would you work 80+ hours a week?
Issue #124 (11 Nov) – marketing and comms jobs; dating in Berlin; Coffee with Xavi; top earners in Germany; 10 days training; how to choose what to work on; the prettiest flat in Berlin.
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Programming note: What a week! Trump is back (Europe now really needs to wake up!), the coalition fell apart, and it was the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Things around this newsletter weren’t so dramatic… but the “Coffee with” section is finally back.
🌟 Handpicked community
📨 Submit your input here.
🎪 Meet — tech & other events:
FemTechConf Berlin is the biggest event for Women in Tech in Germany with 1200 attendees across 2-days. Join with your Handpicked Berlin discount (30% for a 2-day ticket) now | Thu, 21/11 & Fri, 22/11 | Colloseum*
Behind the Scenes: Witness a Keynote Come to Life | Wed, 13/11 at 18.00 | Factory Berlin Mitte
Community Dinner: What Nourishes Us | Thu, 21/11 18:00 | C-Space Berlin*
this could be your event - advertise it
😎 Show — Cool stuff / Shoutouts / Projects & similar:
🏠 "Your apartment caught my interest"
This line won't get you far in your flat search. This new service will help you out: Get The Flat is your personal butler, sending tailored flat viewing requests for you, all day, every day.*🎨 TA-DAAN and TINA Experiences host a pop-up from Nov 18-23 at LYNC & Co. They want you at the opening party on Nov 19 at 6:30 PM, featuring live music and wine. You can join a great selection of daily hands-on/DIY/creative workshops (check them on the link!) and connect with Berlin's artisans.*
Join the Berlin Acabellas and special guests, The Cellotic Soundtrack Ensemble, for an unforgettable evening of music at St. Thomas Church, Berlin (Sun, 1/12 at 18:30)! Enjoy mesmerizing harmonies and a blend of classic and contemporary tunes. All ticket proceeds will be donated. Children under 7 have free entry!
Congrats to the winners from last week’s raffles: Linda (Marty Cagan) and Nicola, Chiara and Sian (FemTechConf)!
🔍 Ask — for a Service / Co-founder / Project help & similar:
Tried dating in Berlin? 💔 Participate in this anonymous survey by Egor and Taras!
“They say dating in Berlin is brutal. But is it really true? If you’re single and tried dating here – share your experience in this survey. Disclaimer: some questions are 🌶️ spicy, but the survey is designed with anonymity in mind.”
They’ll publish a report with findings at the beginning of 2025.
Looking for the submission link? It’s below the title ⤴️
This section is also featured on LinkedIn in the weekly post.
*Sponsored
👀 Handpicked jobs
is a rotating selection of around 20 jobs from companies I’d check out.
🚨 Are you struggling to attract great candidates? Tired of competing with everyone on Linkedin? This could be your position, highlighted to 9,200+ readers here and more on social media. It’s not just gonna be Your Company - Job Title, but more. 🚨 Drop me a note for more info.
5️⃣ from the rotation this week: Marketing & Comms
Anecdotal evidence: almost everyone wants German now, especially in this area. Logical, but still…
The remaining jobs (also outside rotation) are in the Handpicked online database.
You can also submit a job.
🗞 Top inspiration snippets
☕️ Coffee with Xavi Galindo
is where my guest contributes three links and an explanation while I write a short bio.
Xavi is the author of a self-improvement newsletter LifeScore Chronicles. He writes about productivity tips, health hacks and other inspiring content. I read it on a weekly basis. Here is what he prepared for you:
VÖBB - For just €10 a year, you can access thousands of eBooks, audiobooks, language courses, and streaming platforms through VOBB. Their extensive catalogue includes both fiction and non-fiction in multiple languages. It’s an incredible investment for unlimited reading and watching. I’ve lost count of how many books I’ve read and how much money I’ve saved.
Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day - this book has it all. It’s not about stuffing more into your day or obsessing over your to-do list. Instead, it’s about making better use of your time. Think of it as a refreshing take on productivity that values quality over quantity. Plus, it’s beautifully written and designed, which helps humanise a pretty boring topic like productivity.
When I moved to Berlin back in 2011, finding good coffee was a challenge. But, despite higher rents and other issues, gentrification also brought fantastic coffee spots across the city. Here are a few of my favourites: 19 Gramm in Schlesisches Str., Oslo Kaffeebar and Coffee Circle in Mitte, Isla Coffee in Neukölln, and Blaue Bohne Rösterei in Boxi. They all roast their beans, so you can enjoy high-quality coffee at home, too!
🇩🇪 Berlin & other good stuff
is a selection of links focused on Berlin/Germany, career, timeless content and business.
I published another in the series of recruiter’s interviews, this time with Amanda.
Last week, the founder of Berlin’s startup-scene rising star, games/app factory Slay, posted a call for referrals, where he mentioned that their Chief of Staff should be ready to work 80+ per week. My question on compensation was ignored, but we can still do a poll:
In our poll last week, nobody (n=236) said they like the “we’re family” approach, while 83% said it’s a red flag (17% were neutral). So, HR/Founders reading this… maybe it’s time to drop the family idea altogether? It can only hurt you.
Berlin has a lot of high-quality maps - this one, for example, shows all the parking spots in the city—precisely 1.276.312 for 1.244M registered cars. Car density is 278 cars per 1000 Berliners. (RBB)
Fitting to the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Wall, here is a nice 16-minute video by Deutsche Welle, “All you need to know about the Berlin Wall, 35 years on.”
If you’d like to experience how it is to be an extra on a movie/TV set, you can become one of 1,500 extras for the last season of Babylon Berlin. Relatively strict conditions apply, and according to people with experience, the gig will include a lot of waiting for mindestlohn.
Career: Did you know that: “Every worker in Berlin (depending on their age) has a legal right to individual training courses, namely up to ten days in two years. This means that your employer must give you those days off with full pay.” More here.
Career: Who are the top earners in Germany? Indians! This data is somewhat consistent with our salary trends survey, which found that non-EU passports had higher median salaries (link in the footer). It’s a logical numbers game. Related, Germany’s new labour strategy aims to recruit 90k skilled workers from India annually. The visa cap will be raised from 20k. (Nikkei Asia)
via Adam Tooze Career: A very good framework by Jason Crawford on how to choose what to work on. You could also adapt it to help you decide what your next career move should be.
Timeless: I can't avoid US politics completely — but this is probably the best analysis I’ve read from the brilliant Sam Kriss. It’s dense, funny and true.
Timeless: A Message From the Past (Thoughts on Nostalgia) by Morgan Housel. “You should have been happy and calm, given where things ended up,” you say to your past self. But your past self had no idea where things would end up. Uncertainty dictates nearly everything in the current moment, but looking back we pretend it never existed.” COVID crisis, anyone?
📱 Weekly Social.
Reddit: ImmoGuesser: A fun game where you are guessing the kaltmiete in Berlin flats.
Immoscout: The prettiest flat in Berlin for 5.599€/square meter.
Twitter: Ryanair just doesn’t care.
💬 Briefly.
😔 Bad news: Personio is laying off 115 (6%); Daimler Truck profits -34%, BMW -84%, Audi -91%. Automotive is struggling big time!
October’s 1530 bankruptcies were the highest in Germany in 20 years. 17% more than in September and 48% more YoY. (IWH)Stats: Top destination searches by country from Numbeo (cost of living directory). Germany is the fifth most searched country globally. You can also check country-by-country insights.
Berlinale will leave X/Twitter on Dec 31st. Tempting.
Employees at Tesla’s Grünheide will get a 4% raise from this month onwards. (RBB)
You can now order Knuspr same-day grocery delivery with Amazon, which clearly gave up on Amazon Fresh.
Autodoc, a Berlin-based online car parts dealer, is preparing for a potential ‘25 Frankfurt IPO.
Zalando reported strong Q3: GMV up 8% to €3.5B, revenue up 5% to €2.4B. Adjusted operating profit quadrupled to €93M. Raised 2024 forecast.
Delivery Hero Q3 revenue up 19.2% to €3.26B, GMV rises 4.8% to €11.7B.
Mental health platforms nilo.health and Likeminded merged to become DACH's largest workplace mental health provider.
Bankrupt Lilium hired KPMG to find new investors.
💸 Recently funded in Berlin & Germany
is a list of companies that received funding over €1M.
Modifi | Berlin | B2B cross-border payments platform | $15M | Careers.
Xavveo | Berlin | Autonomous vehicle radar technology | $8.6M Seed | No careers.
Plato | Berlin | AI-powered wholesale sales software | €6.5M Pre-seed | Careers.
Cloudsquid | Berlin | AI data extraction and transformation | $1M Pre-seed | Careers.
TCC | Hamburg | Telemedicine for intensive care | €20M Series A | No careers.
HelloBetter | Hamburg | Digital mental health platform | €3M | Careers.
Oceanloop | Munich | Sustainable shrimp farming technology | €35M Funding | Careers.
Fija | Munich | Crypto yield software platform | €1.2M Seed | Careers.
Dash0 | NYC/Solingen | Developer data tracking platform | $9.5M Seed | Careers.
😅 Meanwhile
are you coming up with proposals for me to send around?
✌️ Handpicked essentials and a treat:
- How to find a great company to work for?
- How to learn German and get over “Genau” and “mit Karte, bitte”?
- Signing a new employment contract in Germany? Read this before.
- Football in Berlin: where to play, watch and how to get involved?
- Berlin Salary Trends Reports: How do you compare?
- ❓Surprise treat for the curious
- The best questions to ask at a job interview
- What do hiring managers look for in CVs?
✨ Berlin Events Weekly: the best resource for events in Berlin ✨
♡ 20% Berlin: all the Berlin news twice a week, in English! ♡
How about a like, tiger/tigress? 🐅