Before I moved to Munich I worked in a public sector educational body. The civil service at home, and indeed around the globe, is thought of as somewhere you will not work too hard yet be pretty much guaranteed a job for life. Along with this you have the perks of flexi-time, all public holidays, a subsidised canteen and the benefits that are associated with a paranoid health and safety regime - much to the disgust of my private sector peers ("No I can't go sledging at 1:45 today because unlike yours, my building has not been closed due to snow")! I enjoyed my time there and made some good friends, but when I moved to Munich, I was prepared for and excited by the prospect of a new challenge. I knew it wouldn't be easy finding a job, but I certainly didn't think it would be this hard.
The first thing that struck me in my job search in Munich was the very different approach to CV's. I see this difference as being embedded within our respective psyches. Let me explain.
Despite the history and culture of hatred and divide in Northern Ireland that the world is aware of, paradoxically, we see ourselves, on a people level, as being personable, warm, honest and modest. I say modest, but often this verges on apologetic when presenting success. Be it the achievement of personal goals or indeed a successful venture, it does not come naturally to us to 'big ourselves up'. Of course there are exceptions in our generation of the "apprentice type" who, no doubt, could sell snow to Eskimos or for whom making money is better than sex. Unfortunately, from the outside looking in, these people...no sorry....these "brands" come across as completely delusional. We have plenty of success stories in Northern Ireland but those who have actually done it, rather than just talked about doing it tend to remain humble, usually in line with their beginnings. We as a people like to chat, we set the scene with peripheral information in the way we communicate and this comes across in our approach to selling ourselves.
As a result, standard templates of our CV's usually start with an introductory 'personal' paragraph. This usually includes information about your current status that is honest to the point of irrelevance and often detriment. I will give an example of this. I moved to Munich when a wonderful opportunity arose for my better half to pursue her academic career. My opening statement in my CV was something along the lines of "I recently relocated to Munich with my girlfriend and am currently seeking employment". I began applying for jobs while still in Ireland to no avail. Every day I would see another mail at the top of my inbox with the words "thank you for your interest in our company". I wouldn't even need to open them. On a particularly bad day I decided to reply to one such message asking where I fell short and for some feedback for my application. A reply came - from someone who I could only assume had had an equally bad day - with the opening line "I was looking for criteria that you did not meet. I wouldn't dream of employing you in this role". Direct, I thought, but at least they had taken the time to give me some CV pointers. They went on to point out flaws with the most pressing being "This information about your girlfriend is irrelevant and only makes me think that you are not a viable long term prospect. What if you and your girlfriend split up? We would lose you too". She then went on to say "having taught guitar and the fact that you like surfing and travelling is really of little interest to me. Also your CV should have a photo".
I had mixed feelings about these comments. There are accepted international conventions for documents such as these and no one is right or wrong, they are simply different. I accept this. I also took on board the point about my girlfriend and removed this opening paragraph altogether. This was valid and made sense. As I began to understand exactly what employers here wanted to see on a CV, I began to trim the fat on mine to leave just the meat and bones. As it evolved, on the basis of more feedback and research, I then began to eat the meat until just the bare bones were left. It is a much more precise document and efficient use of space - in line with German thinking. However, I can't help but feel it lacks any personal information or clues as to what sort of person I may be. I do not agree that information about hobbies is not of interest. To me, there is contextual information in such statements that provide a window into your personality. If you have taught guitar to classes of 5 year olds and 60 year olds surely this suggests confidence, extroversion and demonstrates the ability to communicate with people of all ages. Being the captain of a rugby team must suggest some leadership if not organisational skills and a love of travelling shows, a willingness to take on new challenges and fearlessness about immersing yourself in new cultures. But that's just me.
Lastly, there was the photo. Again, this is a question of convention, but more likely as a result of the reasons above, we, in Ireland/UK do not tend to include photos on our CVs. It is considered quite 'naff' to do this and doesn't strike me as being completely in line with objective selection. However, in Germany, it seems important. There are threads on online forums offering advice as to just how these should be taken: black and white or colour? Isometric or head on? What do I wear? I selected a black and white, head shot in which I'm smiling that my friend (a professional photographer) caught unbeknownst to me. To me, I look friendly. However, I was recently told that I should not be smiling. This was neither valid nor made any sense. I will not whittle this document that is supposed to encompass the qualities that make me employable, down to the point that I even strip the smile from my face. I draw the line at mug shots and will take my chances of encountering a potential employer that will use this as a distinguishing factor.
