After a traineeship at the Supreme Provincial Court of Appeal in Koblenz he finished his second Staatsexamen specialising on European law and international relations.
After the completion of first degrees in Spanish, German and History (1st Staatsexamen) and PGCE equivalents in these subject areas (2nd Staatsexamen), Guido Rings received his PhD in Spanish Philology and his postdoctoral degree (Habilitation) from the University of Trier in 1996 and 2005.
He passed his First State Examination in Münster and obtained a doctorate in law in 1976, with a dissertation called "Representation and integration of foreign nationals in the Federal Republic of Germany with special regard to suffrage – also a comparative study about local election rights in the member states of the European Communities".
He finished in 1976 with the second juridical Staatsexamen (Bar examination).
In 1976 he passed the Second State Examination (Zweites Staatsexamen) to become a teacher, following which he was employed as a teacher of agriculture at the Bredstedt Agricultural School and also as an economics adviser in the Agricultural Ministry of Schleswig-Holstein until 1983.