You've got to call

Yesterday I applied for a job to which I thought I was very well suited.

Today I called the agency and the agent told me he thought I wasn't very well suitable at all.

For that job.

But he was willing to consider me for other jobs.

Ten minutes later he called back. He wanted to consider me for some potential project management positions at his client.

He gave directions on how I should tweak my c.v., I dutifully tweaked, and now the c.v. is going to the client.

From the jaws of rejection comes a bite (not sure that sounds right but you know what I mean).

Inappropriately named agency of the week

In Switzerland there is an agency called "ASSpro".

And yes, they capitalise their letters like that.

And they advertise in English.

For what? For IT project managers, of course, so I applied to a job for which they were recruiting.

If they call me I will try not to snigger.

7 Silver Linings Now That You've Lost Your Job

Found on Cracked.

Good

Today I applied for five jobs.

Three were for the same freelance job advertised by different agencies. But they still count. And the job was right up my street.

Another job I applied for was brought to my attention by a former colleague and friend (still a friend if that sentence was misleading). Thanks Elliot.

It asked for bilingual German and English but I applied anyway.

I relayed this to Elliot, pointing out that I am not bilingual in those languages and he replied that I was never good at English. Bloody cheek.

Lack of attention

It seems that although my German may be not bad my English has deteriorated. In response to the first job I saw today I started off a covering email with:

"Your requirements for an IT manager seem to meet my requirements well."

I'm having an emergency cup of coffee.

B1

Well, I got the B1 from the Goethe Institute.

It wasn't easy, three hours a day one-to-one tuition plus homework for three weeks.

This was all extremely exhausting.

Anyway I passed with an average of 93%; this puts me in the top category and the pass mark was 60%.

It means I have a proven ability in German which is quantifiable. Hopefully this will help when I apply for global roles where I will never need to speak another language but English.

During the last three weeks it hasn't only been this blog which has been neglected.

I haven't applied for jobs, I haven't looked at my to do list, I haven't even exercised.

In fact I forgot that I don't have a job.

Have to get back to the hunting now.

Blank stare

You know I've been busy.

Not job hunting mind.

Or working.

No, busier than that. I've been on an intensive German course.

My brain hurts.

And it ain't over.

Viadeo

Found out about this business networking site.

Currently investigating but can't see the value add over LinkedIn, Xing or Facebook.

Bite

Shopping in a supermarket in Munich is getting better.

But not as good as in the UK.

Nevertheless my mobile rang whilst I was there.

It was then that I noticed the ambient sound, the musak.

And I'm tired and not in the mood to speak German.

Which is a pity as the agent calling didn't speak English.

Anyway I gave him some pertinent answers: availability and salary and he said he'd get back to me.

Clarity

Is it "focussed" or "focused"?

Microsoft spellchecker doesn't help on this.

I found a site which claims to know and apparently it is ...

... either. Although the one "s" version is gaining prominence.

Americans

I love them.

OK, not true in slightest. I love only one American ("Hey Babe").

But Americans as a group are lovable (when they are not pissing me off on construction projects which is something they, collectively, like to do).

I have an American contact, with whom I worked when he was with our supplier, who is also on Facebook.

Tonight I saw he was on line and sent him a quick message, which summarized said I am looking for contacts in our mutual Telepresence field.

His response was "let me make some enquiries and try to get back to you by the end of the week".

Awesome.

And earlier an American friend who lives in Munich sent me loads of job details from the company where she is currently working.

Also awesome.

You never know

A friend of mine commented on one of his contact's LinkedIn updates - they were looking to fill roles in Asia.

I didn't know this contact but sent a message as a short contract or interim assignment might be quite good, at least for now.

Experteer

I've just upgraded my membership of Experteer to Premium for the next three months.

Basically it's a site which claims that a lot of headhunters use it.

Yeah, right.

But I met a highly qualified job hunter at an Internations dinner and she said that it was effective.

I am not convinced as I would have thought LinkedIn and Xing would be as sufficient.

But I am finding the market tight for what I want to do. So, I will give it a go.

I've already made a note to cancel my subscription before they automatically renew it.

Zwei

Today I applied for two jobs.

In Germany.

In German (I think).

the company which should know better

clearly doesn't know better.

Pout.

Dissing the enemy

In times of turmoil I turn to Cracked for some interesting reading which is often funny (I think they would like it to be always funny).

They had their usual articles of lists, one of which today, in its number 2 section, had the wonderful phrase: Well, you think, everyone knows that people who work in HR are jerks.

You think that's unfair? Then read this example.

And if you still think that these are valid reasons, or, in particular, handwriting analysis is a real science then go-away. I don't want you reading my blog. You probably work in HR anyway.

More uh oh

A contact I know socially (um, guess that's a friend then), who is a recruitment consultant (does that make them best friend for ever, no really?) contacted me today.

None of her clients want non-German speakers.

And this is in Munich.

Strange. It's like there are people who speak German, on a regular basis, here in Munich (and not just in the Arbeitsamt).

Who'd have thought.

But as I was told today (from a speaker of German in the Arbeitamt) apparently I do speak German.

So maybe this post should be titled "Mehr ach nein".

Uh oh, German bureaucracy

This morning I went to Munich's Arbeitsamt, employment office.

This is something you have to do if you live in Germany and are losing your job.

I've heard a lot of bad things about this place. One friend had to ask the official at her meeting if their comments were appropriate and if she would have to return with a lawyer.

I have also read frightening things on Toytown about this office.

So ... Well, they couldn't have been nicer.

In the first meeting the official was surprised to be told by me that my German wasn't very good. Perhaps it was because I told her this in German. Or perhaps it was because we had been talking for about an hour without any English being exchanged.

By the second meeting I was a bit tired and the official took mercy on me and spoke in English.

I then tried to get to work but the underground train drivers here in Munich have gone on strike.

On strike!

It's 2010, masses of people are losing their jobs, they are already paid well and have great job security. And they are on strike.

Anyway I fired up the VPN and am working from home.

Another week, another application

Last week I managed, and it wasn't easy, to apply for one job.

And I am supposed to do five per week.

Today, and it is only Tuesday, I saw an advertisement in Xing.com for a suitable job in Munich. In English.

I applied.

Slightly less evil

So on Friday I received an email from the company who should know better.

They told me there was an "Other - not listed" option for college.

I had looked - honest - but there were a lot of entries under the letter O and we are not talking the largest typeface (renders as about 9pt on most browsers) so I guess I missed it.

Anyway last week I applied for one job, eventually.

Even more evil

So, I emailed the company which should know better's technical support.

And they were prompt, acknowledged my email and forwarded it to the recruiting team.

Who were equally as prompt and asked me for the reference to the job advert in question.

Good. Nice experience.

But when I reply to them the email is bounced by their internal systems (it seems the address given is an alias and the real address is not valid).

Bad. Not nice experience.

So, I've sent another email to their technical support.

Part of me thinks this doesn't bode well.

Once after an interview I was knocked down by a bus. A big red London one. I was only grazed but should have taken it as an omen. I didn't, got the job and it turned out to be the worst company for whom I have ever worked.

So, I'm now worried when things don't go well.

Anyway for now I'm persevering.

But if they make it too hard to apply, or I suffer calamitous accidents during the selection process, then I will withdraw my application.

More evil than the world can bear

What happens if you give The Enemy* access to the internet?

On-line application forms.

To be more precise: on-line application forms which don't fully work.

This morning I applied to a company for whom I have a lot of respect. A company which should know better.

The job, which they were advertising on-line, is very appropriate for me. In fact, another company already approached me about a very similar role having read my details in LinkedIn.

But this high-technology company, which should know better, waited for me to find their advert and then only gave me the option of filling out their form. On-line.

Part of the form included giving details of my degree and alma mater.

There was a long pull-down list of colleges and universities, including the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, the Beijing Dance Academy and Beaver University where I guess they study beavers.

But not my university - with a good reputation and established early in the last century - where the study of beavers was a purely optional, private matter.

These fields are mandatory. You can't submit an application without completing these fields and there was no "Other" option.

I found an email address on their page. But they sent an automatic reply: "Thank you for contacting jobs@thecompanywhoshouldknowbetter.com. Please use our online application form".

Then I found an email address to technical support so I emailed them.

I guess I will have to be patient in waiting for their reply.

*H.R.

Speaking foreign

I've found a global job which requires fluent German.

Crazy in a country which rarely requires you to speak their language (and seems to actively discourage by refusing to speak to you in German).

In fact, this job found me due to my entry in LinkedIn.

It was about a month ago and apparently I ticked all the boxes.

I hadn't heard anything after the phone interview, which had gone very well (the interviewer had said he wanted to speak with me again).

Yesterday I contacted the agency which had arranged the interview. They phoned me back and told me that the job had gone to someone else and the only issue with my details was my lack of German.

Leider.

Excuses, excuses

But they are good ones.

Three weeks ago I had a bad cold.

Two weeks ago my girlfriend visited me from the States. Whilst she was here the idea of job hunting never entered my head.

One week ago, after she left, I got another bad cold.

Still feel under the weather.

But, now that I am on my own again, I will get back to job hunting. And updating this blog.

Best country to live in

According to Newsweek it is Finland.

Well, Finland is a great place to live. Not sure it's the best. Also not sure about some of the other rankings.

But anyway, the site has a nice layout.

Billy Anchors

It has been a quiet week so far and I haven't found any suitable jobs advertised. I'm hoping it's the holiday season.

I have been networking though, getting additions to my LinkedIn contacts.

Anyway the executives at my company want my remaining project to come in almost a month early. They tell me now!

They are putting a lot of pressure on a manager in the US who has been tasked to put pressure on me.

My project is an internal project. It reduces costs, a bit.

Really, if they applied as much focus to developing new products, making them with adequate quality and marketing them properly then I wouldn't be looking for a job (and I wouldn't be updating this blog).

Goodish news

If you live in Germany, according to the BBC, Germany has record growth.

There was a similar article on the front page of the Süddeutsche Zeitung. That's a major newspaper for people in southern Germany who have nothing better to do on a weekend than read a tree's worth of printed paper. With some arty photos.

In fact the business manager of that paper can also report a growth in sales as I purchased a copy. This was so I could survey which companies are recruiting.

Turns out, not many.

First one

After hearing the bad news on Friday I wasn't surprised but I did feel dejected.

In the afternoon I had a cursory look at Monster and saw a job of interest. I emailed it to my home account.

Today I looked at it.

Then I looked at it again. It was written in Foreign but I got the gist of it and actually sent off an application.

I was very please to have done this.

It is all very well (and important) to set things up - update the networking sites etc - but it is applications which get you jobs.

And I did one.

Curry later.

Got cracking

So, what have I done since my last post?

I've ...

• updated my c.v.-like details on LinkedIn and Xing
• upgrade my LinkedIn membership from Basic (free) to Business. That is $25 per month which is a daunting amount.
• upgraded my Internations membership from free to Albatross. That is a kinder €5 per month.
• tried to update my c.v. on my own web site. It is rather out of date but I've forgotten the FTP address for it. I've contacted the host ISP about this.
• Put a visible note on Facebook, LinkedIn, Xing and Internations to the effect that "TJHWNN is available for team and project management roles from Q4".

Get cracking

Right.

Although it is important to be a little bit crazed when job hunting a little bit too crazed is a bad thing.

So, I didn't do any job hunting yesterday (not least because of the effects of the evening before).

But today, Sunday, is not a day-off when it comes to looking for new work.

Time to get blogging hunting.

Civilised

The Germans are a civilized people.

None of this "you are redundant, leave now" nonsense.

My job will end at the end of November. But they estimate that I will be free by the end of September (depending on my currently running projects) and after that I am on gardening leave.

Plus I get a payoff and a voucher, of significant value, to a course which increases my employability.

Apparently, even if I get another job before end of November I still keep the payoff.

Gloomy Friday

I didn't have any plans for Friday evening.

Wasn't in a great mood.

But then some friends were meeting up for curry (the food of choice for expats in Munich) and I went along.

The alcohol made me feel better as did the curry of course.

Whilst in the restaurant we noticed that one of the customers was being escorted by bodyguards. They had earpieces and microphones and wore suits (a rare sight when going out in Munich) which were all unbuttoned. That last observation is sinister: it means they were carrying.

It's a small restaurant which meant that if shooting started there could be a lot of collateral casualties.

When they left a waiter told us that the principal (the person being protected) was a Yugoslavian foreign minister. Not sure which former part of Yugoslavia he meant though.

Anyway that was the excitement for the day. And the evening was good.

Oh, and in the morning I had been told my job would end at the end of November.

Novel approach

as seen in the Telegraph.

(Actually I am always wary about newspaper stories like this. Don't trust journalists).

A rare contact

It's been quiet. OK, I've been quiet.

I have been thinking about a new job though, for a few reasons:

• I'm bored
• I'm worried about the viability of the company although it is doing better (well, less shockingly bad)
• I'm worried about the cutbacks they are doing in our IT department. They are closing offices and want to centralise functions in a very boring town.

Here's why I am bored:

I was crafting an email to various people around the world asking if they had done something, and gently advising them that if they hadn't done it things would get nasty for them from the business.

Which is true.

But I crafted it very carefully taking into account the differing cultures who would receive it.

In all, it was a well balanced non-threatening email getting the point across. And it seems to have worked.

Good.

But, that is all I do. Oh, and Powerpoint presentations.

Sure, it is very important to be able to communicate well but I need to start learning again.

On Thursday I received a couple of emails (one via LinkedIn) from a recruiter for a specific client.

My details seemed a good match, he said.

These days I'm working a lot from home so on Friday I called. Then sent him my latest c.v.

Then waited for him to call back.

Then waited a bit more.

Then went to the beer garden.

I will call him on Monday.

Forgot

It's been a very long time since I went to the American German Business Club.

This evening I went.

Interesting talk on Smart Grid which is about network intelligent power delivery.

I asked a question related to energy trading: I forgot the word "derivative" but remembered the word "disintermediation".

At last

No, not phone calls from recruiters who said they were going to call me.

For years I have been looking for a domain name which would only accept the three initials of my name.

My full name seems to be impossible for most people to spell.

A few days ago a colleague at work mentioned a new TLD called .tel.

This morning I looked at it and found that the domain I wanted to use with it (that is, the three initials of my name) was free.

This is rare, a lot of domain administrators won't accept just three letters.

I grabbed it.

And now I have a .tel domain name.

There's more to .tel than just domain names but basically for people wanting to contact me it's a one-shop stop which is easy to spell out.

Another quarter

Last week was the last chance my employer had to make me redundant until June.

This is because under my German contract the minimum notice they can give is six weeks before the end of the quarter.

It's not nice living like this but at least I have an income.

However the notice period works both ways so now I can't resign either until June.

Cynicism is the evil twin of realism

Today my new boss had a meeting with us all, although I had to dial in as he works in another country.

He made it clear that the de-layering of my previous boss was not a reorganization and he had no plans for further redundancies.

He actually stressed this.

I know this guy and he seems a pretty decent chap.

Nevertheless my c.v. is at the ready.

Following my own advice

If I am going to/perhaps will soon need to find another job then I should at least follow my own advice.

So, I've just renewed my membership of the American German Business Club in Munich.

Tuna and pasta in a spicy tomato sauce

Yesterday one of my favourite recruitment consultants phoned me (favourite because a few years ago he recruited me for a job in Munich).

I had phoned him on Tuesday and sent him my c.v.

He said there were a few potential opportunities he was developing, some in Europe and a couple in New York.

Wow, that would be very good for me.

Obviously I would have to look at things like visas and healthcare. He didn't think getting a visa would be a problem at my level - which was nice to hear.

Anyway, he will get back to me.

Following the recent theme for post titles, guess what I had for dinner last night?

Sandwich

I was tired today.

But I looked at my emails and found that I had been contacted by someone recruiting for a large, international telecommunications company.

They're looking for someone to set up a new, senior role dealing with projects and programmes, a bit like a project office.

We talked this evening when I got home.

It does sound interesting and I do seem to be a match (the recruiter found my details from LinkedIn).

Now, the job is in Frankfurt and I live, and have established myself, in Munich.

And it is not that international (currently I have a global role).

He's putting my name forward but I will have to think.

Still, this week I made no applications and received one bite.

I also had one curry and one sandwich (tonight) and it is only Tuesday.

Curry

The big thing for expats to do in Munich, and not just British expats, is to eat curry.

Mmm, curry.

Reminds them of home, or, if they are not British, someone else's home.

And when I say "them" I mean "me". And my fellow expats, quite a few of whom are American.

So yesterday I had a curry with a couple of friends.

Now Germany has a reputation for efficiency. Unless you live there. Take mobile phones.

Whilst I was waiting for my curry (lamb special) I noticed that I had a voice mail message on my mobile.

It was my boss asking me to call him.

It was 8pm and my boss would only leave a request like that at such a time if it was truly urgent.

I call him.

"What's up?" he asks.

"Um, I was going to ask you that, seeing as you left a message for me to call you".

"I called you in the morning".

Ah, German efficiency at its best.

I explain that I will shortly have my face in a plate of curry and he suggests we talk the next day. No, I will feel less anxious if we talk there and then.

So he tells me that he is leaving the company. For another job but he was basically forced out and got lucky. Also, he is not being replaced but "delayered".

Hmmm.

The boss is an all-round good guy and I am shocked and exasperated. Also, the company isn't doing great (English understatement).

There comes a time when you just know the game is over. For me it was between the poppadoms and the lamb curry.

Scammers

I wrote about this a few times some years ago but now the BBC have picked up on the trend to scam people looking for jobs.