Even more German, for a while

The manager who interviewed me over the telephone in German called me this morning, before 9am I think.

He asked me if we could have another interview at 8.30pm today. I was actually going to attend a social event but I agreed to this instead and cancelled my attendance at the other one.

My German really isn't very good and it turned out it was to meet over dinner at a rather good Wirthaus not too far away.

Another manager came along and we talked in German for about half an hour or more. The other manager had some rather nuanced question so we had to speak in English then - and after that there was no going back.

Then it got to my income requirements and it becomes quite clear that they couldn't afford me. There were also some other mismatches - although I know how to I don't tend to do the number crunching, detailed planning sides of projects.

So that concluded that although it was a very pleasant conversation as well as being professional and I did mention that I know someone who may be better suited. I will ping them on LinkedIn now.

Warum?

Yesterday evening I had an interview with a company whose head of recruitment I had met at an IT day run by the local unemployment office.

The interview went well, I think, but it was all in German.

For an hour.

I actually pointed out - in case they hadn't noticed - that my German is a bit poor (this is more or less verbatim) and they replied that they knew I had made quite a few errors (keine Scheisse Sherlock) but that it wasn't a biggie ("keine grosse Sache").

They asked for a summary of my projects which I sent them this morning. It will probably show that my main project skills and experience are mainly in office infrastructure relocation.

Fit

This morning, alarming close to lunchtime, I had a telephone interview with a VP from the company who is trying to recruit me.

It was a very good interview except for one little thing which will become apparent.

After being asked quite a few questions he asked me if I had any questions. I didn't but I voiced my two main concerns:

Concern no. 1 - I don't have German. Apparently his view was different and that German requirement was in no way required. Hmmm, not sure about that

Concern no. 2 - cultural fit. He laughed and said he noticed that but felt that it would be ok. Ummm, you noticed it, the VP of HR and another manager noticed it, and I noticed it sufficiently to raise it at an interview.

I think there might be a cultural mismatch.

I should have another conference call with another VP soon. Let's see but I really don't think it would be a good idea - for them or for me - to take this as a permanent position.

Strange

The company where I interviewed but felt there was no chance because:

• my German skills are inadequate
• I don't see - and they don't see either - a cultural fit

Now want me to have conference calls with two VPs.

You can probably hear the alarm bells going off in my head.

Although I would rather create this world-class business (see other blog) in all truth this would be a terrible fit for the reasons given above.

I will talk with them because I am an open-minded panda - and I may agree to take a freelance or interim assignment but right now I think a permanent employment would be wrong for everyone.

In fact, I suspect some desperation on their part. Worse: Germany has a six month probationary period so they could hire me as a permanent as a gap-stop and then simply let me go. Some businesses do that.

Fuck that shit.

Fit

When I interview people I have - and tell the candidates - three to five criteria.

• Can they do the job, that is, do they have the technical competence?
• Will they fit into the team?
• (Will they fit into the global team when I have a global team?)
• Will they fit into the overall corporate culture?
• Can they help the team or overall business grow and develop (depending upon point in the business cycle)?

A couple of weeks ago I had a telephone interview with a manager in the US for a project management role here in Munich.

Today I went for an interview in this local office.

It was a good interview for several reasons:

• they had no doubt I could do the project management role
• we shared a concern about my lack in German (I reached a good occupational level but have never had the opportunity to use it throughout the business day). I would be required to talk frequently with the works council (non-Germans feel free to shout "socialism is evil" while I live in one of the best and most affluent cities in the world) which would require very good levels of German.
• the pleasant but astute HR VP spotted that I get bored easily and was concerned about that.

Actually I've have had several jobs lasting three years or more but in their company people stay for much longer - even though three years is considered a long time in IT.

The other thing I detected is that the role I was applying for would be pure project management. "Do how we do things".

I tend to establish "how we do things" in companies - either formally or informally. 

Turns out I was the first interviewee and I strongly doubt they would bet back to me with anything positive. Which would be just fine. As I've written before, when a company rejects you, they are always right, though not necessarily for the right reasons.