth, residence permit type, and nationality, as well as the date of your final day at work. As proof of the layoff, you should also enclose a copy of your termination agreement or a letter from your employer. 

People enter the immigration office

For foreigners who move to Germany and settle in Berlin, a visit to the Berliner Landesamt für Einwanderung (LEA) is ultimately unavoidable. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Britta Pedersen

In most cases, the immigration office will give you between 3 and 12 months to look for a new job. If they give you a shorter period, be aware that you may be able to negotiate an extension later on if you are struggling to find work through no fault of your own.

Above all, stay positive. Though it may feel like one door has closed, another one is sure to open. This being Germany, you may just have to wade through a sea of paperwork to get there.

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