A diary based on my latest attempts to get a job; this time in Munich. I'm an engineering graduate (and chartered engineer) with more than 10 years' experience in IT. Over five of these years have been spent in team leading and project management roles both in the UK and abroad.

Thursday, October 14, 2004

Resist anything but temptation

Today I applied for a job requiring team leading and trans-national PM skills. Right up my avenue.

Moreover it was in Paris. Even better, the advert was written in English and didn't mention any requirement for French (although I can hold my own in the langauge, as long as it's menu-related).

Most adverts I've seen for roles in France not only require fluent French but are also written in French. In fact they often require you to be French. Holding this requirement is illegal under EU rules but I don't suppose that worries them.

I think I'm one of the few Englishmen, or even Frenchmen, who gets on fine with Parisiennes. Not sure why. Never had any problems there.

So I applied. Well why not?

The reason why not was that it was advertised by The Worst Recruitment Agency in the World.

Maybe, just maybe, the French part of their business is considerably better than the UK one. I really would like to work in Paris (or Lyon or Toulouse).

As you know when I was recruiting a few years ago they sent a candidate to me even though I had told them not to. But if that happened to me in Paris, so what? It's only a train ride away and it'd be an excuse to visit the city again.

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