Refreshing

As well as the interview in Munich last week, I also had an interview in Düsseldorf on Thursday.

The recruiting company actually flew me over there - a day trip for me.

There I had a 90 minute interview where I felt it was clear that I didn't have sufficient relevant industry experience for them.

Then I went into the city's Altstadt and had an excellent but not expensive steak. This is a big deal because Bavarians seem to be genetically incapable of cooking steak - it is always well done. In fact I asked the waitress if she understood my meaning of "medium", which, not coming from Munich, she did.

The next day I advised the agency who had arranged the interview of my feelings.

After my debrief they then told me that the company had already contacted them. Apparently I had interviewed "brilliantly" (it was a tough interview, barely within the Geneva Convention) and they felt I would be "a great fit for their company".

But they also felt I lacked relevant industry experience. Nevertheless they were going to see if they could create a suitable role for me.

Anyway, today the agency called me to advise that they were unable to ... at the moment.

But if things change they will want to talk to me again.

Now, this happens a lot but what really impressed me was the agency. Initially I had applied for a role for which I was, it turned out, totally unsuitable. But they sent my details to their client anyway in case they thought there was some other, more suitable match.

And they were always prompt in sending me information and keeping me up-to-date.

I was so impressed that I sent them a thank you e-mail.

Mate

A friend suggested I send him my c.v. for his employer in Munich.

He actually suggested this several times but always in a pub-type situation so I always forgot.

Eventually he reminded me by Facebook IM.

I sent the c.v. and tomorrow I have an interview.

Over the weekend I printed off my c.v., a six-page Powerpoint presentation they had asked me for, and a Mind map of my career.

I'm not sure about the Mind map (it wasn't asked for) but maybe it will look good.

I am very grateful to my friend for his help but I am sad as he is now seriously ill.

Mind maps

My German course tries to be practical by having the teachers talking about things like the German economy, the work situation and applying for jobs.

On Friday the teacher mentioned that she had been on a seminar about job hunting.

There she heard that recruiters were getting bored with the usual German approach to job hunting.

One thing they would like to see is mind maps about the candidate.

Mind maps.

Really?

The German unemployment problem

Look, certain things have been happening in my life recently:

1. I lose my job
2. I get the B1 competency exam in German after three exhausting weeks of intensive study
3. My bird girlfriend visits
4. The German unemployment office tells me I have to do at least three regular applications
5. I feel slightly panicked because that is quite difficult for someone who doesn't have fluent German
6. So the unemployment office sends me on a German B2 course
7. I feel slightly more panicked because I am already exhausted from learning German
8. I then re-read the form and it say at least three applications per month

Per month! I thought it was per week.

Even I could do three application per week in this country.

Except this language course is from 8.15am to 3.15pm everyday which makes job hunting quite difficult.

Naughty

Someone is being a naughty blogger and not updating his site frequently.

Today I had a telephone interview for a job in Düsseldorf.

After the interview I phoned the agency who said they would contact the client: usual thing, interested etc.

I expected to hear back by the end of next week, as the interviewer had told me.

Anyway after talking to the agency they called back, about five minutes afterwards.

Before they could email the client, the client had called them: they want to interview me next week in Düsseldorf.

A pattern

It seems every time I need a new job I need a new PC.

My current laptop, actually a tablet, is really coming to the end of its life.

The fan rattles and I think its vibrations have loosened screws because the panel for the hard disk drive keeps falling off and the HDD then falls out.

Annoying.

Also it is just too slow.

Today I applied for one job, eventually, and decided to buy a new laptop very soon.

Rubbish

I went to look at my website today.

It's URL is of the format [my initials].eu.com because it would be easier to spell out over the phone.

But I found it was no longer valid.

Apparently it had expired in October even though my account should have automatically renewed from a credit card.

Well this time it hadn't and I wasn't sent a notification.

I emailed the domain company's (123-reg.co.uk) support people. They replied, quite quickly to be fair, that it had expired because there was no valid credit card number.

They didn't explain why I hadn't been contacted about this but did tell me that the domain was still free so I could take it again.

From them? I don't think so.

And thinking about it, I don't need this domain name any more. I now use [my initials].tel, which is even easier to use and has contact links and links to my LinkedIn and Xing pages.

That'll do.