A familiar view

 

I took this picture when the ICE back from Stuttgart was passing exactly in front of my former apartment in Mannheim. Nothing special about the picture, but I just found it interesting to be suddenly in one of the trains that would bother me for months with their screetching noises...
BTW, the building to the left is a DHL building.

And thanks to Facebook updates...

I met these three wonderful girls for 20 minutes while changing train connections in Mannheim, tha was great! And this is maybe my favourite Mannheim photo ever! Don't you agree?

After the Delloite Minis...

I present you the PWC Minis!

At least they have Cooper in their name...

Added-value Graffiti

Comments and suggestions for your job search strategy

I just answered a questionnaire by the Mannheim Business School on my job search. In the end, they asked to highlight what we thought was important and add other points. I added a few.

These are the points that the school suggested which I think are important:

• Career fairs
  
• Contacts to professors or to external people that came to our lecture
  
• Online career services
  
• Analyzing and focusing on capabilities and experience
  
• Career services by partner schools
  

There is no order of preference in the list above, nor in the list below, where I went on writing down what I thought was useful for my search.

• Apply to companies which are not on the top of your list first
  
• www.monster.de
  
• EBS Symposium
  
• Konaktiva Darmstadt
  
• www.access.de
  
• Send a big number of applications, but keep them relevant.
  
• Evaluate clearly what is important to you: salary, function, industry, location, work-life balance, company culture, ethics and reputation. There isn’t only McKinsey with fat bonus.
  
• Keep track of your expenses and follow up on interviews.
  
• Share jobs with your colleagues; they will send you good jobs back.
  
• When talking to companies at fair boths, go in pairs for a general Q&A session, than come back with focused questions alone.
  
• When talking to a company, try to have a specific position you want to apply to in mind. Germans like to see focus and confidence.
  
• Rewrite CVs and cover letters constantly, ask others for feedback and keep good version control. Expect to dedicate several hours a week for this task.
  
• Install a PDF printer driver to convert your documents. Send only PDF files to recruiters.
• Consider going back to your country of origin as a very concrete option.
  
• Be prepared by the fact that the MBA is still a big unknown in Germany.
  
• Learn as much German as you can.
  
• Use your master thesis project to interview high ranked executives in companies you plan to apply for. It is easier than you think, you learn a lot, you train for a real job interview and you get valuable contacts.
  
• Don’t expect too much from the semesters abroad in regards to job search. The timing is not right. Use the career services to refine your application documents and goals.
  
• Get as many reference letters as you can from past employers or professors as soon as possible. In Germany, every line of a CV has to be confirmed by an official document.
  
• Use Xing.com. In Germany, it is more important than LinkedIn, even if it has a horrible name.
  
• Use LinkedIn. Get recommendations from contacts.
  
• Blog and Twitter about relevant aspects of your MBA. I got a job lead through twitter.
  
• Let your colleagues know which kind of job you are looking for: industry, function, location.
  
• Get your GMAT book out and do some math exercises. Good preparation for consulting interviews.
  
• Look for MBA specific positions. In that way, you avoid being compared to 24 year old undergrads fresh out of college.
  
• Don’t ignore positions for 24 year old undergrads fresh out of college.
  

Strike on Monday

From www.xpats.com:

SOCIAL - Unions call for Monday strike
BRUSSELS - The country's three leading trade unions have called for a general strike on Monday to bring pressure on public authorities and employers over the cost of living. Public transport and services, schools and retailing are likely to be the most affected. The VBO/FEB employers association has called the strike irresponsible in the present economic climate while the government will be spending the weekend reajusting the state's budget, taking an expected 7 billion euro shortfall into consideration. Meanwhile, luggage handlers at Brussels Airport are on strike today over work conditions and low pay. (Source:xpats.com)

I still don't know how I am supposed to come to work. But where there is a will, there is a way.