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Opel cutting jobs as Merkel says the car maker isn’t ‘relevant’

The head of the European division of stricken US carmaker General Motors, Carl-Peter Forster, told daily Bild on Wednesday that its German unit Opel will likely have to lay off 3,500 workers.

Published: 4 March 2009 10:18 CET

Opel cutting jobs as Merkel says the car maker isn't 'relevant'

Photo: DPA

“We will all have to deal with a loss of income,” he told the paper. “And with that comes the reduction of hopefully not more than 3,500 jobs.”

Last Friday Opel announced that it would attempt to part company with its ailing US parent corporation after GM drew up a plan to cut thousands of European jobs.

Forster told Bild that some 300,000 jobs in Europe depend the success of Opel, and 100,000 are within Germany.

In order to save the storied German automaker – factories in Rüsselsheim, Bochum, Eisenach and Kaiserslautern – the company needs €3.3 billion in loans until 2014, he said.

“Until fall 2008 Opel made a profit,” Forster told the paper. “After a new start we can manage a five percent return.”

But the government may not be so inclined to bail out the struggling company. Chancellor Angela Merkel apparently does not think Opel is important enough to the German economy to offer the same kind of aid that the government has handed banks, daily Rheinische Post reported on Wednesday.

“There are crucially relevant financial institutions,” Merkel reportedly said during a Christian Democratic (CDU) parliamentary group meeting on Tuesday. “But there are no crucially important commercial businesses.”

The statement was a response to Social Democrat (SPD) party leader Franz Müntefering, who had called Opel, which affects thousands of jobs in related fields, a “systemically relevant” company.

Which Bavaria-based companies regularly hire English speakers?

Munich ranks third in German cities with the highest total GDP, behind Berlin and Hamburg, but in terms of GDP per capita, it’s higher than both of them.

It also consistently ranks high, often highest, in terms of average household income.

As of 2023, nine of the 40 companies listed on DAX, Germany’s stock index, were based in Bavaria. Seven of those are based specifically in Munich.

While Frankfurt is commonly known to be Germany’s business capital, Munich can claim the title of Germany’s insurance capital, which is saying something, as Germany is home to some of the largest insurance firms in the world, like Allianz.

Beyond the state’s capital city, a number of international companies are based elsewhere in Bavaria, particularly in the Franken region, near Nuremberg.

Which companies actively hire English speakers?

Bavaria, and Munich in particular, is home to a number of companies at the forefront of international business. But the state is known for its traditional, sometimes conservative, culture, which affects its business culture as well.

Whereas companies embracing English as their primary business language are easy to find in Berlin, the practice is less common in the south. That said, there are some notable exceptions.

Sportswear giants, Adidas and Puma, both have their headquarters near Nuremberg in Herzogenaurach, and regularly recruit English speaking international talent.

“As an international company, our teams reflect the rich diversity of our consumers and communities,” Jon Greenhalgh, Senior Manager Media Relations for Adidas told The Local. “Fostering a culture of inclusion where we value and leverage differences, ensures that we can authentically engage with our employees and truly connect with our consumers.”

He added that around 40 per cent of Adidas’ Germany-based employees are foreign nationals, from over 100 different countries.

Siemens and BMW rank among Bavaria’s top employers, and are also known to hire their fair share of foreigners.

“In Germany, we recently had around 2,000 open positions,” Konstanze Somborn told The Local on behalf of Siemens AG.

He added that Siemens operates in 190 countries. “That is why we value international teams very much…English as a common language is very usual.”

READ ALSO: ‘Which German companies want to hire foreigners?’

Similarly, BMW hires workers from a variety of backgrounds.

“Every year, we hire lots of internationals and welcome them to the BMW Group,” Dr. Hans-Peter Ketterl, a press spokesman for BMW Group told The Local.

But not all of these positions are available to non-German speakers.

Ketterl added that BMW’s working language is German in the country, even though, “English is an indispensable entry requirement as the second corporate language in many areas of the company.”

Check job boards and follow best practices

If it’s your first time applying for jobs in Germany, make sure to change your resume to the German format, even for English positions.

While Germany is home to its own job boards, like Xing, LinkedIn is probably the best place to start. In addition to searching for positions based in your preferred location, you can check relevant groups, like Munich Startups, to broaden your horizons.

The English Jobs in Germany website is also a good resource to start with.

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