Nice end to the week

The agent who advertised on Xing called me back this afternoon.

We had a nice chat and she's going to send my c.v. over to her client.

The client won't be back, however, until the beginning of May.

This week I applied for three jobs and received two bites.

I have a feeling that although I'm applying for less jobs I'm getting more interest. And that this is genuine interest which will result in (and has already resulted in) interviews.

A few years ago I was getting positive responses (i.e. "bites" as I call them) from one in 10 applications. And one in 10 of those bites resulted in interviews.

The stats now seem better although the volume is lower. Not bad considering I'm focussing on the Munich area and only applying in English, for English-speaking jobs.

Xing

A girlfriend, who runs two businesses, told me that using Xing and LinkedIn wasn't going to be effective in getting a job in Germany.

Being an ex-girlfriend, however, means she's wrong about everything.

Today I did my usual trawl through the job sites. Found nothing.

Then I looked at the Xing forum for freelancers. There I found a most suitable job in central Europe. I dropped the recruiter an internal (to Xing) memo and then called her.

I was the first response she had received to her posting of the requirement.

Then I made a few calls and left messages. A few minutes later someone called back on my London Skype number. It was a recruiter for a contract role in Munich. Someone I know in Munich has alerted me to this job (on Jobserve) a few days ago.

The recruiter seemed impressed and is going to talk to his client about me right away.

A bite.

Like a day not at work

Hang on, it is a day not at work. I don't have a job.

And I couldn't find any jobs to which I could apply today.

Cities' quality of living rankings

Hat-tip to Frank who mailed me an excerpt from The Economist.

Went to the Mercer site, which had the whole list.

Best placed to live, apparently, is Zurich. Then Geneva. It carries on its list of boring cities till it gets to number seven - Frankfurt (or "Fuckfurt" as someone I know calls it).

This is one above Munich. So Frankfurt (and I assume they mean Frankfurt am Main, not the one in the former east Germany) is better than Munich. Right.

Amsterdam is 13th, Berlin is 16th, Helsinki is 29th, Singaport is 34th (well, it is a fine city) and London is 39th.

All the top five cities in the Americas are Canadian.

I can't believe Frankfurt scored higher than Munich.

Delayed

So, after the phone call yesterday, today I receive an email from the agency fronting the contract PM role in Munich.

It turns out that they can't interview me next week. The interviewer is away until 3rd May.

Alright, that's ok as long as I do eventually get a face-to-face interview with them.

Quite good news

Despite this being a bit of a job-dire day there was some good news.

My mobile phone rang.

OK, I have two mobiles, so the mobile phone which is German rang.

It was the agency which arranged the telephone interview last week.

The client now wants a face-to-face interview.

Next week. They even asked if I preferred earlier or later in the week.

"Later, please".

I heard at an outplacement course that it's better to apply (or at least have your application received) or be interviewed later than earlier in the process. And anyway, later suits me better.

Just the one

Someone I know in Munich sent me a message about a job on Jobserve.

I had actually seen it and dismissed it yesterday.

But I looked at it again a bit more closely.

It still didn't seem suitable (or rather I didn't seem suitable for it) but reading a bit more into it I had the core skills required.

So I applied.

Cheers Richard (though I don't think you read this blog).

Otherwise, didn't see anything to which I could apply.

Round up of last week

Due to, well whatever, I didn't keep this blog updated last week.

So here goes:


Interview

That was on Friday 13th but went rather well. The feedback from the agent (who was listening in to the call) was that it was good. Although the client is obliged to interview others there will be no surprise if I'm called for a face-to-face interview.

Interestingly the recruiting manager wasn't that happy with telephone interviews. Of course I too prefer face-to-face but I have taken part in quite a few calls (as interviewer and interviewee) so am quite relaxed.

The actual chat only lasted half-an-hour but that seems to be all that was needed.

Forms

Another agency was interested in my application for a freelance job.

I found that out by phoning them. They were indeed relieved to hear from me as that day was the deadline, from their client, for them to submit candidates. So I'm not sure why they didn't phone me earlier.

Later that day they sent me a form in German. I was going out so the next day I phoned them. The form, as I suspected, was a contract. They explained that the contract would only come into force if I was taken on in the role. Wasn't too happy with that but they said they'd send the contract in English.

This they did, well, I recognised some of the words but not really the language.

I tried to work out how to sign it as I don't have a printer.

I wanted to convert the PDF file into Word and then add a digitial signiature I have.

This took quite a while to find suitable, effective and free software. Eventually I gave up and emailed them a statement saying I accepted their contract.

Today they emailed me saying the job had gone to someone inside their company.

Bit disjointed

Messy start of the week. For various reasons.

Wasn't able to look yesterday and today didn't find anything.

Slow day

Got up late, feeling crap.

Did some things, then my German teacher phoned and asked where I was. She was waiting for me at the cafe where we meet. But several hours earlier than the agreed time (she doesn't use an PDA).

No worries. I shot over there and had a good German lesson.

Came back and sat on the balcony for about 45 minutes doing a quick trawl.

Saw a couple of jobs on the web but decided they could wait till to tomorrow. So I sent them to OneNote and made a note to check them out.

First time most of my skin has seen sun in quite a few years. Better go in now.

Big five

My long time goal is five applications per week.

But that was assuming I was focussing on UK jobs.

Of course, nowadays I'm not. Which makes it harder.

Nevertheless today I applied for five jobs.

Two were in England. One was in Alicante in Spain, one was in Munich and one in Berlin.

Actually I didn't respond to any advert for the Berlin job. An agency in London contacted me about it. So that constitutes a bite.

And the agency I mentioned in the post below called me again to confirm a telephone interview with their Munich based client. This Friday, 13th.

I'm not supersitious, of course (heck, I'm still trying to develop a herbal cure for gullability) but does anyone have a black cat they could lend me?

Back to not working

Whoa. Those Germans certainly know how to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Funnily enough it involved alcohol. Lots of it. Mainly in proper sized glasses (that is, about a litre). None of those namby-pamby pint things.

Now, if I want to continue this lifestyle of drinking beer, eating pig (and curry) and sitting in my Jacuzi then I will, at some stage, need another job. Unless, of course, my last client calls me back.

So, today I need to start job hunting again.

But before I could settle down at my Table PC (part of the lifestyle) one of my two mobile phones rang.

It was an agent who called in early January about a contract job in Munich. Looks like they now want to interview me, probably by phone, probably this week. Even today.

Oooh, it would be nice if I get sorted for a new job so quickly.

Anyway, must now start the usual trawl.

Big chill

Yesterday was a day of taking it easy.

There's was no point job hunting, there's a nasty outbreak of public holidays at the moment.

Also, I had a German lesson in the morning, and a friend came round in the afternoon for some one-to-one tuition in chilling. We sat on my balcony and drank wine.

Before then I sent an email to the guy who wants to interview me over a video conference. I gave him the Munich telephone number assigned to me by my local SIP provider.

I received an automatic out of office message that he's now away for over a week.

Later on I received an email from my SIP provider. It was in response to my queries I sent them a few days ago. Basically the service provider does not support video!

Just as well the guy is now on holiday. We couldn't have a video call after all. I have about a week to find another solution.

Drat.

Good start

Well, today I applied for four jobs.

Which is good considering we're coming up to the long bank holiday.

None of the jobs were in Munich but I'm not too surprised about that around these weeks.

One was actually in Amsterdam.

Oh, and one was a sort of bite as the agent was interested in my c.v. and sent me some details to consider. As promised I tried to call him back but it turns out he then went off to a client site.

On the SIP front I replaced Kapanga with X-Lite and that seems to work. Not sure if it'll support calls to video conference suites. I did send the service provider an email but have had no reply. Can't complain as it's free.

(In case you don't remember this is so I can be interviewed by video conference rather than fly over to London or, more expensively, rent a vid con suite here in Munich).

In a little while I'm going to a Xing regular get together in a pub near where I live.

Serious advert of the week

Seen in JobServer

We are looking for 2 Desktop Support candidates for a 5 month project in
Marysville, OH. YOU MUST BE ABLE TO PASS A DRUG AND BACKGROUND CHECK. We are an Equal Opportunity ...

The text in upper case was like that in the original advert.

Fair enough I suppose. I've heard of companies in the US who ban people who also smoke and drink ... even outside of work!

Planet Holiday

It's sunny in Munich but not very warm.

OK weather news over.

I looked through all the job sites today and found nothing to which I could apply.

It is important that I get back into the swing of things. Although three groups within the last company want to use me again I can't rely on that. I musn't think that this is a nice little break. So, I'm going to job hunt on the assumption that they won't call.

Which means it was almost a bit despondent today.

You may remember that in December I was rather relieved that my job had ended then, rather than in the Summer. That's because Germans do have a lot of holiday. So, looking for a job now isn't the best time. Everyone is on holiday.

Job hunting

OK, I haven't been sitting on my arse all day thinking how nice Munich is in the summer.

Oh no, I have been drinking and partying trying to get SIP working on my PC.

Why?

Well, the company who called me last week want a second interview. Preferably a video conference call.

Hiring a video suite here in Munich costs more than a flight probably would.

I have Skype but the company does not have any web cams.

(!)

So, after a bit of thinking, I've decided to try a SIP option. I'm hoping it's possible to use it to dial into a normal video conference device.

I've installed Kapanga client software and am now trying to find a suitable VoIP/SIP provider who will support the H263 protocol.

In fact I spent most of the day researching this (once I got up). So, I haven't even looked for other jobs.

Anyway, bit fed up with it all now, so am going to stop.

Nice break

Friday was my last day at work.

Well, people wanted to keep me on but it didn't happen.

Anyway, three groups there want to use my services and may well contact me in a few weeks. They all have my contact details.

Which is nice.

Right now I'm fine about it. Gives me a break, to be honest. Munich is rather nice in the summer.

Quick chat

So, my friend arranged for his programme director to call me today to discuss a possible PM role in London.

The chat went well. He was concerned that I didn't have any pure business project management experience and seemed to have a strong IT career. But he said he'd like to see me to do a quick scenario excercise. And rather than me flying over, I suggested we used Skype or a similar solution.

Nice

A friend, former colleague and regular (still, I hope) reader of this blog sent me an Instant Message, er, message this afternoon.

I picked it up at home remotely via my LogMeIn connection.

He asked if I classed myself as a project manager these days, which I do.

After my reply he asked me to send him my c.v.

Just did it. Thanks EM.

Now off to a Xing Stammtisch (regular table) near where I live.

Interviewing tips

Some more, from Lifehacker.

The comments are good too.

short weeks

A couple of days ago I was contacted by an agency for a contract job in London requiring a relocation project manager.

Yesterday I called him. At first he didn't remember who I am and then, when he'd seen my c.v., he wasn't sure I had enough relocation experience.

But by talking to him I could indicate the relevant bits in my c.v. As a result he became rather interested and wanted to put my name forward. First he sent a job spec over.

It was rather brief, less than a page (and therefore the shortest one I've ever seen). But it did say it was envisaged that the PM would only be required three days a week.

Actually, that would be fine as long as it payed over the odds and I could still afford to fly back to Munich every week (and keep my flat here, and take a hotel, or apart-hotel in London).

He asked for a rate and so I gave him one, quite a high one but in the circumstances not unreasonable.

I'll see what he says.

Another bite

My email alert service is working again. That is, I get a text message on my mobile when I'm sent an email.

And I've been using logmein to occassionally look at my home PC whilst at work.

But I logged out of it around 5pm (CET) yesterday.

When I got home there was an email from a contractor agency. For some reason I wasn't alerted to this fact from my email alerter service.

The agency wanted to know if I was interested in a relocation project management assignment in London.

Well, I am, if it pays enough so I can commute from Munich.

I emailed a positive response and will try to call him today.

I'm thinking more and more of getting one of the new Blackberry devices so I receive emails directly on my mobile phone device. A couple of years ago I used one of the original Crackberries but didn't like it too much. For a start I'm left-handed and the design made it very hard for us superior-beings to use it. Also, their Enterprise software seemed a bit unstable.

But now the design has improved. I'll be looking into getting one in a while.

Cool stuff of the week

When I thought I'd have a lot of spare time I volunteered to be project manager for the Munich Hash House Harriers' Oktoberfest event.

It's the 15th one this year and 80-100 people come from all around the world.

I even started a blog about it but then lost the password.

It's been a bit of a problem getting everyone together for meetings. Well, it's the usual scheduling problem.

But yesterday I was looking through Lifehacker and found that someone had raised a post looking for a solution to just this problem.

There were two main recommendations: Doodle and Where2Meet.

The most suitable for my needs seems to be Doodle. Very easy to use.

A quick trawl

For the first time in a while I did a trawl through my usual on-line sources for jobs in Munich.

I found nothing to which I could apply.

At the moment I feel strangely relaxed. After all I have about three live jobs for which I'm being considered. I'm also networking well - attending Xing and American German Business Club meetings in Munich. And I'm improving my German.

This relaxed feeling, however, may change when I've had a few months like this but without my job. Which is now due to finish at the end of this month.

Oh the bleedin irony

After landing in Heathrow yesterday I took a taxi to the main railway station.

Funnily enough I was driven by a standard issue London taxi driver.

So, we talked. I don't know how he managed it but he didn't once say "hanging's too good for 'em".

He did, however, go on about how London was deteriorating (true by the way) and how he was fed up at all the underhand black market type activity. He might have then said "Innit" but I'm can't remember.

At the station I paid him and he asked if I wanted a receipt. Which I did. He then asked me if I'd like him to fill it in or leave it blank. Fill it in I said (ripping off employers - which in this case is me - or taxpayers - which in this case is also me - isn't something I do).

He did but then gave me another blank receipt for me to fill in as I pleased. A clear example, I think, of underhand-type activity.

Airports

I like airports. Well, nice ones like Flughafen Munich not horrible ones like Heathrow to which I was flying yesterday.

I'm in the UK for a few days. No need to get excited.

Whilst I was waiting for my flight at Munich airport my UK mobile rang. It was an agency asking if I was interested in a contract job in central London.

From the description he gave my background ticked all the boxes. More importantly, the rate he mentioned ticked my requirement big-time. It would mean I could easily afford to commute back to Munich at the weekends.

I was interested.

He sent over a job description. But I noticed a couple of blocking points, ie they required experiences I've spent a career-time avoiding. But written job descriptions often deviate from what's really desired. In fact the job description for my current role in no way matches what I've been doing.

So, I sent a reply, emphasizing my interest but pointing out where I lacked the skills they were requiring.

Then - and this is the important bit - I phoned him. A quick chat confirmed that those lacking skills were not that important after all.

Hurray, a bite.

Airports are different. At Munich I could hear the phone call. Even better I happily took out my TabletPC and used it in the departure lounge. If I did that in Heathrow the coroner would give a verdict of suicide.

Beep

During the working day I put my mobile phones (that's right, I have two) on a discrete setting. They only beep once when someone calls.

So, when they're in my pockets I don't always hear them.

Like today.

Anyway a message was left. It was the agency who called me a couple of weeks ago about a global project management freelance role.

She wanted to know if I was still available.

Well, I am, but now from April, not March. That seemed fine with her; it seems the job hadn't so much died as gone into a bit of a coma. But was slowly waking up now.

Thanks for the tip

Cheers GB,

Charming snakes, pleasuring wilderbeest, managing projects in an international business environment ... so hard to choose.

(By the way GB is a regular contributor to Chase Me Ladies I'm In the Cavalry. One post on GB's own web site, about Hawaii 5-0, gets more responses than I've had in total from over 800 posts)

Pamela

A couple of days ago I used Logmein to have a look at my computer at home from work.

It's useful for a lot of reasons. One of them is it allows me to find out how to do things using my own English language versions of the Microsoft products they use at work.

Anyway, my home desktop showed that I had a voicemail on Skype waiting for me.

I would have to wait until I got home, though, to find out what it was.

Drat.

When I did get home, past 6pm UK time, I found it was from the agent trying to recruit me for a role in Vienna. He'd left a simple message, no details, but wanted me to call him back. He also mentioned that he had tried to call me on my German mobile but hadn't been able to get through. Not sure why.

Double drat with a side helping of bugger.

Right then. So, there and then I installed Pamela, an add-on package for Skype. And really I only needed one feature it had - the automatic forwarding of Skype voicemail to your email address.

After quite a bit of pfaffing around I got it to work (Mr Dafty Trousers here had allowed Skype's own voicemailbox to answer before Pamela, so there was no way Pamela could intercept the call. I think they could have been a bit clearer about this).

So, if anyone phones me on one of my Skype numbers, and I use the German one on my c.v., I will get an email if they leave a voice mail. And yes, the email carries the message as an attachment.

The next day I phoned the agent who had called.

He told me that the client felt that I lacked the particular industry experience they were seeking.

Oh bloody well.

Nice squeeze

A bit of news

Yesterday I managed to squeeze out one application.

I made a note to call the agent today.

This morning my mobile (we call them "handys" here) rang, in German.

It was the agent. She had called me first!

She liked my details and said she'd put my name forward, at a slightly higher rate than I had asked for.

Now, she did mention that they had already sent two c.v.s to their client. But she felt I had a good chance as well. Not least as I'm already in Munich and am available from the beginning of March.

Other news

This afternoon boss asked me whether it would be ok if, stressing if, they could extend my contract to the end of March.

She knows I'm actively looking and I explained that I work on a first come, first served basis. Two minutes later she put her phone down and told me my contract had been extended.

Great.

Obviously this conflicts a bit with other potential jobs. But I know wheels can grind so slowly that it may not be a big deal at all.

Just the one

What with one thing or the other - but mainly the other - I haven't been doing a lot of job hunting recently.

(Although I have just had a second interview).

Anyway I did a big trawl this evening and managed to squeeze off one application.

That'll do.

Interviewed

Not much to write here but I'll carry on anyway.

This morning I went for the interview. It went well I think.

The interviewer, from the company's HR department, did tell me that they were interviewing others. He also said that I should hear back from them in about two weeks. I translate that into three weeks (we were speaking English, I'm just a justified cynic).

I didn't go into work afterwards. Instead I went through my personal Inbox and then went to the gym. It's nice going during the daytime but I fear I'll have plenty more opportunity to do that soon.

Anyway now I was going to job hunt for an hour but a meet-up with a friend has been brought an hour forward.

I must dash, you must stop reading this now.

Oh, oh

You may notice that my titles are getting lamer. Sorry. I have written over 800 posts on this blog alone and I'm seriously running out of ideas for titles.

Anyway on Monday I emailed the agent about the job in Vienna, as I still haven't heard anything.

On Tuesday he replied that he still felt that his client should see me. However, the client suspected that I lacked experience in a certain area they required.

So, initially I may just have a telephone interview.

Oh, well.

A bit later I received an email from the company who interviewed me a couple of weeks ago in Munich.

I had been wondering when they would get back to me. The few days they had promised was now well over a week.

Still that's companies for you.

Oh yes, the email: it said they wanted to interview me again this Thursday.

!

They being HR.

!

I had a quick word with my boss to see if I could take Thursday off. No problem.

Within an hour I had replied confirming the interview. And they rather nicely replied back, thanking me for being able to interview at such short notice.

And this time the emails were all written in English (my favourite language).

So, tomorrow I have a second interview.

Now, I should get super excited but I have a slight caution. I have a sneaking suspicion that German companies sometimes go through the whole recruitment process even if they don't want to actually recruit you. And at my first visit to the company HR were unexpectantly unavailabe.

This view may be unfair of me. I hope they're interviewing me because I did well at the interview with the line manager. I really think there's a good fit between the job and me.

Another day at work

But after work I eventually did a trawl of job sites. First time in ages.

It's not like I've being doing absolutely zero on the job hunting front. I have been to networking events etc. But today was the first bigt trawl for a while.

Nothing found though.

Advert of the day

This one offered:

• Schnelle Aufstiegsmöglichkeiten
• Ein individuelles Vergütungsmodell
• Ein nettes Team

If you don't know German don't worry about the first two, it's the third one. That's right, they offer you the chance of working in "a nice team".

So not your typical, kick-arse bullshit consultants then.

That's all very well ...

Networking is an excellent thing to do.

But you still have to hunt and apply for jobs.

Except, I haven't recently. I still have three live jobs where I've been bitten. This includes the company who interviewed me last week and haven't got back to me yet.

The thing is I planned a lot to do in January and these plans were blown, bizarely, because I got my old job back.

Mustn't complain.

More networking

Last week I went to the American German Business Club in Munich. This is despite not being American or German.

It was very good. Food was excellent, they also had a ready supply of alcohol.

Networking was easy. For example, someone bumped into me and after a while we exchanged business cards.

Yesterday I went to a Xing (formerly openBC) networking event in Munich.

Previous ones have been mixed but last night was good fun. Lots of people there and eventually I got chatting.

A couple of things I've learnt about networking:

• drink, obviously not too much but don't be sober
• hijack a table, preferable a standing table ("Stehtisch" as they're called here) and start talking to the people there.

At Xing a lot of people avoided eye contact. I guess Germans aren't very good networkers, even the ones who know the importance of networking. The tactics above helped.

Oh, and another thing, don't bother wearing a suit, unless you're only comfortable wearing one.

At the American German Business Club very few people were not wearing suits, though everyone was smartly dressed. I was one of them. I found this strangely helped.

After tonight's German lesson I'm going to a nearby pub where I hear there's a Xing Stammtisch (regular table). But only for one drink mind.

Still alive

In early January I contacted an agency in Munich about a job here (not there as I'm in the city).

As it's now early February I thought I'd give them a call.

The agent was there but called back a few minutes later. She apologised for not calling earlier but she'd just had feedback from her client.

They've been terribly busy since the New Year but the job is very much alive.

Well, so am I.

The question

During the interview today the manager asked me what sort of salary I was looking for.

Well, I'm a fan of Guerrilla Marketing for job hunters so I gave the advised reply ("it's the package that's most important", "I'm sure it will be fair" etc).

It turns out this approach doesn't always work.

"That's a very good answer", he said, "but not what I wanted".

"So I didn't get away with it" I said laughing. He agreed and also seemed to find it funny. Which I think was a plus as far as the interview went.

So I gave my ball-park figure, stressed it was a ball-park number, explained my reasoning behind it and he seemed to accept that.

Ich habe geinterviewed

or is it "geinterviewet"?

Anyway today I went for my interview with the company in Munich.

It went quite well. Well, once we switched to English. I could understand what he was saying but couldn't formulate replies in German.

I should have been interviewed by HR as well as the recruiting manager but the HR lady wasn't available for some reason.

As I said, it went quite well. The interviewer did bang on a bit about how useful it would be to have good German. So I banged on a bit about how determined I am to have good German - one-to-one lessons, "to speak another language is to have another soul" etc - all true.

They said they'd get back to me quickly and that there might be another interview.

I do hope so, I think I would rather like the job and the company (which has just been IPO'd and is going through a bit of growth and change - my favourite situations).

I'm not going back to work today. Just don't feel in the mood (work expected me to take the whole day off anyway) and am instead going to have a haircut.

"Kurz".

Back ...

... from Spain.

Flew over on Friday returned yesterday evening.

Rather tired now. Not least as I have a bit of a cold due to the hotel's air conditioning.

I've also eaten rather a lot of steak. Well, I was in Spain.

And I did queue for two hours for a train ticket which, in UK or Germany, could be taken from a machine but in Spain requires at least 20 minutes at the counter.

But that's not important as my mate was getting married and he reads this blog.

This Friday I have an interview at a company in Munich. So this evening I thought I'd better read up about the company, recall which job I had applied for and find out exactly where the interview will take place.

All done.

Bed time now.

Night night.


Achoo.

Busy

Sometimes I think I'm busier when I don't have a job.

Today I did my German homework and then went for my next German lesson. It's pretty intensive stuff and afterwards my brain is totally mashed.

At the beginning of the lesson my teacher improved, radically, the reply email I had drafted asking for an interview's date to be changed.

During the lesson my friend and business partner tried to call me from Finland.

After the lesson I walked home, perhaps two or more miles.

During this journey my old boss, where I worked last, called me and said she might be able to ask me to come back to them for a while. But she'd know next week.

That would be nice.

Then I got home and phoned an agency about a job for which I applied yesterday. It turned out that the job, based in Munich, required native German. Now, I think you can ask for fluent German but I think asking for native German is discriminatory. Anyone in the EU, who speaks fluent German, should be able to apply.

Anyway I don't ... yet.

But the agency had a similar job, for the same company, in Vienna. I confirmd my interest.

After the call was finished my old boss called again.

They've decided they need the resource and could I start next week.

Absolutely.

So, next week I'm back in work. Not sure for how long and I'll continue pursuing good roles here. But with a bit less urgency ... for now.

Oh, and I'll still going off to Spain on Friday for my friend's wedding.

And I'll still be taking German lessons, as intensive as possible considering I'll now have less time.

Oh again, I'll still be updating this blog.

Oh, the stress

The BBC news web site has an article about the stress of redundancy, for those who aren't made redundant!

A bite I think

Before Christmas I applied for a job with a large company in Munich.

Today I received an email in German. It seems to be inviting me to an inteview.

Das ist ein Bite.

Great, super.

But ...

They've set a date that I'm supposed to fly out to Spain for a friend's wedding.

I mean he's only a mate, I've only known him since 1984. He is still a twat.

But ... but, well, he's one of the few readers of this blog, it's not every day he gets married and he is a mate. So, I'm going to Spain and the company will have to reschedule the meeting.

Not sure how to word that in German but I'll be working on it.

Wednesday is a job hunting day

But everyday isn't Wednesday yet (you may have to be a hash house harrier to understand that).

Anyway, today I applied for two jobs. Which is good as that means I've applied for five jobs this week.

There are results and there are reasons

Yesterday I didn't apply for any jobs.

Look, I had a German lesson in the morning, then I went to the gym in the afternoon, then I got fed up and went for some beers in the evening ...

So I didn't look.

OK?

More activitiy

As well as job hunt I did a few other things:

• found out about a Munich Toastmasters club, I'll go along to tomorrow's meeting
• found out about another Munich Toastmasters club, I'll go along to Wednesday's meeting

(er, so I can chose between the two)

• signed up for a meeting of the American German Business Club in Munich. I'm neither German, nor American but apparently that's fine with them
• signed up for a Xing (used to openBC) networking meeting in the beginning of February.

Anything else? Oh yes I tried to join in with the CareerTalk skypecast but it wasn't working. So, instead I phoned (over normal Skype, which did work) the host who works in San Jose. We'll try again next week.

Maybe if Skype don't get their finger out I'll send them my c.v.

And, er ... I applied for a total of three jobs.

It's funny, two of them wanted very good English. They wrote this, along with the rest of their adverts, in German. So, I applied, but in English ... very good English I like to think.

German on-line apps

Just completed one for a large German company.

I hate these.

Worst, their form wasn't working completely 100%. More reason then, for them to recruit me so I can get it sorted out (I didn't mention that though ... not that I had the opportunity ... the covering letter bit wasn't working).

Crap management

Article on the BBC website about how managers feel there would be productivity improvements if they could sack 5% of the workforce per year.

Well, I've got an idea for even better productivity: sack these managers with such stupid views.

Now, I've - er - worked people out of roles. Sometimes it has to be done. But it's the job of the manager to get the best out of people, even people who are having performance problems.

Oh well

This week I applied for a total of three jobs.

If I was in the UK I would be quite dismayed with this number. But I'm in Munich so I'm not sure it's too bad.

One of the jobs for which I applied turned out to have already been taken.

Oh well.

So, not a great week. But I did start German lessons and I have been to the gym three times this week.

Tomorrow is my day off, from job hunting.

Skype to the rescue

So, I've found a good German teacher.

But she's abroad for a couple of months starting next week.

When we met this morning, for the second lesson, we both had the same solution: Skype .

We'll conduct lessons over it, hopefully including the video function it has.

That's the idea. Next week we'll see how well it works.

This week I'm having lessons with her probably every day and, amongst other things, that should help us build a rapport - a useful thing to have for the video calls in subsequent weeks.

Busy, slow today

Well, it was busy on the busy front:

• I had another German lesson - good
• I went to the gym - good
• I actually did some research work for the Finnish business (but I'm not updating that blog just yet) - could be good
• I setup my iPAQ which will very soon replace my old Palm T3 -bloody essential

But it wasn't busy on the job hunting front:

• Today applied for no jobs. I didn't even look.

Bad, bad. Although I'm getting back into good habits (gym, language study) I must keep the momentum on job hunting.

Quiet

Unlike last week it seems a slow start.

Didn't apply for any jobs yesterday. Today, only one application.

I did, however, go to the gym yesterday, for the first time in months.

Muscles now hurt.

And today I had my first German one-to-one lesson.

Brain now hurts.

Schmoozing

or networking as I call. Guy Kawasaki has some good tips on this.

Trepedation

On Friday I wrote a bit about this.

Today I returned to Munich.

Normally I job hunt on Sundays. But I won't today. Start, instead first thing tomorrow.

And I'm not going to be too methodical about planning what I need to do.

Sure, I will do some planning over the next few days but the important thing is to get stuck in.

Round up

There's been no change from yesterday.

I didn't look today after my phone call. Kinda ran out of steam.

Anyway, this week I applied for six jobs and received three bites.

Which is good.

Nevertheless I'm getting some trepidation about going back to Munich. Apart from the flight being booked I have a flat which I'm contractually obliged to keep renting for some months.

And in fact it'll be a better environment to focus on job hunting, learning German seriously and requalififying for PRINCE 2.

Moreover, if I do get a job in Munich I'll be well chuffed.

But there's still some trepedation. Germany is a hard place to get a job, even for those with German, damn it even for Germans.

So, I've set myself quite a challenge.

LinkedIn ...

some advice, found off Lifehacker .

Oops

Whilst I'm in England I make calls to Germany using Skype. Much cheaper.

Today a company, to whom I had applied on line yesterday, emailed me asking for references. Nothing indicative in that, just what they like to have.

Their email was in German so I wanted to ask if there was any point applying now, when my German isn't that good (in their German written advert they had asked for good English but hadn't mentioned skills in German, so I applied, in English).

I phoned the person who had emailed me.

We spoke in German but I couldn't get a word. Really, I couldn't hear she was saying.

I kept turning up the volume on my headset but it made no difference.

Eventually I realised that the headset wasn't plugged in. I was using the laptop's built-in microphone and headset.

D'uh.

Things improved after that. The lady agreed that I should improve my German but said there was no harm applying now.

Beaten to it

This morning I looked at Skypecasts (Skype's new live chat thing).

And I had an idea: why don't I set up a Skypecast about job hunting ideas?

Then I looked through the directors of Skypecasts and found this has already been done (Career Talk).

Worse, the recruitment company behind it has a blog which covers job hunting issues and even worse than that, it's quite good!

So far

It's Thursday, in the first week of 2007. So far this week I've applied for six positions.

And I received three bites.

One of these was for a permanent job in Munich. The other two were for contract assignments in London.

You can't win

Some recruiters want to see my technical skills on my c.v.

Others don't.

For example today one agency, who liked my c.v., felt it was emphasizing IT too much. They were looking for a more general project manager with my skills - which I gained in IT.

So I amended my c.v., mainly by removing "IT" wherever it occurred.

Confused

Made a few calls today. Some for contracts in London, but one for a job in Munich.

During one of these calls I gave my desired daily rate in Sterling and also pointed out that I could fly back to Munich at the weekends.

She then pointed out that I had called her about a permanent job in Munich.

"Ah, yes..."

I quickly recovered the situation and she's sending the c.v. over to her client.

A bite.

Bit of a job hunting day

Today I applied for three jobs. And yesterday I applied for one job too.

Which is good. Traditionally my target has been five jobs per week.

I have my doubts that I could consistently achieve this when looking for a job in Munich.

For a start, the job situtation in Germany is still not very good.

Then, quite a few jobs ask for excellent levels of German. I don't apply for those. But otherwise, if a job is advertised in German, and it seems appropriate, then I do apply, in English.

A couple of todays jobs were written in German. Well, I can read them fine so I felt there was no harm in applying.

The third one was for a contract in London. I don't really want to work in London. But the description did seem rather appropriate (at least the first time I read it) so I applied. And it may well be possible for me to fly into London during the week and fly back to Munich at the weekends.

Most contractors do it the other way round, so maybe I'll be zigging when others are zagging.

Week speling

Saw this mini-quiz on the BBC's news web-site relating to spelling on c.v.s .

If you tell me your score I'll tell you mine.

Connection sluts

As you know I tend to decry the value of Linkedin and Xing users who have hundreds of connections. I'm also wary of people who ask to connect with me but don't write a personalized message. I specifically ask for this on the Linkedin site.

Anyway, I was recently contacted by one of these connecters.

The thing is he could actually be a useful contact. In fact he works in a company associated with one of my recent clients (at a rather high level).

So, I've accepted him as one of my contacts. I'm going to see if I can get value from this approach. I've sent him a personal message including the fact that I'm an experienced manager now available.

Thanks TJ

One of the Munich Hash House Harriers lives in Switzerland but "runs" with us frequently.

He's given me other leads but today spotted a suitable looking job in Monster and emailed it to me.

It was quite appropriate so I sent off my c.v. and will call them (an agency) tomorrow.

Good news

eweek. com has an encouraging article, What's on Tap for IT Pros in 2007?

Ok, so it clearly focusses on the US market. But it bodes well globally.

In anycase I wouldn't mind a short stint working in the States. Although I'm quite content to stay in Europe.

Taxis

Yesterday I went up to London and, with a friend, went to a bar in Chelsea. It's quite a bar, bit exclusive but rather nice.

We took a taxi there.

On the way, a man ran across the road in front of the taxi. He almost got away with it but didn't. The taxi clipped him and he fell over.

The taxi driver pulled over about 30 meters away from the incident. People were looking at the man who was standing.

After a while we got out of the taxi and went over to him. Just to make sure.

He was covered in blood. Not only was his nose cut but he also had a nosebleed. There was an awful lot of blood on the ground.

The man was coherent and seemed stable. But he was surprised when I said his nose would need stitching. No medical training needed for that one, it was obvious.

Anyway, I eventually realised that no-one had called an ambulance.

I couldn't see why not. He'd been hit by a taxi (London taxis are very big, solid things), his nose was cut and he was drenched in blood. Amongst other things there was a risk of hypothermia due to his clothes being so wet (and it being a cold night). Plus shock, plus any other internal injuries he may have suffered but not noticed due to alcohol and a general shocked state.

So, I called the emergency services. They disputed with me that I was in Chelsea. The cheek. But I was standing next to a street sign, and was wearing a Barbour jacket, so I eventually convinced them.

A few minutes later the ambulance came along and I went on to the bar.

No further incidents to report (oh except I met a rather nice girl in the bar, exchanged numbers but was too, er, tired today to arrange a meet-up before going back down south).

More updating my systems malarky

As you know I updated my Office and Outlook to 2007, from the Microsoft site, ahead of the commercial release.

Very, very good products.

I have, however, recently noticed that my Palm Pilot T3 hasn't updated very well. Initially I didn't pay too much attention as I don't have much need of synchronising during the boring holiday season.

Anyway, today I had a closer look and realised that Palm doesn't sync with Outlook 2007!

OK, so I could buy Chapura's Pocket Mirror (a third party sync package), it costs $30. Or I could wait until Outlook 2007 is officially release in February and hope that Palm have updated their software by then.

Or I could buy a Microsoft Windows PDA.

I'm a little bit tempted. The latest Palm, the TX, doesn't have a vibrate option, something I find very useful.

Not having a good memory I need alerts during the day to go to meetings etc. I like the discrete vibration affect of my T3 (stop sniggering at the back, damnit!).

But my T3 is dying. The Bluetooth no longer works, the slider is now very sensitive and will power the machine off if I touch it and, final straw, the little Palm logo has fallen off the front of the machine.

That's it. I need a replacement. Preferably one that gives a nice trembling sensation in my pockets (look, I've already warned you, get that grin off your face).

Today's summary ...

is brought to you by the number "zero".

Aka "0".

Today I applied for 0 jobs and received 0 bites.

Naughty job advert of the day ...

... week, month ...


Saw this (extracted below) today whilst looking for a job in Munich:

" ...
Qualifications:
Post graduate (Advantage to: Computer science, Information system engineering, Business administration)
Minimum 2 years relevant work experience in the area of Business Applications project management; especially in consulting companies or IT-area. Further experience – Minimum 2 years as a senior consultant.
Place of residence DACH or UK
Age: between 30 and 40
Mobility - very high willingness to travel is necessary (4days not at home, almost every week), flexibility and capacity (no „9 to 5“ alignment)
Have knowledge of Business applications (SAP Business One is a strong nice).
MS Project
Microsoft Office
Knowledge of SQL is an advantage
Project management skills. Very good organisational skills, focussing priorities
People management skills; ability to manage and motivate employees
Business English language skills (speaking and writing). For DACH countries German is required (strong nice). Any additional language would be nice ..."


What's wrong? Well, they've put an age restriction. Bad, very bad. I'm pretty certain that's now outlawed in the EU.

It was advertised in Monster and I'm nevertheless thinking of applying. I may even point out the problem. Well, whatever I can do to help.

No need to read this entry

because I couldn't find anything to which I could apply.

Getting through

When I was in Munich many years ago I worked at a very large American company.

I now feel myself being drawn to another large American company.

Before I left Munich for the Xmas holidays I tied to contact a recruiter who works there. I'd seen his details on both Xing and linkedin. He'd even put his mobile number on one of the sites.

In previous weeks, however, there was no answer when I tried to call it.

On a whim I tried again today. He answered.

Good.

But I asked and he confirmed he was on holiday.

Drat.

I gave him no choice: I told him I'd call him when he is back at work (next week). And I have made a note in my calendar to do so.

Persistence

is closely related to futility.

Headhunters recommend looking during the festive season. You might catch a recruiter when no-one else is bothering.

I looked today for a suitable job in Munich.

There were none.

Not too surprising as Müncheners take their festive seasons very seriously.

Doubts

I always thought the company where I've been recently working is called Something Something Services.

Though sometimes I've heard my colleagues call it Something Something Solutions.

Daft, I thought. You really should know the name of the company for whom you work. Especially if you need to update your c.v. because they're making lots of cutbacks.

Last night in bed, it occurred to me that maybe they're right and I'm wrong.

Which means l've been sending out c.v.s with completely the wrong name of my last client.

Hardly shows attention to detail.

Anyway today I double checked.

No mistake - at least on my part. Phew.

At least I tried

Well, it's a working day so I looked.

Nothing.

Basically Bavaria is closed down for the week before Xmas until the week after New Year.

But just in case someone is recruiting I need to maintain some vigilance.

2007

So, I'm using OneNote 2007 and I want to use its task feature as an input into my Outlook. But that doesn't work as my Outlook version is too old.

I find that Outlook 2007 isn't purchasable yet. Then I find that Microsoft allows you to download it before it becomes commercially available.

Great. That's what I do.

Then I find that although most of Office 2007 is installed Outlook stays the same.

Not great.

I eventually check out Microsoft's discussion forums.

In one of them it reveals that you need to first un-install Outlook.

They could have mentioned that in the download instructions.

Anyway, tomorrow I must re-start job hunting. If I find anything suitable in Munich then I'll send an email from my shiny new Outlook 2007.

Networking for introverts

Although I can be quite assertive, I'm not always an extrovert. This, found on Lifehacker, may be relevant.

Some useful tips

As I currently have nothing better to do, I've been googling for other job hunting bloggers.

So far most of the results have been for people on the recruiting side. Of these Guerrilla job hunting is probably a good place to start. The blogger is the author of Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters, a book I'm re-reading. This blog also has a comprehensive blogroll to other recruitment-side blogs .

On the hunting-side I've only found one snippet. It's from an American librarian's blog but includes some useful, general advice.

Sluts

... that is, connections sluts or rather promiscuous connectors as I guess these LinkedIn users would prefer to be called.

I'm finding that they don't add value for me. Shally Steckerl of SixDegreesFromDave thinks differently.

InterviewTrue

Couldn't think of a better title. Anyway this service allows you to answer a variety of interview questions whilst in front of a web cam. lt then plays back the video of you. Sounds good but also sounds expensive but isn't. It's about $20 for six months. That's about the price of a very good take-away meal of sushi in Munich.

I intend to give it ago.

(spotted this in the downloadsquad)

OneNote

There's quite a few things I intend to do when I return to Munich: learn German, renew my PRINCE 2 certification, get a job.

But I think I should also get familiar with OneNote 2007.

A couple of years ago I used the earlier version. I've downloaded the new product as a trial because it isn't available to purchase yet. I'm just hoping it is properly released before this trial pack times out in February.

This is something I can do straightaway. One reason I want to use One Note is because of the unrestricive space it gives. I'm hoping this will help my creative thinking when drawing up tasks etc.

Chartered

I'm a chartered engineer, IT professional and a couple of other things.

On my last day at work I gave my business card to one of my (German) colleagues.

On it is written "Chartered IT Professional".

She thought that was funny. But surely Germans rave about letters and titles?

But she read "chartered" as in a "chartered flight".

Hmm.

I am going to buy new business cards. Not sure now whether to leave that in.

More gadgets

Yesterday, on the train from London, I was using my C -Pen to help me read the SZ I had picked up on the airplane.

(You don't know? It's like a fat pen with an LCD. But it's a scanner. Scan in a German word and the LCD will show the English equivalent from its onboard dictionary.)

Two people sitting near me took a great interest.

The conversation moved on to other gadgets: my TabletPC, my Palm, voice recognition software and Digimemo.

l had ordered the new, A4-sized, Digimemo whilst I was in Germany but had it delivered to the Uk.

Today I set it up. Works fine.

Ok, so why did I buy a TabletPC and a Digimemo?

Well, several reasons:

• TPCs are convenient when I'm lounging around and can't be bothered (read arsed to use a keyboard. I'm handwriting this entry on the TPC).
• Sometime it's much better to use a PC in slate mode, eg. when sitting in an airport.
• Digimemos, on the otherhand, are pretty discrete. Very few people even realise that it's more than a normal notepad.
• For most notes I will probably never look at them again. I certainly don't need handwriting recognition software to transcribe them into computer text. But the act of writing down the information is the important thing; it impinges the information in the mind. So all l need is a backup just in case I ever do need to refer to them again.
• TPCs may just become the next big thing so having experience in this area is not a bad idea (for me).

Michael Hyatt's excellent Working Smart blog also has a good criticism of TPCs.

Unfortunately I guess he wasn't working smartly enough as he feels he can no longer continue updating that blog.
.

Left

... Munich, that is.

I left the company on Friday.

The last few days there's been major delays at London Heathrow due to the severe fog.

Today it eased up.

When I arrived at Munich airport I was even offered the chance to take an earlier flight. Which, of course, I did.

And that flight arrived early.

But the saving in time was eaten away by:

• waiting 15 minutes for the bus to arrive to take us to the terminal
• waiting over 20 minutes for the train driver once I got to a mainline train station in London

... welcome to England.

Although I've left Munich it's only for a couple of weeks. Then I return and job hunt (and blog) full time.

Before that, however, I will be adding some delayed entries on this site.

0.001

On Friday I leave the company.

Today my group head mentioned that they really needed to keep me on. But they can't. She's going to ask again. So there's a 0.001% chance, she reckons, that they'll be able to keep me on past December.

A bit later she asked if I know anything about release management.

Well, I created a team doing that at a London investment bank plus I hold the ITIL qualification which covers that best practice.

We'll know soon.

Running - a new approach to job hunting

...by which I mean walking with the Munich Hash House Harriers.

During last weekend's run (walk) a fellow hasher mentioned a possible job in his company.

He was good enough to send my email address to the guy recruiting. We exchanged emails but the job required expertise in SAP - a technology I can barely spell.

Street walking - a new approach to job hunting

I live in one of the swankier areas of Munich although it's not my favourite part of the city.

A weekend or so ago I was walking back to my flat and round the corner I noticed a company's nameplate. It had a rather unusual, quirky name.

I went home and checked out their web site. Of course it was written in German. Not too much of a problem and I liked what I read. Eventually. They had a straight-forward approach to project management and I like to think I do too.

I found the owner on Xing and tonight sent him a message. Basically it asked if he had any advice or contacts he could recommend to a project manager (me) looking for a new assignment in the city.

Of course, I didn't mention but if his company was looking for a PM then they should consider me.

I'll see what happens.

Mixed approach

I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things (i.e. job hunting things).

When I get home I check out certain job sites on the web.

And I've been collecting Saturday's Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper for the last few months.

I haven't looked at them till now. This evening I seperated the job pages from the rest which went straight into bin (for recycling .... this is Germany).

I'm now going through these job pages looking for companies who might be worth approaching. They may not be recruiting in my skills area, or even in my language (you're reading it now) but there may be a mutual interest.

I then look in openBC (now called Xing) and LinkedIn and see if there's anyone I know who's connected to these companies. Next step is to send them a message.

I'm going to see how this develops.

What am I going to do?

Can't really be optimistic all the time.

My contract is coming to an end. Well, it's probably better that it ends now rather than in March.

This way maybe I won't miss out on German companies' recruiting surge as a lot of them will be getting new budgets in the new year.

But then there's that bitch called Reality.

Reality tells me, actually reminds me, that it's difficult, rather difficult (and that's "rather" spelt with a capital F) to get another job. At least in my case, for some reason.

Now multiply that with the fact that I'm not fluent in German.

Well I like a challenge.

So, what am I going to do?

Assuming I don't get a job immediately then I'm going to keep on applying (obviously).

I'm also going to take one-to-one lessons in German, starting in the New Year. I reckon that this could really help. I already understand a lot of German and can get by, even sometimes at work.

At the same time I'm going to study and requalify for my PRINCE 2 certification. That's really important. I already have the handbook and exam samples for it ... currently keeping dust off a shelf.

Then I might just take the PMP exam in project management. I feel that's a bit overkill as I'm already an APMP but some recruiters are a bit picky.

At the same time, I might add more to my Rumours of Life site.

But I won't just be sitting on my arse all day. It really is time I went back to the gym.

Then there's Vista which will come out soon. I already have a new laptop waiting for it (I'm writing this on it) and it will be good to learn the new system (I guess).

What else? Oh yes, update this blog.

With all this activity planned for the new year it might be better that I don't get a job.

Another day at work

Last week I applied for a job in Düsseldorf.

Today I called the agency. Eventually l worked out that the position no longer existed.

"Eventually" because this was all done in German.

„Leider".

Suspension over

Well on Thursday I went ahead and purchased the Fujitsu Siemens tablet.

Then, after work, I had same beers and a curry.

On Friday I played with it for a while. Then remembered it was a Friday so went out.

On Saturday I looked at it in more detail. Being a tablet it has handwriting and voice recognition.

Today I transferred most (all, I hope) of my old laptop's files and applications . This took rather a while .

At the moment im using the handwriting programme to write this blog.

lt's a bit tortuous so, l'm not going to write anymore tonight.

Dilemma update

OK, so I've ordered the Digmemo pad (used for keeping a record as you write).

But it's just not enough.

I desperately need a new laptop. And I've set my heart on a Tablet PC.

I was thinking of getting the Toshiba Tecra M7 or the Asus R1F. But something's been holding me back.

The place where I work is a large complex and has shops for its employees. When I visited their computer shop a month ago they had tablets but not Vista Premium compatable ones.

Today, I had the urge to go in. This time they had the latest Tablet PCs including the Fujitsu Siemens T4215.

I've checked the spec and it looks just right. I've also looked at tablet forums on the web and no-one seems to have a bad word about it.

Being me I'll sleep on it but tomorrow I feel a purchase coming on.

There's actually genuine urgency with this now. This evening I removed a USB memory stick from my old laptop. I must have moved the power lead because the laptop switched to its battery.

It took quiet a few anxious minutes to get the thing powered from the mains again.

So no more pfaffing around I need a new laptop, fast.

Just the one

I'm getting the feeling that this time they're not kidding at work. Which means I won't have a job when I return from my two-week Xmas break.

Have to get the bloody ball rolling.

Today I saw a job on a site of a German recruitment agency. The advertisement was in German but I could read it fine. I applied in English.

I also added its details to my old MS Access database. First time I've used that in a while.

It's kinda gloomy to think that I could well be doing more and more of this type of activity: searching job site, applying, updating my application database.

For the record

Today I applied for one job. Just now actually (it's near 11pm).

The job was advertised in German but I applied in English because German is my third language.

Either they'll nevertheless be interested or they won't.

By the way I don't have a second langauge, it's just that my skills in German aren't that good yet.

Another month

Well, in case you were wondering, my job has been extended to the end of December.

This is good. Initially I was contracted month-by-month until the end of September. They then said they'd extend me by one month only.

At the end of October they extended me by two months. That was the longest contract renewal I've had.

The project finishes at the end of February.

So, they've now confirmed that my (and others) contract will finish in December. This time they're 99% sure.

OK, that's the life of a freelancer. But what to do now? I know, create Rumours of Life which will contain a choice of my writings.

The Dilemma

Do I chose between a tablet PC or the new DigiMemo A402?

I have the previous version but that was for A5 page sizes. This one is A4.

What to do?


...


...


I know ...


Get both.

Typing

You're probably now clearing your PC of clutter and getting comfortable, expecting to read months of my journal as I search for my next job.

But what about me? I have to write it.

On a near whim (well, as near as I get to a whim) today I bought an ergonomic keyboard, the Mircosoft NEK 4000 one.

So far it feels good, although it will take a bit of getting used to. It would be useless if I didn't touch-type though.

I bought the German version because, well, I'm in Germany and have to use umlauts (ä, ö, ü) a bit more than usual.

I'm buying it now because, realistically, I could be spending quite a while in my Munich flat, bashing away at a keyboard, applying for jobs. So, it may as well be a keyboard which doesn't cripple me.

Clarity

My client (I'm a contractor) tells me that they won't be able to keep me on beyond October. Though, they will try.

But for now at least, my contract ends when October does.

Do I need more clarity?

Hell no, I need another job.

Regular readers will know that, for someone like me, it's strangely difficult to get another job. Well, it's even harder now that I'm in Munich.

First of all the language. Not everyone here speaks English.

Secondly, well I'm not exactly in the land of low unemployment.

But I like it here, for lots of reasons, and am determined to stay.