During the crisis, even people whose careers have so far been on the rise are no longer able to find jobs. Four people affected report the challenges this poses to them.
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 sectors 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.
The meaningful question: What now?
Lukas Meier*'s CV looks like something out of a textbook. 30 years ago he joined a large corporation. Five years later, he took on his first leadership role. This was followed by positions as Vice President, as CFO at a medium-sized company, and as Head of Group Finance at a subsidiary of a DAX company. Most recently, Meier was CFO and board member at a wholesale company with around 500 employees. Annual salary: 400,000 euros.
His board contract expired at the end of 2024 - and was not extended, even at his own request. “I thought I would do something different,” says Meier. However, the search is difficult and extremely time-consuming. “That really surprised me given my CV,” he says.
Meier is still lucky: he is financially secure. He no longer has to work. But does he want that in his mid-50s? “I’m wondering what I should do with my time,” he says. “Sitting at home and reading the newspaper?” His life was always geared towards success and achievement.
Nils Schmidt is currently experiencing many such cases. The lawyer is on the board of the Association for Specialists and Managers (DFK) and advises members after a job loss. Since the beginning of last year, significantly more people have reported being laid off. Around 2,000 affected people received advice from the association last year - and Schmidt expects an increase again this year.
Schmidt is not only observing more layoffs, the mood has also changed: from sadness to anger to resignation. “We’re experiencing everything right now,” he says. Just yesterday, a fired manager screamed on the phone for an hour: out of anger at his former employer. “Sometimes it has to come out,” says Schmidt.
Because the conversations are becoming increasingly emotional, the association has trained its advisors on how to react correctly in such situations. “But we are lawyers, not psychologists,” says Schmidt. He therefore advises many of those whom he provides legal support to seek additional psychological support.
According to Schmidt, what job seekers need above all else: perseverance and flexibility. “Just a few years ago, it was considered a long time if someone was looking for a job for six months,” says Schmidt. The search is currently taking significantly longer. The good news is: “Most people find a job again.” However, often in a different position or at a different company than desired.
Lukas Meier actively applied for positions last year - either on his own initiative or with a headhunter. The effort was great, but the response was low. Most recently he had a job as interim manager, which lasted until March of this year. Since then, Meier has no longer actively applied for jobs and has only worked with headhunters. “Most jobs in my price range aren’t advertised anyway,” he says. “And if so, hundreds will apply for it.”
The manager would also significantly reduce his salary demands. But even that, he says, doesn't help him. “If you work for half of your original salary, companies think there’s something wrong with you,” says Meier. “And then they don’t invite you because of that.”
The money problem: how long will it last?
For Franka Gruber*, the pressure to find a well-paying job again is slowly growing: she is a single mother of two teenagers. Most recently, she worked as an IT manager at a large public company: she was responsible for the infrastructure for more than 30,000 users and led a team of around 50 employees. With bonuses, she earned up to 150,000 euros gross per year.
Due to restructuring, she lost her job at the end of last year - and fell into a hole. “I was always doing something and suddenly it was gone from one day to the next,” she says. “I felt completely incompetent.”
Since then, she has been writing application after application - and only receiving rejections. “As a woman in IT, you often struggle with prejudice,” she says. “My competence was questioned.” She has the impression that many people don't believe her about how much responsibility she has recently shouldered.
What makes things even more difficult is the connection to one's place of residence. Your children are rooted there and moving is hardly possible. “One of my sons is an inclusion child,” she says. “You can’t really tear him out of his familiar surroundings.”
Things are slowly getting tight financially. Before she was fired, Gruber had just bought and renovated an old building - and taken out a loan for it. “I assumed that I would continue to receive my high salary.” Unemployment benefits are less than half.
She saves where she can and goes to her reserves. So she recently took a junior-level job in IT support. “Those around me said I was crazy,” says Gruber. The salary is barely more than their unemployment benefit. And still: “I had to do something to get back in,” says Gruber. But the job is not an option in the long term. “I simply cannot cover my costs with this.”
Many people who used to earn well and can no longer find a job are like Gruber. Often the unemployment benefit is not enough to finance the current standard of living or it has already expired. Many former high earners therefore take jobs for which they are actually overqualified - or use up their reserves.
Ute Bracket is a professor at the Institute for Sociology at the University of Duisburg-Essen and director of the Institute for Work and Qualification there. She also observes that highly qualified specialists and managers are currently looking for a job for significantly longer. “As a result, people who were previously considered to be very financially stable are increasingly coming under pressure.”
Because: A high income does not automatically mean good financial resilience. Many managers or well-paid experts have adjusted their standard of living to their previous income over the years - and thus high fixed costs. These include high rents or real estate loans, maintenance obligations or high education costs for children.
There are also contracts that you can't get out of quickly: private pension plans, private health and other insurance policies or things like car leasing. “If the salary suddenly stops, income usually falls significantly more than expenses,” she says. Even with reserves, a noticeable depletion of assets can begin after a few months. It becomes particularly critical when fixed costs can hardly be reduced. “Then a temporary income gap quickly becomes a liquidity problem.”
The Existential Crisis: When Self-Worth Is Questioned
For some, the loss of a job turns into an existential crisis. This is what happened to Benjamin Huber*, 55 years old, father of two children. He worked successfully as a development engineer and project manager for various automotive suppliers for more than 20 years. Most recently, he was employed by temporary employment agencies, which repeatedly offered him the prospect of a permanent position with customers.
At the end of 2023, his last employer suddenly terminated the graduate engineer because the customer had canceled the project. This was followed by more than 100 applications, all without success. “They always say we should work until we’re 70,” he says. “But when you’re in your mid-50s, no one will hire you anymore.” Because he could no longer service the loan, he first sold his apartment - then his house too. Since then, the family has lived on reserves and the proceeds from sales.
The long period of unemployment plunges Huber into a crisis. Deep existential fears overcome him and he lacks appreciation. “My situation felt so hopeless that I stood at the tracks twice and considered whether I would end my life.”
A nine-week hospital stay follows. Since then, Huber has been on sick leave and undergoing therapeutic treatment. “My psychologist said I was the fourth engineer he has looked after.” The therapist can only help him to a limited extent: in order to become stable, says Huber, he needs one thing: a job.
Ute-Christine Klehe is a psychologist and researches, among other things, layoffs at the University of Giessen. When someone loses their job, she says, it is almost always a shock - regardless of how senior the position was before. However, those who have worked for a role over the years often link their own self-worth particularly closely to their job. “Managers receive confirmation in their jobs every day,” says Klehe – through the respect of employees, the decision-making leeway they are entrusted with, and the results they achieve.
If you lose your job, this feedback suddenly disappears. Especially for very qualified and previously socially highly respected people, this not only calls into question their existence, but also their status and identity. “The ego is simply not used to getting along without this mirror,” says Klehe.
With the job, the answer to the question of who you are - and what you previously worked 50 to 70 hours for, week after week - often disappears. In addition, high performers often find the job search particularly exhausting. “People who have been solving problems professionally for years suddenly fail to solve a new problem – namely marketing themselves,” says Klehe.
All of this can drive job seekers into a negative spiral of brooding, self-doubt and resignation - just like Benjamin Huber experienced. “Such spirals are particularly dangerous,” says Klehe, “because they reinforce themselves.”
The way out: take other paths
Klehe's advice: take active countermeasures. One possibility is a change of perspective. Instead of saying “I’m out,” you should try to tell yourself that you are currently in a transition phase whose outcome is still open. It also helps to see the application phase as a learning process - this improves self-regulation and at the same time the chances of re-employment. Small, consciously achieved successes are also important. “If you set achievable goals every day – write to three contacts, analyze a job advertisement – and record their fulfillment, your mood will stabilize considerably,” says Klehe.
Sonja Schneider experienced something similar. She worked for an IT service provider with around 50 employees that is part of a large food company for twelve years. During this time, she rose from human resources officer and management assistant to head of finance and HR at the company.
Two years ago the leadership changed. The manager who promoted her left. A new supervisor came. Step by step, she says, this took responsibility away from her. “I was summoned to an appointment in April 2025.” A lawyer was sitting in the room with a termination agreement in front of him. Schneider did not sign. She was released anyway and had to leave the company immediately. The termination followed a week later. Apparently for operational reasons. “It’s just that I was the only one who was fired,” says Schneider. The court proceedings are still ongoing.
As hard as the experience was, “I was confident that I would find a job again quickly,” says Schneider. She applied for positions as commercial manager, in finance, in HR, and again as assistant to the management - and found nothing.
