Category Archives: Job Hunting

Reverb10: Beautifully Different

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This post is part of the online initiative Reverb10. You can find all of my Reverb10 posts here.

December 8 – Beautifully Different. Think about what makes you different and what you do that lights people up. Reflect on all the things that make you different – you’ll find they’re what make you beautiful.

I am happy and excited!
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One of the main things that make me different, in my opinion, is that I have adopted a very positive attitude. This is a change that I have noticed in myself in the past few years, I wasn’t always like this. I see the good in people. I like to find a solution to a problem, and I try to give everyone and everything a chance. I believe in self-fulfilling prophecies and think that if you approach something with a negative attitude, if you don’t give it a chance from the get-go, it will turn out bad. Basically, if you think that something is going to suck, it will. That’s why I generally try to keep a positive attitude. Don’t get me wrong, I do get disappointed when something doesn’t work out the way I wanted, but I always try to find something positive about it that will make it less disappointing.

A couple of months ago, I received an email from a recruiting company looking for someone for a company in a very small town. At first I thought, hell no, I’m not moving to a small town. I decided to apply for the job anyway, mainly because I thought I had to. I received the offer via the job center and thought that it might influence what little benefits I do receive from them if I don’t apply, though in hindsight I don’t think it would have. I was also thinking that I might be able to move to the bigger city nearby and commute. I was invited for a job interview with the recruiting company, and was also invited for a job interview by the employing company a couple of weeks later. I was honestly a bit surprised because I didn’t fit their profile that well, I thought.

By then I had found out that commuting wouldn’t be possible because of how far the company is located from the local train station. I realized that I would have to move to this very small town if I worked there. I wasn’t very excited but decided that going to the interview wouldn’t hurt. At the very least, it would give me some more practice for interviewing situations. I also thought that if the job offer was decent, I might just accept it and essentially settle because who knows when another job would come along. The interview went very well, and I was generally very impressed with the company and how welcoming they were. After the interview I was actually really considering the company not just based on, ‘well, at least it’s a job,’ but based on, ‘hey it might actually be a good job.’ They didn’t make me feel like I ought to be grateful to even be considered for the job, and like it was only me who had to convince them of my abilities. They were also applying for me as a potential employee.

I knew that if I was going to be offered the job, I would not have too much time to consider the offer. I knew that they were going to get back to me within two weeks and that I should know whether I really wanted the job or not by then. After lots of thinking and talking to friends, I decided that I would take the job unless they didn’t meet my expectations in terms of salary. Yes, I would be living in a tiny town, but it’s not that far from Munich. I would easily be able to go to Munich for the weekend if I wanted to. Besides, there are a few larger towns in the area as well. Yes, the train only runs every hour which isn’t very frequent, but all that means is I would have to plan. I can do that.

On the upside, I would be living within walking distance from work – well, I would have to live within walking distance because there is no local public transport and I don’t own a car. I would also be able to ride my bike virtually everywhere in town once the snow melts. Another plus is that renting is very cheap in that town. Once the probationary period would end, I could buy a car which would also solve the transportation issue and make surrounding cities a lot more accessible. It would be a challenge, but I like challenges. It would definitely help me build character, it would make me more flexible and better at adapting to new and unknown situations. It would be a really good first step into the job market. And who knows, I might actually like it there! I would be determined to make the best of it and I would find a way to make it work.

After about two weeks I heard back from them, and they wanted to see me for another interview. That interview took place yesterday. After about 20 minutes it was clear that I would get the job unless I said something extremely stupid in reply to their questions.

I accepted the job.

Yes, people, I have a job!!! As of mid January I will no longer be unemployed! I found a good job that sounds like it has lots of potential to become something even better with a company I am very impressed with. I have shared some of the frustrations of job hunting on this blog, and I am so glad that that is over. It’s a permanent position (after the usual 6 month probationary period), and I consider myself lucky to have gotten a permanent position so soon after graduating.

Ego? Boosted.

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I have been job hunting since the beginning of September. I have applied for nearly 20 jobs and have received little positive feedback so far. Sometimes the position was already filled, sometimes I wasn’t really qualified but thought I’d try anyway (so I wasn’t that surprised at getting a ‘thanks but no thanks’), and sometimes I think the position would have been perfect for me but they didn’t invite me for an interview anyway. That last type is the most frustrating one, because it makes you wonder what you’re doing wrong. It makes you think that if you are not even invited to an interview for a job that would fit you perfectly, when will you ever get your first job interview.

The answer to that question for me was: yesterday. I did have an interview with a recruiting company about a job two weeks ago already, but I didn’t really count that as a job interview as I knew another job interview with the hiring company would have to follow and who knew if they would want to meet me.

Yesterday I had my first real job interview with an actual company that is considering hiring me. It was actually for a different job and I have no idea if I will get the job, but just that interview was an ego boost. Knowing that they are even considering hiring me made me feel a lot better about myself and my skills.

Not only that, but I also got my first taste of what a real job interview is like. I have had interviews before for internships and part-time jobs during college, but they are not the kind of interview that you’ll encounter after graduating. Yesterday’s interview took nearly two hours. It consisted of a personality test, answering a whole catalog of questions (some of them quite tricky), and of delivering a work sample right then and there. I think that while the interview went well on the whole, there were definitely questions that I could have handled in a better way. Even if I don’t get the job, this interview is practice for the next one.

And the next one? Is actually tomorrow. I mentioned that I had an interview with a recruiting company, and while I didn’t really expect it, the hiring company actually wants to meet me. I was so thrilled, even though I am not yet entirely sure if that job will work for me. You see, the company is located in a small Bavarian town 75 miles from here and I don’t have a car. I have never in my life lived in a town even remotely as small as 4,500 inhabitants but it would be a challenge I’d be willing to accept for the right job.

I am trying not to get my hopes up for either of the jobs, as I know there is a chance I will not be offered either. I would be absolutely delighted at finding a job so soon after graduating of course (yes, three months still qualifies as soon for me, when a friend of mine just found one now, 20 months after graduating), but I know it is not necessarily the norm for humanities majors. At the job center I was told to expect to take roughly six months to find a job.

So even if I have to keep job hunting after tomorrow, I am feeling a lot more positive about it since getting those two calls last week. I may have to write many more applications but at least I know that my qualifications are in demand and that for some jobs I made it into that small group of people that got invited for an interview. And with every interview, I will become better at handling the questions I get asked. With every interview I gain experience in how to present myself to potential employers, and that in itself is a success as well.

How do you do in job interviews? Are you a natural at presenting yourself to a company or did you take some practice as well?

Structure

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Waiting
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It’s been nearly two months since I came back from Prague and my life has settled into a routine here. The only problem is, there is not much of a routine. I am in between places in my life and with graduate school in my past and a job in my future, I am left with an undefined present. Of course I am still writing applications but to be perfectly honest, that rarely takes up more than 2-3 hours of my day.

I have made the experience before that when I have little to nothing to do, I fall into a slump. I get lethargic and end up getting even less done which in turn makes me even more lethargic, you get the idea. I know that, as much as I hate having things to do, errands to run, sometimes, not doing anything productive is not good for me. Being productive on the other hand makes me feel good and fills me with energy.

Writing job applications can be a very tiring and frustrating activity. A few times I have come across a job listing and thought I fit the job description so well, and then I didn’t even get invited for an interview. While I know how hard it is to find a job with a degree in humanities, I do believe that for someone with a degree in humanities, my CV is quite good. I have done several internships, have experience living and studying abroad (in two countries!) and I speak two languages fluently, another quite well, and have basic knowledge of two more. I don’t think I am a bad candidate for the jobs I apply for, otherwise I wouldn’t apply for them. But it still doesn’t seem to be enough. So I start questioning myself and my abilities.

Job hunting is frustrating and I need something to balance that out.

Lately I have been trying to come up with things to do while I am in this inbetween space. I have joined a Zumba and line dancing class, I have picked up swimming once a week again and I have also just started running again the other week. This goes hand in hand with my effort to lose weight, something else I have been focusing on now that I have plenty of time. And it’s been great. Zumba is a blast and I am happy about being more active and about shedding the pounds that I gained in the first half of this year.

I also inquired about volunteering at the local public library. It took a few weeks for me to get a response because they only just re-opened last week after being closed for renovations on the building. While they do not need (or rather, do not have the office space for) another volunteer during November, they did say I could volunteer there in December (I can’t wait!). I also worked there on Saturday, and it was so much fun. I mainly just put books, DVDs and CDs back onto the shelves and I also counted parts of the board games that were returned (to make sure none are missing, can you believe they have to do this with every board game after it’s been returned? And have you ever thought about just how many pieces a board game consists of?). They don’t sound like the most exciting or demanding tasks but I really enjoyed them. I contribute this mostly to the fact that I just love books and libraries. I love the atmosphere in libraries. I loved seeing parents browsing books with their kids. I loved kids exclaiming excitedly that they wanted to check out 15 books. I just loved seeing kids be so enthusiastic about reading.

Originally I was only supposed to come in for an hour before they opened, but I ended up staying until half an hour before they closed, from 9am to 1.30pm. The two ladies working at the library were very nice, and for them my working there on Saturday was a sort of trial run to see if I would be helpful for them or not. I think I passed with flying colors. Working there was such a great experience, not just because I enjoyed being at the library. I also really enjoyed being productive and more importantly, being productive for the sake of someone else, not myself. I enjoyed being useful to someone else and contributing to the community. I am planning to research further opportunities of volunteering in this town, because as much as volunteering gives to the community, it also gives a lot to me.

It gives me purpose. And that is priceless.

How do you deal with periods of unemployment? Have you ever volunteered in your community?

On staying and leaving

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Future
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A month ago I moved back in with my parents in my hometown. I will be living here until I find a job, whenever that may be. In the current economy and with a degree like mine, it can take very long to find a job. When I look through job postings, the location of the job is not what I look at. If I think the job would be a good fit, I apply for it.

It seems that my attitude is quite uncommon, though, at least in my circle of friends. Not all seem to understand why I would want to leave Munich. That is actually a question I have been confronted with before, because I chose to leave my hometown, where two of the best universities of the country are located, and moved to a much smaller town for college, though Heidelberg University is also one of the best in the country.

You see, I love Munich. I consider it the perfect mixture of big city and small town feel. You get all the good stuff (culture, shopping, etc.) without the bad stuff (crime, pollution) thrown into the mix. And I think most people living in Munich agree with that notion. Why would anyone want to leave that place? And the truth is, most people don’t. In my circle of friends I am one of two who left Munich after high school. The other, my best friend, had no choice because her major was not offered here. I did. I studied English & Spanish Literature which is offered at virtually all universities in the country. Still I left. And I don’t regret it. I made some great friends, experienced living on my own in a different city and in two foreign countries. I may not be the same person today if I had never left Munich.

For me, the question I ask myself is, why would I want to live in the same city all my life? I want to experience living in different cities, in different countries. I want to experience starting fresh, being thrown in at the deep end, I want to tackle new challenges.

I love Munich. But I don’t believe that Munich is the only place in Germany or the world that I could truly love living in. I believe that with the right attitude you can enjoy living pretty much anywhere. While I would love to live in Munich, I think I would also love trying out a new city again. So when I am looking at job postings, I don’t limit myself to any specific city or area. A lot of my friends have asked me how long I will be in Munich for this time. And the answer is, I don’t know. Munich does offer a lot of jobs that look appealing to me, more than any other city, but when it comes to actually making a decision, the city will not matter as much as the job itself.

As much as living in limbo sucks, I have no idea where life will take me. Where I will be living a year from now. And that is kind of exciting.

Did you decide to move to a different city after college? What did you base your decision on?