Reply to: Contracting in Germany

[tim123]

Is Germany this contractors utopia of not having any agents?

There are few German agents because Germans, as a rule, don't like contracting. Usually they like the warm comfort blanket of the government taking 55% of their income and giving it back to them when they are in education, unemployed, sick or retired (all of which beat the payments HNG give us by a mile).

There are a few placement agencies (e.g: http://www.brunel.de/) that work like software houses, but these are not the home of experienced engineers, rather junior people who failed to get a 'real' job after their 8 years in university who are looking to impress the client so that they can be offered a staff job (for which the charging of transfer fees is forbidden).

It should also be noted that there is an additional risk of 'freelancing' in Germany which is always overlooked by Brits working there. Namely the possibility that if the engineer does not perform as per the resume, the client is entitled to terminate the contract, not pay outstanding invoices and chargeback all the payments already made. This is not just a theoritical possibility, I have know it to happen twice (and I've only worked for three German companies). This risk can be avoided by being third party employed (as the Brunel employees are), but then it is not possible to take advantage of freelance tax breaks.

There are a number of UK agencies that specialise in placing people in Germany and they tend to place mostly Brits. Interviews tend to be short, relying on the honesty of the resume (because of the rule above) and if they are long, will be a 'personality' check, not a skills check.

HTH

tim

[BrowneIssue]

My business activities are very flexible. I can convert my offices back into a car lot in 24 hours.

A couple of contracts back when chatting to my agent I said how some agents seem to be ex-estate agents.

"I still am on Saturdays" says he.

[DodgyAgent]

Dodgy, are you seeing a tail-off in the market? After all it's people like you on the sharp end who notice these things first. So are we going into recession?

It is difficult to say at the moment. My own agency does not do the financial markets, more utilities, energy and retail. retail will be interesting once the Christmas figures come in. I also tend to find that downturns in the market coincide with downturns in the activities of my employees, which has more to do with my management style than anything else

[BlasterBates]

The answer is yes the German market has picked up, no you don´t often need German, though obviously it is helpful. If you have the right people at the right price, you´´ll have no problem. You just need the contacts, probably set up a little office in Germany, employ a competent local, and you´re in business. IR35 isn´t much of a problem, if a client stipulates employees then simply employ a contractor to do marketing for 100 quid a month, and tell the client he´s an employee, then pay him the rest as a freelancer. Now the reason for that is that it is possible that a contractor could claim employment rights, but if he´s an employee of your company he can´t.

[wendigo100]

Do you need to be fluent in German to work there?

Talking of which, is Robinson Crusoe's "Friday" known as "Friday" or "Freitag" in Germany?

There's lots of IT/technical work you don't need it for, but if you haven't got it, learn it as soon as you can.

Don't know about Friday. They never mentioned him while I was working there.

[sasguru]

Serious question for Dodgy

Dodgy, are you seeing a tail-off in the market? After all it's people like you on the sharp end who notice these things first. So are we going into recession?

[SteveV]

I heard germany is bringing in new regulations a bit like our ir35 in January '08. A lot of the german contractors I know have been told to go permie or get out in Jan. Seems like they won't be able to contract one man bands any more.

Anyone got any more info on this one ??

[TimberWolf]

Do you need to be fluent in German to work there?

Talking of which, is Robinson Crusoe's "Friday" known as "Friday" or "Freitag" in Germany?

[darmstadt]

I've been contracting here on and off for too löng! Sometimes I've had to go through agencies, once even through a UK one. Most of the big agencies have a well established presence here (I currently work through one with 2 words, the first H and the second N.) There are a number of German agencies but most of my work is through consultancy firms or software houses, i.e. RZNet or FuM or CA, etc.

[DodgyAgent]

Dodgy mate, you are fooked aren't you?

I hope you don't have a big mortgage to worry about.

My business activities are very flexible. I can convert my offices back into a car lot in 24 hours.

[Pondlife]

Is Germany a big market for contractors? Considering its population and that it is the world's third largest economy jobserve is not exactly overrun by German based contracts.

Currently contract in in Germany and managing a team of 10 other contractors. They're all long term BoS and some heve been there for 20 years.

Lots of old technology being upgraed at the mo, so there must be a market.

Got the gig through a UK agent though.

Rates for them (the locals) is about €800 and no agency.

[Cliphead]

Is Germany a big market for contractors? Considering its population and that it is the world's third largest economy jobserve is not exactly overrun by German based contracts.

I haven't been there for a few years but there was always work around. The pool of contractors working there pretty much ran their own network and passed on opportunites. None of the agencies I dealt with at the time were involved in Germany as far as I know, they tended to concentrate on Holland and Belgium which I guess were the staples.

I still hear from time to time from these same guys and some of these are still in Germany although Spain now seems to feature more.

[DimPrawn]

Dodgy mate, you are fooked aren't you?

I hope you don't have a big mortgage to worry about.

[DodgyAgent]

Then again, Holland was always a good place for a branch office for agencies. Don't know if that still applies now though.

Is Germany a big market for contractors? Considering its population and that it is the world's third largest economy jobserve is not exactly overrun by German based contracts.

[DodgyAgent]

Germany is a bit strange for agents, especialy if security is involved, but I have used an English agent in Germany no probs.
With the current exchange rate some of the tulip euro rates seem pretty good.

I do strange so maybe I can fit in.