Events during my blogging hiatus: Part 2

In Germany, within 3 days after being jobless in October 2016, I had to register myself at the 'Agentur für Arbeit' - the agency for job. It turned out I was eligible to claim for certain benefits, e.g., unemployment pay (Arbeitslosengeld) and counseling.

My former employer Bionic Robotics GmbH, through its insolvency administrator, issued certain certificates for all of us the ex-employees, which we had to attach upon our registration at the said Agentur. I went to the one branch in Frankfurt due to my status as a resident in this city.

Agentur für Arbeit, Frankfurt am Main. Author's own photo.

I went there as early as 7 a.m. on that day. The door was to open at 7.30 a.m. Being as one of the first persons to arrive there, I just waited and looked at my phone the whole time. Few minutes before 7.30 a.m., I turned my head around and looked the queue behind me. The line was already long.

After my registration at the counter inside, I was told to enter my data into the computer room nearby. And then I had to wait to be called into an officer's room for a quick talk. The officer told me that the Agentur offers counseling and trainings for unemployed to rejoin the job market. She read my academic credentials and recent experience, before remarking positively that I would not be needing the agency help that much.

Nevertheless, I was expected to do my own initiatives in finding the next job. The Arbeitsagentur gave me a form to keep track of my job applications. This form 'Nachweis Eigenbemühungen' (proof of own efforts) needs to be presented to the Arbeitsagentur, if I were called to report myself there for counseling.

Nachweis Eigenbemühungen (filtered): proof of own efforts.
A spreadsheet to record my job applications,
to be presented to the Arbeitsagentur during counseling session.

A few days later, I received a letter from the Agentur about the calculation of the monthly 'Arbeitslosengeld' (unemployment allowance) that I would receive for a certain period of time, until I gain another full-time employment elsewhere.

Here is an example of the estimation of the 'Arbeitslosengeld I': for which a person has been employed for 12 months for the last 2 years before entering unemployment. During the 12-month employment, the person has paid 'Arbeitslosenversicherung' - unemployment insurance.

Gross estimation of the monthly unemployment allowance.
Certain conditions do apply here.[1]

In the second month of my jobless period (December 2016), I received 2 job offers, both in the state of Hesse. One in Eberstadt district of Darmstadt, another in Wiesbaden.

I accepted the offer in Darmstadt-Eberstadt and turned down the other offer as politely as I could.

The new job was to commence in January 2017. I used the time left to refresh my knowledge of computer vision and the programming language C++.

Next: a job at a industrial computer vision company.

Sources:

[1] Arbeitslosengeld 1 Rechner: https://www.brutto-netto-rechner.info/arbeitslosengeld-I-rechner.php