Post by Gaia Armellin

Dear German recruiters: hire the immigrant women. After 3 months of an intensive language course, I scored 90% on my B1 German exam! ...but if I have to be very honest, it actually took 6 years and 3 months. It took 6 years of living and advancing my career in high-stakes environments across 4 different German Länder. It meant moving to a new city, learning its systems, navigating cultural nuances, and building a brand-new community of locals and internationals from scratch so that each new place would feel like home. In the massive, ever-changing whirlwind of professional growth and relocation, formal language lessons fell into the cracks. I share this because it is not just my story. It’s the story of millions of women who immigrated to Germany, sometimes with partners, but often entirely alone, like me. We are more than resilient. We are antifragile. When you hire us, you get someone who can adapt, learn, spearhead, network, sell, design, and successfully function across the most stressful situations imaginable. We have: - Succeeded in entirely new corporate environments - Built innovative businesses - Navigated complex bureaucracy and housing markets - Managed the heavy emotional and logistical load of caring for aging parents and relatives in another country - Rebuilt our support systems from zero while trusting strangers All while maintaining the deep faith that we will figure it out. Hire the immigrant women. We have already proven our worth over and over and over again. We have created our own opportunities against the odds. Now, give us a chance to do it for your organization, too. #DiversityInLeadership #ImmigrantWomen #GermanyJobs #CareerResilience #RecruitmentGermany #WomenInBusiness #DiversityAndInclusion #InternationalTalent #Grit #NewBeginnings