Thursday, March 09, 2006
The Second Job Interview
Like Heidi coming from the mountains to visit poorly cousin Clara I too, descended from a feeble village (although a little more vertically challenged) into the ‘alpha world city’ of Frankfurt.
The highlight of the train trip was the Rhein: one of the great rivers of Europe, so much history, so many castles, if I could see the things it’s seen….
“Ein sehr famous Fluss” I espoused dreamily, and no doubt grammatically incorrectly, to the Frau next to me.
She said “Ja” and smiled proudly (although a minute earlier when I asked to confirm that it was indeed the great river she could not remember).
But dear reader quite frankly after two and a half hours I was sick of the sight of it.
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, doing its best to cling to winter, snowed all day.
This did not stop people rushing around everywhere, throwing themselves in front of oncoming traffic in a most suicidal fashion. Eventually I could take this disrespect for traffic laws no longer and stepped in front of the pedestrian crossing:
“Slow – down – people” I yelled, both arms outstretched “the light is red! That is R-E-D red (or ‘rot’ if you prefer)”. But they continued to swarm past me.
Sadly I shook my head; with no cars in sight pedestrians waited deferentially for the green man in Kirchenstadt. How long would it take me to readjust to the big smoke?
The bank
I had done my homework, I had studied the organisation, read up on interview questions, learnt some helpful tips such as: be yourself (remove steel rod and smile), look the part (buy suit), and when asked ‘tell me a bit about yourself dear’ rambling on about favourite foods and pets names is not appropriate - better to stick to education and employment history.
‘I am early and need to go to the toilet’ I informed the ladies at reception.
‘Ok, just fill out these forms first and we will let Ms Smith know you have arrived, when the other candidates arrived early she came early to meet them’.
‘Other candidates’ I gulped – I had hoped they were all shacked up in a hospital somewhere with bird flu.
‘Ok you wanted to go to the toilet?’
‘No actually I’ll go later - I just wanted to confirm that should I require the use of a toilet it would be there’.
‘Hmm’
Time ran away from me in the initial ½ hour English test. Had I checked the time when I began this might have helped. Before I knew it Ms Smith was knocking on the door.
‘Oh, is that half an hour already’ I gushed at her sober face. ‘It took me a little while to readjust to the English keyboard’. All to aware how grossly inadequate this excuse was and wishing I had kept my mouth shut.
There was a slight awkwardness in the interview when it became apparent I was not applying for the position I thought I was. The agency had informed me that it was a library assistant position, so when the interviewers spoke at length about HR I was slightly confused and found myself gulping fish like when they asked the inevitable: ‘so .. what attracted you to the position?’
But overall all my extensive preparation ensured the interview was a success.
The aftermath
When I found myself once again in the foyer I was so relieved it was over I walked straight up to the women in their classic navy and white seated behind the reception, forgetting I was probably now known as ‘the toilet lady’:
“WELL I am glad that is over!” I plonked my little black bag on their desk and unclipped my ‘visitors pass’. They glanced curiously at me. “Interview went well” I waved my hands around “but I think I stuffed up the English test (bla bla bla)”.
“Well um” she stammered, glancing at her co-worker, “have a nice weekend Madam”.
I almost laughed as I waltzed out. It is as I suspected nothing ruffles the German professionalism.
Miraculously I begin work on Monday at a big bank in Frankfurt.
The highlight of the train trip was the Rhein: one of the great rivers of Europe, so much history, so many castles, if I could see the things it’s seen….
“Ein sehr famous Fluss” I espoused dreamily, and no doubt grammatically incorrectly, to the Frau next to me.
She said “Ja” and smiled proudly (although a minute earlier when I asked to confirm that it was indeed the great river she could not remember).
But dear reader quite frankly after two and a half hours I was sick of the sight of it.
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, doing its best to cling to winter, snowed all day.
This did not stop people rushing around everywhere, throwing themselves in front of oncoming traffic in a most suicidal fashion. Eventually I could take this disrespect for traffic laws no longer and stepped in front of the pedestrian crossing:
“Slow – down – people” I yelled, both arms outstretched “the light is red! That is R-E-D red (or ‘rot’ if you prefer)”. But they continued to swarm past me.
Sadly I shook my head; with no cars in sight pedestrians waited deferentially for the green man in Kirchenstadt. How long would it take me to readjust to the big smoke?
The bank
I had done my homework, I had studied the organisation, read up on interview questions, learnt some helpful tips such as: be yourself (remove steel rod and smile), look the part (buy suit), and when asked ‘tell me a bit about yourself dear’ rambling on about favourite foods and pets names is not appropriate - better to stick to education and employment history.
‘I am early and need to go to the toilet’ I informed the ladies at reception.
‘Ok, just fill out these forms first and we will let Ms Smith know you have arrived, when the other candidates arrived early she came early to meet them’.
‘Other candidates’ I gulped – I had hoped they were all shacked up in a hospital somewhere with bird flu.
‘Ok you wanted to go to the toilet?’
‘No actually I’ll go later - I just wanted to confirm that should I require the use of a toilet it would be there’.
‘Hmm’
Time ran away from me in the initial ½ hour English test. Had I checked the time when I began this might have helped. Before I knew it Ms Smith was knocking on the door.
‘Oh, is that half an hour already’ I gushed at her sober face. ‘It took me a little while to readjust to the English keyboard’. All to aware how grossly inadequate this excuse was and wishing I had kept my mouth shut.
There was a slight awkwardness in the interview when it became apparent I was not applying for the position I thought I was. The agency had informed me that it was a library assistant position, so when the interviewers spoke at length about HR I was slightly confused and found myself gulping fish like when they asked the inevitable: ‘so .. what attracted you to the position?’
But overall all my extensive preparation ensured the interview was a success.
The aftermath
When I found myself once again in the foyer I was so relieved it was over I walked straight up to the women in their classic navy and white seated behind the reception, forgetting I was probably now known as ‘the toilet lady’:
“WELL I am glad that is over!” I plonked my little black bag on their desk and unclipped my ‘visitors pass’. They glanced curiously at me. “Interview went well” I waved my hands around “but I think I stuffed up the English test (bla bla bla)”.
“Well um” she stammered, glancing at her co-worker, “have a nice weekend Madam”.
I almost laughed as I waltzed out. It is as I suspected nothing ruffles the German professionalism.
Miraculously I begin work on Monday at a big bank in Frankfurt.
The First Job Interview
I wore a pair of brown trousers and a black pinstripe suit jacket to my first job interview in Germany, because I did not want to pay for a suit. My interviewer was impossibly German chic.
I understood two words in the job advertisement before I applied: ‘English’ and ‘web’. It was more words that I normally understood so I applied. I was very enthusiastic back then.
“Don’t bother” said Bruno, who understood all the words in the job ad. “They want someone who speaks German”.
I applied anyway because sometimes people don’t know what they want until they see it.
“Why?” said Liana. “You don’t know anything about web design”.
“Why not?” said Kristy. “You can learn”.
Innocently playing their parts in the new world/old world cliché.
I arrived at the interview on the Monday enamoured in what I hoped was an aura of German professionalism; something I imagined to be akin to an undisturbed lake of some steel like substance. In other words I spent the entire interview sitting like I had a steel rod attached to my spine and making sure I did not smile.
A few probing questions revealed what anything more than a superficial reading of my resume would have: I should not be left in charge of any companies website. However she suggested I might be able to write for their English language magazine.
“Do you speak German?” she asked.
“Ein bisschen“ I hedged.
She then produced a typical information pack that must be condensed into a one page article. It was all in German. Business German.
She looked expectantly at me as my heart jumped in my throat. As a trance like state descended, my senses shut down and I felt myself place my hand confidently on the pack, I made eye contact:
“This” I indicated the pack “shouldn’t be a problem”. Did I slightly smile to waylay any small hesitations she might have had?
As that was in mid January, and I have not heard back, evidently it was a problem. But then again maybe she is going to get back to me any day now… Germans are notoriously unreliable, no wait, that must be some other race.
I understood two words in the job advertisement before I applied: ‘English’ and ‘web’. It was more words that I normally understood so I applied. I was very enthusiastic back then.
“Don’t bother” said Bruno, who understood all the words in the job ad. “They want someone who speaks German”.
I applied anyway because sometimes people don’t know what they want until they see it.
“Why?” said Liana. “You don’t know anything about web design”.
“Why not?” said Kristy. “You can learn”.
Innocently playing their parts in the new world/old world cliché.
I arrived at the interview on the Monday enamoured in what I hoped was an aura of German professionalism; something I imagined to be akin to an undisturbed lake of some steel like substance. In other words I spent the entire interview sitting like I had a steel rod attached to my spine and making sure I did not smile.
A few probing questions revealed what anything more than a superficial reading of my resume would have: I should not be left in charge of any companies website. However she suggested I might be able to write for their English language magazine.
“Do you speak German?” she asked.
“Ein bisschen“ I hedged.
She then produced a typical information pack that must be condensed into a one page article. It was all in German. Business German.
She looked expectantly at me as my heart jumped in my throat. As a trance like state descended, my senses shut down and I felt myself place my hand confidently on the pack, I made eye contact:
“This” I indicated the pack “shouldn’t be a problem”. Did I slightly smile to waylay any small hesitations she might have had?
As that was in mid January, and I have not heard back, evidently it was a problem. But then again maybe she is going to get back to me any day now… Germans are notoriously unreliable, no wait, that must be some other race.
