Sometimes life just happens.
You studied something but then the economy spirals down in your home country and there are no jobs. Or you fall in love with somebody and follow your partner to his/her home country but there you can’t work in whatever you have learned originally. These and many other situations give your life a new direction or – as it might seem – no direction at all. So how do you find again a goal or an objective you are working towards? How do you manage to advance each day one step towards professional (and personal) happiness?
Co-Founder and Managing Director of Accedera GmbH
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Overwhelming – where to begin?
If you haven’t come to Germany with the express purpose of doing some specific thing one of the most difficult things is to find your way in a new country. There are so many options and different approaches that sometimes – as we say in German – you can’t see the forest for all the trees anymore.
This overwhelming feeling can cause paralysis, meaning that you don’t know which way you should go and which step you should take first so that in the end you are not going anywhere.
While you feel overwhelmed everybody else keeps asking you: “So what is your plan? What are you going to do? How do you want to earn money / pay rent / …”. This adds a lot of pressure to a difficult situation and might lead you to say – sooner than you would usually do: “I’m going to do xyz.“ Only to find out that xyz does not suit you. So you look for another option, but the pressure increases.”
Step 1: What are your talents and skills?
When there are so many occupations you could / should / would start, hold on for a moment and think about what your skills really are. In which situations do you thrive? Is it when you work with a well-functioning team? Or is it when you can create something and watch it grow? Do you become most engaged under time pressure or are you rather at your best when everything is working in a structured and well-planned way? Take time and think about situations when you felt that you were at the right place in the right time.
Step 2: What are your passions?
Do you know what your passions are? Which topic, work, subject, etc. interest you sufficiently to spend time, energy and money on learning it? What provides you with energy instead of draining it? Starting over is difficult. It better be with something that captivates your interest in the long run.
Take time for these two first steps and don’t jump to hasty conclusions.
Many people have a tendency to think in solutions and want questions to be answered soon. But maybe some questions need more considering and some answers more space to develop.
Step 3: Visualize yourself being successful
Once you have found out what your talents and passions are, try to picture what success means for you. If you follow the path you have discovered for yourself then think it further. What would you like to achieve with this? What will you be doing in three, five, ten years? Can you picture your reality or does it remain blurry? Or are you picturing something, but it doesn’t have anything to do with the path you identified for yourself?
Step 4: Network – get in touch with people
Once you are happy with your vision and feel that this is the new path you want to pursue, start getting in touch with people who can be helpful on your way. People who work in the profession to which you aspire or individuals who have a skill you would like to develop. Start creating a network of persons that can support you in achieving your goals.
Accedera recruits amiable and qualified European personal for German nursery schools and remedial care centers. Accedera follows an integral approach in order to work towards a good start for both employer and employee. Through its talent pool Accedera accompanies all international applicants from the first steps of thinking about migration to finding and keeping a job in Germany.
Find out more about Accedera and their current job offers for foreign specialists on their website.
Eve 
English