It's never too late

My mobile phone rings at work.

My personal mobile, not my work mobile because that is a Blackberry and my company is still in the early 00s.

A company to whom I had applied months ago - a rather large company (actually a freakin huge company) was wondering - rather timidly - if I was still available.

No.

I seem to have landed in a good job and Blackberry phones, well the model 9900, are so damn good I can't understand why RIM are doing so badly.

Sometimes it is too late.

Decision

When I told my bosses, well my immediate boss, he wasn't sure if he wanted me to stay another week or longer.

Now, my contract only talks about immediate termination on either side. Plus they put me on furloughs without notice.

Still, I wanted to be helpful.

On Monday there was a programme team conference call where my departure this Friday was announced. I mentioned, rather embarrased, that this was only my suggestion and had not been confirmed.

Later I sent an email to my boss detailing everything I had been working on. It was a short email. In it, I also said that I would leave on Friday unless there was a strong objection.

No reply.

So, on Tuesday I emailed my new company and told them I can start next Monday.

That "right feeling" feeling

So, after talking to my boss I contact his boss.

His immediate response is lots of laughter and "everyone is leaving".

A few seconds pause ... including him.

He is tying up a new position in a major insurance company.

"Awesome," I tell him, "but I beat you to it".

It's not the waiting ...

... it's the waiting.

Twice this morning I went down to the bottom of our block of flats where the mailboxes are kept.

And both times my mailbox was empty.

Meanwhile I had e-mailed the new company telling them I was happy with the pdf of the contract they had sent and also mentioning that I have holiday in August (which I had forgot to mention before)

They replied that the holiday was not a problem.

Then I went off to lunch and, once again, checked my mailbox.

Big envelope was there.

With a big contract inside.

Lunch could wait (yes, really).

Signed the contract, went to the post office to post it, bought lunch (because it can't wait that long), then called my boss to tell him the good news.

He was very British about it (despite not being British in the slightest).

I have a nominal start date with the company of 1st August but am hoping I can bring that considerably forward. And I anticipate that I can end this contract by the end of next week.

A bit more waiting

Nothing in the post today - actually nothing at all, let alone the contract.

I contact the agency who assure me it's in the post and send an unsigned pdf of the contract.

It has all the details correct - name (and name spelt correctly), salary at the correct level etc.

So now I wait for it to arrive by post.

Meanwhile I have asked a friend who is a German to English business translator to quickly read it. I don't need a translation - just a quick review in case I missed something outrageous (which I'm pretty sure I haven't).

If she doesn't have time (and it was a last minute request as I thought they would write a version in English as well) that doesn't matter.

And in a few minutes there's another German speaking practise meetup - this time in a pub one block away from me. Must dash.

Waiting

The contract didn't come today.

Disintermidation

On Friday an agency sent me an email asking if I was interested in a project, working from  home but for a company in NRW (basically the Rhein area of Germany).

This morning I replied that I was interested.

Whilst I was out at lunchtime hunting for a sandwich the agency called me on my mobile and in the street we had a good chat. The result of this is that my name is going to be put forward to their client.

Splendid.

Which is just as well as I recently realised that my current job has been disintermidated but that my management haven't realised and are still paying me.

In fact I didn't have much to do today at all.

Still this evening I heard that the company who interviewed me last week (face to face) are sending a contract over tomorrow.

If it's okay then it looks like I can disintermediate myself from this current job.

Lazy Sunday

But not that lazy.

Despite it being the start of the holiday season in Germany (known as "Summer") I managed to find and apply for three jobs.

And I haven't heard back yet from the company which interviewed me last week.

Despite being able to interview in German I think I should continue to improve it so will later be going to a meetup of expats who practise their skills in this language.

It's at a beer garden - well, as I said, lazy Sunday.

Managing the Enemy

Yesterday I had a second interview, face to face with a company in Munich.

First I was interviewed by the manager who interviewed me on the phone last week.

He drew things on a flip board. Then asked if I had any questions. I asked if I could outline my approach to his situation on the flip board.

At the end of that he asked if I would like to do that role for them.

I replied, "Yes, please".

He laughed because the only other possible answer, framed that way, was "No, thank you".

In all that bit of the interview went well.

But then he went away and the HR director came in.

He was asking questions about my technical competence which were nonsensical in the role we were discussing. Plus his English wasn't that good and mostly we spoke German.

HR people can really screw up your recruitment. You have to keep them under a tight leash and never let them interview your candidates on their own.

I should hear by the end of the week about this job.

The company who telephone-interviewed me only in German for 45 minutes felt that my profile wasn't right for the role. Which is kinda good because it means that my German was quite good.

Oh and today at work senior management have been wondering if my role is of use to them. Which means that they are only slow by about nine months - I've felt that my role added little value since I joined and was ripe for disintermediation.

Still, I've earnt a lot more than I normally do in a year when permanently employed.

Follow-up calls in Germany

Yes or no? It seems yes.

Emergency Bier

Just had a second telephone interview in German - this time for 45 minutes.

Don't wait up for a second posting today, right?

Even more heartening

So I received a reply from the agency I contacted yesterday evening.

They liked my c.v. but wanted to check that I realised it wasn't a project management job, because otherwise I seemed to be a "perfect" match.

Not a problem at all ....

... I have a telephone interview with their client next week.

Heartening

Sometimes I feel it will be hard to get another job in Munich without good German. This is a bit bizarre because:

• with a bit of practise I actually have good German (the problem is that here in Germany there is little chance to practise it)
• I've already had five jobs in Germany
• and just today I called one agency (via a contact), another called me about a possible contract and I also applied for a job seen on GULP. All in English.

Top tip for monsters

A friend of mine, unbidden, suggested that I amend my details, specifically my c.v. on Monster. It was her experience that the mere updating resulted in more phone calls. I need more phone calls from agencies. Let's see what happens.

Unfurloughed

Last night I received a message that the furlough has been lifted and I should resume work this morning. Which I will. But I am concerned about what has happened in the last two weeks. If they could proceed without me (and the others) then I can't see how we can add value now. If they couldn't proceed then the programme will now be in a very serious situation. During the furlough I couldn't find many (or indeed any) suitable jobs but I must continue looking.

Guess what?

The contractors at the client company, including me, have been put on a furlough again.

Afghanistan

I received an email about a job in Khabul. The email was clearly a circular so I didn't even bother to reply. The next day I get a call about an interesting opportunity which would particularly suit me due to my background with the company involved. Lots of money, benefits blah blah blah it's in Khabul. I live in the fourth best city in the world. The chances of me having my head cut off whilst being videoed is not high. And as we have Afghan restaurants here (which are very nice) there really is no incentive for me to consider it. So I don't.

Malta

An Englishman contacts me on Xing.com about a position. Turns out he's in Malta but the job is in Munich. I call him. Also turns out that the job is re-advertised and that I had applied for it earlier. Nevertheless he puts my name forward.

Chinese experience

Having made eight business trips to Beijing I know how great the food can be.


As well as having eaten a lot of Chinese food I also worked a lot with people from Beijing and was able to use that fact in my application for a job with a Chinese company today.

I'm getting hungry just thinking about the food actually.

Learning

Learning, always learning.

Today I learnt some more about:

• confusing people - tell your report to do something they have been specifically told to wait on by a stakeholder
• demotivating people - threaten them with furloughs and even instant dismissal if they don't do new and really complicated things even though they have a lot to do anyway
  
• stressing people - get the person whom you told to do something (that they have been told not to do) to do something else at the last minute, then to go back to what they are doing, all this without allowing overtime
• defocusing people - when your programme is going badly, and you have an immoveable dropdead date with massive corporate risk, get all the people who can get you out of the hole to do timesheets and create detailed, practically fictional plans running over 18 months.

Am not impressed with this disorganisation.

Taleo

... or to give them their proper name "fucking Taleo" (I heard this from someone else).

I am rather hoping that if anyone ever manages to complete a Taleo based application they automatically get the job.

Today I actually managed this and am now smugly sitting back waiting for the offer.

That sinking feeling

Apart from the furlough and then the massive descope my boss is acting like he is a bit stressed.

Which is reasonable but not pleasant.

I talked to another colleague about it and he agreed.

I want out.

Descope

The programme on which I work likes to descope things. Big things.

Originally I was working on five big things.

This was descoped to two big things.

And today it was reduced to one big thing.

Mind you it is big thing I am working on right now but it is not boding well.

re.vu

Via Lifehacker I found the site re.vu.

I even created an account so that it gave me an easy to spell URL with my initials along the lines of re.vu/easytospellurl rather than use my full name which would look like re.vu/difficulttospellurl.

Not sure how useful it will be though. Some Lifehacker commenters mentioned that most recruiters prefer c.v.s in Word so they can put it into the databases.

Udate the blog, must update the blog

Today I found and applied for a permanent job in Munich.

Found on Toytown.

Networking

Yesterday one of my contacts on Xing.com, whom I only met a couple of times, sent me a message asking if I was available for work.

I replied positively.

This afternoon an agency contacted me as a result - he had relayed my details to him.

Unfurloughed

Since Monday I have been back at work.

Let's see how I did during the furlough:

1. Fix girlfriend's hard disk which suffered a major crash. - Had to be repaired by someone who knew what they are doing. Anyway, she now has a Macbook Pro. Am envious,
   
2. Look for jobs. - Looked, applied, was contacted by at least one agency and today had an interview as a result.
   
3. Improve German (I am supposed to be almost fluent, not almost incoherent) - Have done a little bit more than before
   
4. Run during the day, I'm already at 8km, heck maybe even go swimming - Now up to 10Km although no controlled drowning swimming.
   
5. Update this blog - whaddya think you are reading?
   
6. Do some private appointments (dentist etc) - done
   
7. Learn some new recipes - well, read some new recipes
   
8. Meet up for lunch with friends (like sushi on Thursday) - raw fish was eaten.
   

One

Today I applied for one job.

I also went to the dentist for a regular check-up.

And, so far, I haven't looked at any German.

Slight change in approach

These days more jobs seem to be advertised in German, or requiring good German skills.

And I have good German skills ... on paper.

But in reality they need brushing up.

So, for the second week of this furlough I am concentrating on improving my German.

I will still look at job sites but that won't be my main focus.

E.C.C.A.

Yesterday late afternoon I had an emergency cake then curry alert which meant that I couldn't report that I had applied for two jobs.

One was in response to an agency contacting me on Xing. The other, I saw on Monster (via Toytown). This one is actually quite close to where I live.

Strangest job advert layout of the week

My thanks to Elliot for alerting me to this:

Job description: Technical management of electronic developments within R & D projects Contact internal and external electronic and electrical issues in the project Budget responsibility Responsible for timely preparation of the necessary technical solutions In collaboration with the Project Manager rate, fixing, schedule, quality and functional goals of the electronic components

• Planning, monitoring and control of internal and external development capacitance (hardware, software, testing) with internal tuning
• Timely Identification of development risks (cost, schedule, technical) project manager and technical supervisor at as well as planning and control of countermeasures
  Required Qualifications
  • University degree in electrical engineering, computer science, industrial engineering, etc. or equivalent qualification with relevant professional experience
    • perennial experience in the development of electronic components in the automotive industry
    • experience in project and requirements management and change management
    • hardware and / or software development experience
      • Good SPICE process development experience
      • distinctive quality and cost consciousness
        • Close collaboration with customers and suppliers
        • Very good command of german and english
          • familiarity with the standard Microsoft Office programs
          • Automotive experience is an advantage We welcome your feedback and are always at your disposal to answer questions for.

Things to do during a furlough

1. Fix girlfriend's hard disk which suffered a major crash.
2. Look for jobs.
3. Improve German (I am supposed to be almost fluent, not almost incoherent)
4. Run during the day, I'm already at 8km, heck maybe even go swimming
   
5. Update this blog
6. Do some private appointments (dentist etc)
7. Learn some new recipes
   
8. Meet up for lunch with friends (like sushi on Thursday)

Any other ideas?

Furloughed

Last week started to get rather busy.

Things are coming together in the programme, kick-offs had to be kicked-off.

Monday, yesterday, saw a lot of work on preparing one of these kick-off meeting.

But then my agency phoned to fell me that I, and practically all the other contractors, had been immediately put on a two week furlough.

Which means for two weeks I don't work and therefore don't get paid.

Reasons ...

1. ... I might need another job:

The programme on which I am working has recently suffered over a 50% decrease in scope.

2 ... I really might need another job:

Sometimes I only get one work-related email a day.

3 ... I really need another job:

Yesterday I received a blue Lufthansa Miles and More card.

This means all my airlines loyalty cards are at the lowest level. No more privileges, no more upgrades.

Just over a year ago I had two gold cards and a silver one.

And I would fly to Beijing or Tokyo.

Now, I have to get special permission to take the train to Bad Homburg.

Interesting view

from the other side of the interview desk.

As you know I've sat on both sides as well and have similar but not identical views.

Interesting comments too.