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I am looking for English-speaking science jobs in Germany and the Netherlands. I already speak three foreign languages, and I guess I can learn these new ones, but I can't wait until I am fluent to look for jobs. So far I have found the job portals monster.de and monsterboard.nl. However, it is difficult for me to navigate these sites because they don't have an English version. That's why I'm looking for a way to speed up the search. I don't live in these countries, so going to job fairs is not a viable approach.

I have read the question How do you access English recruiters and jobs in a location that is not primarily English speaking? It doesn't apply to my situation because I don't know what companies I should search for and googling for jobs has returned sites that only have English for the front page but not after logging in.

What steps should I take to find English-speaking science jobs in Germany and Netherlands? Also, if it's unlikely for me to find English-speaking science jobs only by online searching, please let me know.

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  • You might want to try academictransfer.com for academia-related jobs in the Netherlands. It offers filters for English language jobs.
    – workingonit
    Nov 1, 2017 at 2:38
  • @Timo Interesting link and you can always post an answer about it. It seems to me it deserves to be more visible than a comment.
    – Alina
    Nov 1, 2017 at 6:05
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    For working in the Netherlands, you will likely not need to learn much Dutch (If you are not planning to stay there for a longer period of time, its probably wasted time). The Netherlands is a very small country with a high education level. English is sufficient for jobs in science and academia, but also enough for everyday life. In Germany, knowing the language is often not considered mandatory anymore, but generally a plus, as proficiency in English is not as commonly encountered as in the Netherlands.
    – NoBackingDown
    Nov 1, 2017 at 18:44
  • Just to correct the facts, check monster.de/en
    – Chris
    Oct 11, 2019 at 9:50

5 Answers 5

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I would recommend logging into some Ex-Pat forums for the countries you're interested in and asking the English people who live in those countries for additional advice and resources.

They've been through the same experience as you have (well, at least some of them will), and they'll be best place to point you in the right direction.

There's nothing like local knowledge from people who have gone through the same search as you and succeeded.

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  • As an expat in the Netherlands, I can say that learning Dutch is not a requirement for highly-educated jobs in general if you're not planning on staying here for a long time, not in a sector that is highly dependant on local language (like Law or Communications / Marketing). I have colleagues that have been here for quite some time and still don't feel the need to learn Dutch.
    – Juliana Karasawa Souza
    Oct 10, 2019 at 21:00
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Search in Google, in English.

The language used in the job advert will mirror the language used in the job, so you can count on English-speaking employers advertising in English.

I have no idea what area, specifically, of science you are looking for a job in, but, for example, searching:

"research chemist" germany job

returns, in the first link, English-speaking jobs with BASF, GlaxoSmithKline and others. Hopefully, this would also work with your area of expertise.

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  • Keep in mind that some (quite many) companies advertise their openings in English because they are targeting German speakers with also English ability. I am currently in a similar situation with the OP, and very often find English job openings that require fluent German language ability (written explicitly). I did try to apply but rejected in the end because of the language requirement. It may still worth applying though.
    – Leonard AB
    Nov 7, 2019 at 23:48
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EU has EURES service, a job seeking portal you can use. Simple search doesn't seem allow filtering by language, but advanced search does.

https://ec.europa.eu/eures/

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From my experience, where you search will depend on whether you are looking for a science job in the industry or in academia and what type of science jobs you are looking for.

I can only share my experience from Berlin. Some of the universities and institutes post jobs in English on their website. I'm sharing a link to Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience jobs just for inspiration. Maybe if you research the institutes in your field, they might have similar pages.

If you are most interested in working in the industry, I can share a website for English speaking jobs in Berlin - Berlin Top Jobs, where you can find a section about data and analytics. Often an expert domain knowledge is required for those positions and some might be a good fit.

Also I would definitely recommend going to meet-ups for networking, events organized by universities or attending career fairs.

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You might want to try www.academictransfer.com for academia-related jobs in the Netherlands. It offers filters for English language jobs.

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