Managers: Highly qualified, successful, looking for work – four people affected report

Berlin. For a long time, the rule in Germany was that anyone who wants to work – is hard-working, motivated and qualified – will find something. But the job market has changed. In the current economic downturn, many companies are not only hiring fewer people, they are also cutting jobs. According to the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), around 15,000 jobs are currently being lost every month in industry alone. As a result, a growing number of job seekers are encountering fewer and fewer vacancies.

What's also new is who it gets: it's now also increasingly affecting highly qualified academics, executives and managers. Within a year, the number of managers in all industries registered as unemployed has jumped by 14 percent. Figures from the Federal Statistical Office also show this. The proportion of academics who have been unemployed for more than a year has also increased recently.

The Handelsblatt launched a call on the job platform LinkedIn, to which more than 100 affected people responded. They are qualified, many led teams, some at C-level. Most were terminated or offered a termination agreement. Some also left their employer of their own accord - assuming they would quickly find something new. Most were between 50 and 60 years old.

Four of them tell us here what the long job search does to them and what challenges unemployment presents them.