I use Xing and once in a while Linkedin. I need it to check on job candidates or to update on contact persons in my CRM.

Sometimes, unfortunately not as often as I wished he would.
Very often I am right - he admitted only last week.

I'm on linked-in and on Xing.
Both I use mainly for professional purposes, like finding out about the wherabouts of "dead end contacts" in my CRM system.
To a small extent I use Xing for staying in touch with my colleagues from the German National Association of Office Administration Staff since they are spread all over Germany.

Usually end of September to mid of December. In november there are some trade fairs my company participates, and there are lots of Season's Greetings at Christmas.

Thank you,  needed that. 

Thank you, Countrygal!
I could experience the beautiful South only very few weeks before I had to go back to Germany and never came back to Virginia. But even after 25 years I still miss the smell of the nights, the cute southern ladies calling me Honey or Darling because my German name was too hard to pronounce, and the southern drawl.       

I am German and have been in Germany all my life, but a couple of weeks had been enough to make me miss it the rest of my life.                   

I would not give my younger me any advice - I would not listen to it, as far as I remember.
My 20 year old me would never ever believe to be a single mom a year later nor to be a secretary with 50  (and happily married with more kids).

In Germany you get your normal pay for 6 weeks from your company, then you get about 70% of your normal pay from your health insurance if you are in the public health insurance system.
Normally you have to bring a medical certficate of illness after two or three days.
And you should not be fired just because you are sick. However, if you do it too often, your employer may send you to a District Medical Officer's office.
I myself tend to come in when I don't suffer from a real serious illness or have to recover from an operation.

Since I am allergic to any kind of our furry friends, I might have to quit my job.

In Germany it was in the news, on almost everey channel. The "Steve Jobs glasses" were a German product, and are sold out here.

Maybe they will allow a sign like "In order to maintain discretion, please wait here" with two big gold posts and a thick red rope (like in a museum)?
It may annoy other customers if a third party can listen to everything they say.

Do you wear some kind of uniform?
Sometimes a uniform may make the difference. When I worked as a Sunday receptionist some people did not recognize me after work without my uniform. And I noticed that while wearing my blue suit people acted more business like towards me.

Traudi from Germany

I'm very glad that besides my mother-tongue (German) i can follow a conversation in English. Besides that I have a basic knowledge of Swedish and know how to say "can you speak German or English, please" in Czech.
I work for a german company in Germany , but sometimes we really need English, and my collegues normally put through all English speaking callers to my phone.

I really prefer the safe side of life. Maybe it is more boaring, but you can have fun on the safe side, too.
Whenever I tried the risky way I had to pay for it.

Traudi

I never got any Company Sponsored Training. My colleagues, software-developers, do. But I'm only the secretary, and, it seems, a second class employee.
"You have never heard of this? You better learn ít as quick as possible!" So I spend my leisure time and my money to learn.
You see, in Germany it is the same as everywhere else.

Traudi