Re: Re: Applying for Unemployment Benefit from aboard
Hi eire,
You definitely need to be willing to learn the language, it'll make life much better. I'm not too sure about using the Arbeitsamt to find work but they are (as far as I remember) where you need to go to find out about claiming benefits etc. It's a bit more difficult in a city, I always lived in smaller towns so got to know the people in all the different places quite well because of popping in every now and then to ask questions. My German was good at the time but I didn't have a lot of experience speaking on the phone so I preferred to to everything face to face. But it's still probably good to go around the various places and get to know your way around officaldom while you at least have a bit of time to do so.
With regard to the temporary residence permit, if you're an Irish citizen then I wouldn't be keen on the "temporary" part of it. If I recall correctly, if you're going to be there longer than three months you have to apply for a residence permit but you'll only get a temporary one for six months/one year. And after that you go back, fill out more forms and get your permanent one - have vague memories of having to fill out all those forms when I was a student and would only be staying for six months and then next summer when I went back for good, being told I'd have to do it all again! They do like their forms in triplicate.
There are lots of employment agencies and temping agencies. It's pretty much the same as over here in that you need to just get your CV out to as many people as possible. Try monster and those type of websites as well. Can't offer any advice on CV writing for the German market because it is a while since I've had to do that myself. But you may need to get a load of passport photos to send in with any applications. If I think of anything that might be helpful I'll post again.
Good luck.