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dpkg chopra posted:I have an interview coming up with a German company opening a US office and both interviewers are German. I've scoped out their LinkedIn profiles and none of them have worked in US companies. Don't be rattled if they cut you off or abruptly change the subject. Try to stay on point more than you'd usually do and be more aware if it's not the right time for banter or chit chat. In my experience German companies have a higher focus on efficiency. If you can organically make fun of the French it probably wouldn't hurt.
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Jul 16, 2022 21:54
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Covok posted:Weird thought, but should my resume mention that I am an Eagle Scout? I know it sounds silly, but that used to matter to some people. I doubt it matters anymore, but I used to have it on my resume and I am curious if anyone cares about that stuff anymore. You're an eagle scout accountant with low self esteem? Covok, I need you to take some risks. Take up a challenging social thing or...even better...do some crimes. I need you to get super jacked, grow a beard, and either: A) Take up street racing. Buy a Mustang, add turbochargers, but keep the exhaust quiet until past 1/3rd throttle. Meet up with 20-30 dudes behind the airport at 1AM on a Tuesday night and drag race for $1000 per run until the cops come. When they come, just take off. Middle of the pack so you dont get stopped. Don't stop for them, just run, they chant case everyone and you're the furthest away. B) Become a champion Bachata or Zouk dancer. You must take up a sensual latin dance and become recognized as the best at it. Even if only locally. You don't need to win state championships, just enough that every woman in the club recognizes that you, Covok, are the dance partner everyone wants to have. You're sensual, but friendly. You could use it to sleep around but you don't...mostly. The reputation you build as an empathetic but passionate partner leads to every woman wanting you. Only then can you unlock the one true job: Makin figgies and suckin tiddies.
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Jul 16, 2022 22:47
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Lockback posted:Don't be rattled if they cut you off or abruptly change the subject. Try to stay on point more than you'd usually do and be more aware if it's not the right time for banter or chit chat. In my experience German companies have a higher focus on efficiency. If you can organically make fun of the French it probably wouldn't hurt. Thanks for this! Will probably avoid the joke, there's no way I'll land that correctly, lol. Maybe I'll ask them if they have any tips about living in a fascist hellscape.
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Jul 17, 2022 15:15
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I’d probably wear a tie for starters. Management Germans love ties. Is this for IC or management? Most of the German companies I have worked with don’t believe in working managers; the manager isn’t really expected to know anything about their area other than How To Manage, and then the ICs know/do everything.
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Jul 18, 2022 12:16
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Lockback posted:Don't be rattled if they cut you off or abruptly change the subject. Try to stay on point more than you'd usually do and be more aware if it's not the right time for banter or chit chat. In my experience German companies have a higher focus on efficiency. If you can organically make fun of the French it probably wouldn't hurt. Germans being efficient is the most absurd bullshit in the world. Germans are in to Precision, not Efficiency.
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Jul 18, 2022 12:17
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:I’d probably wear a tie for starters. Management Germans love ties. The role is Data Protection Manager, but the actual people management responsibilities are very low, so technically an IC. Thanks for the tie recommendation, it's been a while since I've interviewed anywhere where that's required.
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Jul 18, 2022 12:47
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dpkg chopra posted:The role is Data Protection Manager, but the actual people management responsibilities are very low, so technically an IC. It's weird, Germans are either very casual or wearing ties in my experience. There's not much of a middle ground of like, separates without a tie or anything like that. You probably want to get a read on the company culture as this sounds much more tech based than my German experience, which is with industrials. Since you will have "manager" in your title and it's a German company, if they're at all formal or traditional seeming I would dress the part.
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Jul 18, 2022 13:03
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For what it's worth, one of the people interviewing is just wearing a shirt and sweater in his LinkedIn profile. The company itself is a big logistics company that's been around for like 40 years. I think I'll split the difference and wear a suit with no tie. Edit: on further reflection, I will wear the tie.
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Jul 18, 2022 13:06
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I generally do not think it will hurt you with Business Germans.
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Jul 18, 2022 13:19
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Wear the suit and don't overthink it. I work in tech and received some minor flack for wearing a suit in interviews. I waived it off as "well you never know, I probably wouldn't wear this July!" but also didn't apologize or disown it. Both times the process ended in an offer so obviously it was not a deal breaker.
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Jul 18, 2022 15:26
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When I get flack for wearing a suit I tell them it was a test and they passed 
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Jul 18, 2022 15:37
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cut out the back of the suit and lightly sew it. If they give you flack, grab the front and rip it off in one smooth motion revealing a tie-dyed tank top or a "Big Johnson" novelty graphic Tee. It's really the only solution that covers all bases.
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Jul 18, 2022 16:14
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Trip report: I wore a suit and tie, they did not, but I don't think they cared either way. Other than that, the interview was a mixed bag. Like Kyoon Griffey Jr. said, the interviewers were fairly abrupt but in general the atmosphere was friendly. I think I displayed good subject knowledge and rapport, but there was definitely a gap between their expectations for the role and what I had understood from the job description. They wanted someone that would manage all processes and people for all of NA and LATAM, and I had understood the role to be that of an IC with some minimal management tasks. In my defense, the salary range for the position is a lot more in-line with my expectation, than theirs. For what they expect, they should be offering twice as much if they want someone that competitive. To top it off, just got told I wasn't selected for a position where I was really strong candidate. Spectacular start to the week. Nevertheless, thanks for all the help!
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Jul 18, 2022 17:18
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Oh yeah, a German company moving to the US might have some pretty out of whack salary expectations because by and large white collar salaries are lower in Europe, and in Logistics salaries tend to be low as well.
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Jul 18, 2022 17:39
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Any hiring process where one side is crossing a border for the first time is all kinds of entertaining. There are so many things that are assumed baseline in one place which are totally different elsewhere.
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Jul 18, 2022 18:23
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Arquinsiel posted:Any hiring process where one side is crossing a border for the first time is all kinds of entertaining. There are so many things that are assumed baseline in one place which are totally different elsewhere. we've been going through that as we re-establish some Europe presence, and it's only been like... six years since we previously closed our European office?
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Jul 18, 2022 19:28
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GDPR came into force in those six years, so I can see why you have problems. I bet your recruiters also had problems getting prosepctive hires to understand how good your PTO and healthcare packages are but also lots of people trying not to giggle when they hear what the salary range is.
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Jul 18, 2022 20:21
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Arquinsiel posted:GDPR came into force in those six years, so I can see why you have problems. I bet your recruiters also had problems getting prosepctive hires to understand how good your PTO and healthcare packages are but also lots of people trying not to giggle when they hear what the salary range is. Just in general people have a really tough time understanding that their cultural isn't "default".
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Jul 18, 2022 20:31
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I'm talking pure regulatory baseline stuff. The culture is a whole different kettle of fish.
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Jul 18, 2022 20:54
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Just feel like ranting a bit, feel free to ignore this. Big gently caress you to the guy, let's call him Dick, who interviewed me last week, made it clear he didn't want to be there, rushed my interview and told me "you did great, I'm gonna pass on my recommendation, but I'm not a decision maker in this process", and today the hiring manager calls me to tell me that they won't moving on with me because "Dick decided to go with another candidate". Great stuff.
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Jul 18, 2022 21:29
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I just had another interview. I think it went really well. The job seems something that I have a lot of experience with in the past. The only difference just scaling it up from a few multistate physical brick & mortar business to a national digital firm. A matter of scale, but I'm used to such scale from my time at the Big 4. Right after the interview, I wanted to send this email to thank the interviewer. How does this look?\ quote:
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Jul 19, 2022 00:46
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didn't you already tell them all this poo poo in the interview? keep it short and sweet. if I got that wall o text from a candidate the only way it could influence me is negatively.
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Jul 19, 2022 00:52
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:didn't you already tell them all this poo poo in the interview? keep it short and sweet. if I got that wall o text from a candidate the only way it could influence me is negatively. Actually, none of that was brought up in the interview. The interview was set to thirty minutes, but she ended up running long without realizing it. She was surprised we had hit the time limit so quickly. She was in California so she had to get back to her job. We had done some back and forth throughout the interview and I made sure to mention as many things as I could when they became relevant. But, while I did mention experience leading changes in software, we ran short on time and this didn't get brought up. She said it was okay to go a little late because she realized she didn't even get to the part where she asked me questions. So, that gave me 15 minutes, but I didn't get a chance to bring this up. I just asked some questions: "what states do we operate in for taxes?", "what's a typical day like?", etc." But this didn't get brought up and a lot of what she discussed is how things had been difficult since they merged with a European firm and how difficult it had been after my predecessor left unexpectedly. As such, I never got a change to mention my experience with leading during mergers.
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Jul 19, 2022 01:01
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:didn't you already tell them all this poo poo in the interview? keep it short and sweet. if I got that wall o text from a candidate the only way it could influence me is negatively. Extremely agree. Covok, based on your posts I'm convinced you have a serious issue with overcommunicating, especially when nervous or uncertain. You really should do everything you can to address that. Fair or not, she has already made her decision about you--the truth is people mostly make decisions about other people within seconds of meeting them and the impression hardens exponentially with every minute that passes thereafter--and as KYOON said, the only way that big ol' wall o'text can move her evaluation of you now is downward. Your energy is much better spent focusing on the next opportunity. (This is true even if you're convinced you hit it out of the park and an offer is coming soon. Multiple offers are immensely valuable.) dpkg chopra posted:Just feel like ranting a bit, feel free to ignore this. Unfortunately everything in this post except the HM naming Dick and maybe some unprofessionalism on his part is common. 99% likely they knew who they were hiring before they posted the req and your interview was just box checking theater. It sucks but it's poo poo that happens, gotta just forget it and move forward. Eric the Mauve fucked around with this message at 01:17 on Jul 19, 2022 |
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Jul 19, 2022 01:13
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Yeah, 100%, I’m just venting. The HM didn’t seem to happy with the decision so maybe Dick forced her hand and she namedropped him out of spite or something (Dick wasn’t even supposed to be interviewing me originally).
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Jul 19, 2022 02:01
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She might have been letting you know that you dodged a bullet by not having to deal with a shitlord who won't take even the slimmest responsibility for his decisions.
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Jul 19, 2022 02:25
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Alright, I won't send it then.
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Jul 19, 2022 02:34
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Covok posted:Alright, I won't send it then. I mean, you can send a thank you but just make it short and to the point.
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Jul 19, 2022 02:48
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Maybe something like, “Person 1, Person 2, hello! I just wanted to reach out and thank you for your time in today’s interview. You were both very clear and I feel like the role is a really good fit for me. P1, you mentioned that you’re going through some issues with the current merger and I just wanted to mention that in my current role I’ve successfully handled a similar transition so that’s something I feel I could hit the ground running on. Thanks again to both, and have a great week!”
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Jul 19, 2022 03:18
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Yeah if there’s like, a question you don’t feel you handled well and you want to provide information on that, you can do that. But one point only. And it can’t be something you want to bring up, it has to be something they asked that you blew.
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Jul 19, 2022 05:08
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I'm applying to a role at Giant Tech Company for which I'm nominally "over-qualified" and I wonder if this is one of those times that a cover letter might help. The background is that though I'm a US citizen, I lived outside of the US most my life, including graduating college and work experience. Now I'm back in the US because my wife landed a job so I'm trying to take this opportunity to work at a big company, especially in tech, even if it means an entry level job. The reason for this is basically that I love tech and tech issues. My previous work was essentially legal consultancy, which meant I worked by myself most of the time, but I'd often get embedded into corporate teams for specific issues and I had a lot of fun working with other people and felt like I did my best work when I worked within a team where I could give and receive feedback, or access corporate resources to solve problems. In practice this means that I lack the direct corporate experience that more senior roles require, but I would be more than happy to build that up within a company that matches my long-term goals and values. Is conveying this storyline, or some version of it, in a cover letter something that you feel would add value to my application? Or am I just boring the hiring department with irrelevant details?
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Jul 20, 2022 17:23
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If it's a tech company they probably won't care, but if they do accept a cover letter that's a pretty good story. I wouldn't shoe-horn it in conversations or anything though.
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Jul 20, 2022 17:27
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Yeah, this is one of the few that accepts cover letters (though marks it as optional), so I wasn't sure.
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Jul 20, 2022 17:31
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If they accept a cover letter it never hurts, just understand that it will frequently be ignored.
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Jul 20, 2022 17:32
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Update: They reached out to schedule the next series of interviews, so me telling the hiring manager that I had interviewed with her for a similar position before didn't sabotage anything. This is as far as I got last time and AFAIK, the last stage before they either make an offer, or you meet with the hiring manager one more time for a more formal interview. I'm in a weird head space about it though. When I thought they might have remembered me from last time, I was more optimistic about it. Realizing that they didn't, I'm not dejected, but kind of like "okay, cool, whatever." about it. Still gonna give it my best shot in any case.
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Jul 20, 2022 18:59
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Handsome Ralph posted:Update: They reached out to schedule the next series of interviews, so me telling the hiring manager that I had interviewed with her for a similar position before didn't sabotage anything. This is as far as I got last time and AFAIK, the last stage before they either make an offer, or you meet with the hiring manager one more time for a more formal interview. Like I said, they interview way more than you do, so really don't take offense. I would treat this as just another opportunity
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Jul 20, 2022 19:05
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Lockback posted:Like I said, they interview way more than you do, so really don't take offense. I would treat this as just another opportunity Oh for sure, I'm not offended by it at all cause I've been in that boat myself. It was more "Aw gently caress, I thought they remembered me and that's why I got another shot" and realizing they didn't is more my own disappointment than anything else. Still, a second chance is a second chance. Still gonna show up to the interview prepared to own it.
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Jul 20, 2022 19:28
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Handsome Ralph posted:When I thought they might have remembered me from last time, I was more optimistic about it. Realizing that they didn't, I'm not dejected, but kind of like "okay, cool, whatever." about it. Still gonna give it my best shot in any case. Imagine you were the most popular dude on Tinder in your city and loved going on dates. You go on dates very frequently for 5 years, occasionally pausing to date someone exclusively for a few months. Do you remember the person you want on one date with 9 months ago? Probably not unless it was very bad or very good. Its rare for interviews to be very good, rarer than dates.
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Jul 20, 2022 22:00
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I just worked with a recruiter to get the strangest job interview of my life. Here is what happened. The interview itself was pretty short. Basic questions on job history, a job application filled out by hand, two references from my previous employers. Easy. I asked a few questions and then I was taken to HR. There, HR had me take a skills test. For reference, I am an accountant with 5 years experience and Big 4 experience. They had me do a 3rd grade math and spelling test without a calculator while someone watched. It was surreal. Like, I've had taken tests in interviews before, but they're usually verbal concept questions. Like, "how do you depreciate a rental property," not "what is 22.40 x 5." I did it. Then I had to do a basic excel exercise and a typing test. No idea if 69 words per minute with no spelling errors is good or not. Usually, accountants are more focused on being right, not fast. Also, another weird thing, I kind of got my recruiter to spill the beans on exactly what salary he offered me at. Looks like he split the difference on my range. That's fine. It's only 2k less than the maximum I asked for so I am fine with a 49% raise from my current salary. I gave exactly that figure at the interview when they asked. The recruiter said he already told them, but it seemed like just took a massive poo poo in the middle of the room when I said it. I told the recruiter that in less colorful language and he was confused too. My salary was 10k more than what they were looking for so he though that might have been an issue, but he already told them that was my offer and they agreed to interview me under that context. I said maybe I read the room wrong, but they all got quiet and looked kind of sullen, like I had something wrong, you ever get the feeling? And he was like "well, if they didn't read my e-mail, that's on them, but we should know by Monday or Tuesday if they are moving forward." Covok fucked around with this message at 18:36 on Jul 22, 2022 |
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Jul 22, 2022 18:28
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Covok posted:No idea if 69 words per minute with no spelling errors is good or not. I've had a typing test before, but that was back when I was fresh out of college and looking at phone monkey work. They accused me of cheating and made me do it again while someone watched because they'd never thought that advertising for "gamers" would result in someone who knew how to use a keyboard showing up. I really should have taken that as my first warning sign and noped out.
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Jul 22, 2022 18:45
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