Hotel

For the first four days I stayed in a rather nice hotel.

But I couldn’t stay any longer as they were booked out.

So I moved to another hotel which looked really good on their web site.

It was an aparthotel.

People should note that Germans use the term aparthotels for:

• Normal hotels


• Hotels which have self-contained utilities such as a kitchenette


• Hotels which are falling apart

This hotel fitted into the last two categories.

Also, this area of Munich only has one restaurant. And the kitchenette isn’t up to evening meal cooking. Or lunchtime cooking either.

Anyway, on Saturday I’m moving to another hotel. I’ve already checked it out (well, I’ve learnt not to judge hotels by their web site). It’s in Schwabing – an area I know well - and there are lots of restaurants, bars and cafes.

Germans and Austrian

Germans (and Austrians) will be pleased to hear that my German is better than I thought.

Don’t worry though, this isn’t going to become “Das ultimat Arbeitsuchen blog” or something.

I even registered in German.

For people in free countries I should explain. Germany, like most European countries, loves forms. Well, forms in German.

They like their people to fill them in wherever possible. They also rather like foreigners, who aren’t tourists, to do the same.

So, on Friday I went to the place where this is done.

I’ve heard some horror stories about this place. People having to stay for hours, or keep having to return.

It took me only two hours. Apparently that’s a world record for registering in Germany.

I think what helps is being smartly dressed, being English (when it comes to being a bumbling Englishman, Hugh Grant is my understudy) and trying to speak German.

I tend to apologize for my poor German, in perfect colloquial German just to confuse them, and after that I tend to be treated quite nicely

So I registered, in German!

I would have appreciated the option of doing it English but the people at the place where they register foreigners don’t speak much English.

Briefly

As I alway say, just because I've got a job doesn't mean I stop blogging.Well, I admit, there was a pause. And there'll be a brief pause after these posts too.I'm in Munich. I work a lot. It snows and there are lots of Germans. Indeed.

Look Ive been busy o

Look I’ve been busy, okay?


Busy #1

Saturday was spent shopping my arse off if that’s possible.

I went to Brighton and bought loads of things, including:

Thing #1 a suitcase. Normally I like to shop around, see the best value for money, which in my case means the most compartments etc. In this case, the suitcase had two criteria to meet:

Suitcase criterion #1 It had to hold a suit and other things.

Suitcase criterion #2 It had to be not purple.

There would have been a third criterion, namely it had to have wheels, but all suitcases come with these.

Thing #2 contact lenses. This should have been easy. Just go into the opticians, as I’ve done many times before, and ask for some contact lenses. I did this and they said I had to have an eye check-up as it had apparently been two years since this had last happened. No check-up, no contact lenses. I looked upset so they said they’d do it in 20 minutes. Just as well really as my prescription has changed quite a bit.

I bought loads of other tings as well.

Busy #2

Packing my arse off (what?), or Sunday to give it its usual name. This was spent throwing things out, packing the other things and trying to find a hotel in Munich. Which I eventually did.

Busy #3

That’s today, travelling to Heathrow, flying to Munich and checking into the hotel.

Brings you up to date.

Now, I don’t have ready (or cheap) internet access. But you’ll be using an RSS reader for this site (won’t you?) so you’ll know when it’s been updated.

Remember, just because I’ve got a job doesn’t mean anything to the ultimate job hunting blog.

For you, Englander, zer vaiting ist over.

I know I had to wait for the contract but I also had to do something in town.

But the timing was critical. If there was anything contentious in the contract there’d only be a short period of time to sort it out (remember Germany is an hour ahead).

This resulted in me walking very quickly to town and back.

Upon my return I found an email waiting for me.

It contained the contract.

I read every line of it (10 pages) but it was fine.

I emailed an acceptance back so it’s a done deal. Tomorrow I’ll print it off, sign it and fax it to them as well.

I start on Tuesday.

More waiting

Well, my mobile rang this afternoon.

It was the agent for the job in Munich. Basically he was expecting the purchasing department to give the go-ahead anytime this afternoon.

Apparently they’d had a new system and that seemed to be causing the delay.

Ten minutes later he called back. They had given the go-ahead.

And they would like me to start on Tuesday.

Before I book flights and hotel etc I have to wait for them to email the contract over.

I’m waiting …

Winning

I seldom comment on politics but I couldn’t help noticing that by a clever combination of heavy drinking and gay sex the Liberal Democrats seem to have stumbled upon a winning formula.

Interrupted

With one thing, or the other, but mainly the other, this morning’s job hunting was a bit interrupted.

Nevertheless I managed to trawl through the JobServe and find one job: a contract role in Paris.

Now, that would be nice.

Of course I shouldn’t need to. The agent for the job in Munich said I was 99% there but I reckon the remaining 1% is a very large 1%.

Besides he suggested he’d call this morning and he hasn’t.

I’m keeping calm.

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Literally

I once heard a BBC TV journalist say that Boris Yeltsin was “literally about to explode".

Now, I know that he was often Smirnoff’s Drinker of the Year but I doubted he was anywhere close to exploding.

Just after 7pm (just after 8pm in German time) I received an email from the recruitment agent. Apparently they’re “literally 99% there” with getting my job sorted out. Just one more phone conference between the recruitment agency and the client.

Well, that’s okay. If it happens it happens. I am very glad to get communication from the agent and will be on standby in case I get a call tomorrow.

Too quiet

Not a damn thing.

No phone calls telling me to pack my lederhosen and get the first flight to Munich.

No jobs on the job web sites.

Nope, not a damn thing.

It would be enough to drive me to drink, if I wasn’t drinking already.

I'm in love with a German film star

I used this as a title to one of my posts last April.

Ever since, people have visited this site as a result of searching against these words.

I can tell that they’ve visited because I use eXTreme Tracking and that includes information on referring sites and any search words used.

When people search against “I’m in love with a German film star” my site comes up quite high in the rankings.

It’s probably even higher now.

Actually I’ve got the record by “The Passions”.

Ironically, this was whilst job hunting, twenty years ago, after graduating.

A medium-sized company was looking for electronic engineers for their plant in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire.

It was such a long train journey from the safety of southern England that they put me up in a hotel, well, really an inn, the night before.

I arrived before the shops closed and, as I had nothing else to do, I walked around the town.

There a constant smell of vinegar everywhere.

It was very boring but I stumbled into a record shop. And there I found this single, well actually it was an EP.

It was the only good thing about the interview. I didn’t want the job and they didn’t want me.

No news

It’s quarter to 11 (12 in Germany) and I haven’t heard anything.

The agent, who’s been very reliable, said he’d call yesterday but didn’t. I suppose he hasn’t fully recovered from his illness.

Nevertheless I am wondering what the micturating coitus is going on.

Productivity

The email from the recruitment agent this morning kept me in a good mood throughout the day.

In fact it put me in such a good mood that I:

• Applied for a total of four jobs


• Updated my iProfile details


• Backed up my PC

I’m also keeping up with the Getting Things Done methodology by ensuring my email In-box is regularly emptied.

Quite a roll.

In the email the agent said he’d call me this afternoon. But he hasn’t.

Oh, oh.

Must keep calm.

More email advice

43 Folders (no idea where that name came from) has lots of advice on using email.

I particularly liked the articles on email tics.

When I last worked in Germany, I was on the client site of a very large multi-national based in California.

One day I received an email sent to “everyone-at-large-multi-national”.

It was a simple email asking:

“Has anyone seen my umbrella? I left it in conference room 7”.

Conference room 7 was in San Jose. I was in Munich.

I was so, so tempted to reply:

“What colour was it?”

But I was on a client’s site.

More job hunt blogging

OK, so I heard this morning that the job in Munich was still alive and breathing.

Nevertheless I must still hold the assumption that it’s as dead as a Danish cartoonist in Mecca.

With this in mind I applied for three jobs in this morning’s trawl.

Slight news

People who know me have often commented that I’m often stoical and particularly calm under fire. In fact the last characteristic has been levelled as a criticism. More than once.

These observations are correct.

Except for at the moment.

I’ve just had a reply from the agency. The agent handling my application has been off sick. He’s back in today though.

The recruiting manager is on holiday this week.

His purchasing department has still not given the go-ahead.

Munich City council has banned the wearing of Barbour jackets.

I made the last bit up.

Although the recruiting manager is on holiday apparently he’s said he wants me to start on Monday (next Monday not two days ago). The agent is hoping to talk with the purchasing department this afternoon.

Must keep calm.

?

I’ve just sent an email asking if there’s any news on the contract in Munich.

It was hoped that the decision would have been made yesterday.

Really, I’ll probably have to ask for a higher rate – if I do get the job – just to compensate me for the Valium I’ll soon need.

Oh

It’s just about 6pm which means it’s just about 7pm in Germany.

My mobile (“handy” in German) hasn’t rung yet. I even checked it from a landline.

If I was a bunny I wouldn’t be happy.

Emails, the truth

Although I spend a lot of my time job hunting or studying I do do some other activities. Like updating this blog. Of course.

And reading other blogs.

For example, there’s a very good article in Lifehacker about emails in business.

Now, I’m a big fan of how technology can improve life and work. Including email. But I know how badly it can be used.

I’ve often berated staff for sending emails:

“One phone call (or face-to-face chat) saves 10 emails”

“Emails are often read harsher than they’re written”

It's the waiting I can't stand

Like this morning, this afternoon’s trawl yielded nothing.

Must remember that sometimes the starts of weeks are bad.

And my mobile hasn’t rung yet; it’s 20 to five but that means it’s 20 to six in Germany.

Grrr.

Another day not in Munich

Well, despite trying to hold the assumption that the Munich job won’t happen, I’m constantly waiting for my mobile to ring.

At least I’ve been able to do a full job hunt this morning – which has only just finished.

Unfortunately this didn’t result in any applications.

I wonder if my mobile will ring.

Busy in limbo

It’s 1650 now (UK time) and I haven’t heard anything about the job in Munich.

Mind you, I was told it could be Tuesday before the go-ahead is given.

Mind you, the agent did say he’d call me yesterday. He didn’t but I’m not too fazed about that as there wouldn’t be much to discuss.

Anyway, as yesterday I’m now living with the assumption that the Munich thing won’t happen and so have been feverishly job hunting.

The result? One application today. It did, however, yield in a bite. Plus, I received a bite from an agency I emailed last week.

The response was very positive. The agent sent quite a lot of information over, not just a job spec. In return I worked on an email which detailed my suitability for the role in light of this information.

In fact, I was so busy on this I didn’t get time to do an afternoon trawl

Oh, and I installed a trial version of ACT! (don’t forget the exclamation mark now) on my PC. I’m interested to see if this CRM tool will work better than my current homebrew Access database.

Assumption

As some project managers know assumptions are the things that will bite you in the balls.

I’d like to put “as every project manager knows” but that would be an assumption in itself. Actually that wouldn’t even be an assumption; it would be a falsehood.

So on Friday I made a decision. Come Sunday I’d assume I wasn’t going to Munich and job hunt in anger.

Today I assumed I wasn’t going to get this job in Munich and so job hunted in anger.

The result: one application.

GTD

In the Summer I bought David Allen’s “Getting Things Done”.

I’d got three-quarters of the way through but didn’t complete – choose your own excuse.

Anyway I re-read it again yesterday.

And today I started changing my Outlook task lists to follow its methodology.

I guess this is the best time to do it – just before (hopefully) starting a new job.

I’m hoping to keep referring back to the book and improving my use of it advice in an iterative fashion. So far, however, it seems useful.

Round up

Last week wasn’t spent just sitting around waiting to get the confirmation that I’d be going to Munich.

I sorted a few things out.

Oh, and I applied for eight jobs.

And received four bites.

Name change?

Perhaps I should change the name of this blog to “ultimate waiting for a job in Germany blog”.

Today I received another email from the recruitment agent: he’s spoken with people at the client and it looks like Monday or Tuesday before they give the go-ahead! (his italics).

I didn’t think it would drag-out quite so long. It’s almost three weeks since the interview. My patience would have been spent but I’ve got nothing else to do.

Well, I think I have to increase my general job-hunting efforts. Although I have a strong feeling that this Munich job will come through that counts for nothing. During the last week I’ve been doing much less job hunting than normal – in fact, none today.

But on Sunday I’ll do a big trawl.

I’ve spent a lot of today researching into various ways of contracting in Germany.

Very difficult, especially as I don’t know how long the contract would last.

Although I have already spoken to couple of financial professionals I found the names of some more today. I’ll contact them on Monday.

Another day not at work

Today I applied for one job.

Around 5pm I received a call from an agency about a short PM role in Birmingham, helping out a relocation project.

I explained that I might be in Munich soon. But I also emphasized that I’m working on a first come, first served basis and that a short project would be fine with me.

I thought it was right to do so. After all, if I do get this contract in Munich, when it ends he may have another suitable job for me. Also, he’s recruiting for a company with a renowned reputation.

So, that’s a bite.

I also received an email from the agent handling the Munich job. In it, he said he should get the “green light” by tomorrow. I hope so; I’m getting a bit fed up waiting around. But I don’t have any alternatives.

Quiet

It’s a good job I’ve got a job coming up in Munich soon (project managers, can you spot the massive assumption there?).

I only managed to apply for one job today. And no bites.

I also learnt how to fold T-shirts.

CV tips

Linked off Lifehacker, some tips on c.v.s

Another day in limbo

The agent handling the job in Munich called this morning, from Frankfurt.

Not much change, it’s still in the hands of their purchasing department although they have promised to call him.

Unfortunately big purchasing departments have many things going on. They’re just not going to be worried about sorting out the ultimate job hunting blogger.

I ensured that the agent is aware of my ballpark rate. He’s also now aware that I may not be able to start on Monday as flights are getting sparser (and costlier). He’s also aware and understands that I’m not just going to sit on my arse waiting for them to come back to me; I’ll be out there job hunting.

Meanwhile, I’ll sit on my arse and wait.