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.