I've recently hit the most "adult" part of my time here in Germany: finding an internship. My study abroad program dictates that I study the first semester and work the second semester. As the first semester here recently came to an end, I've found myself facing the next part of my journey abroad. But it was not an easy path to the internship that I finally found; it required lots of help and support from my newfound friends.
The first steps were to turn my American materials into German. This took more than merely translating though, due to major differences in formatting. My resume (or "Lebenslauf") became much more spaced out. In America I've been taught that the rule of thumb is to keep it down to one page so everything ends up being squished, but Germany has no such rules on length, although they do recommend a professional photo. The rest of the information is relatively similar, although I wrote all of my proficiencies for my skills and included an "Interessen" section for my interests. The only other significant difference is the bottom of the Lebenslauf, where I have the location, the date, and a digital signature. Luckily, our school provided a workshop to help us with this process of conversion, and there are lots of sample templates online. The hardest part was writing my German cover letter. I already find it a stressful task to write professionally in English, when such stakes are at hand. However difficult it is to write it in your native tongue, it's practically impossible to do it alone in a foreign language at an intermediate level. Luckily, I had lots of wonderful floormates willing to lend an ear and help with my phrasing. After weeks of stressing, I finally ended up with a good one. The rest of the job process is pretty similar: I had to go through several generic job sites searching for nearby internship opportunities in my field of "Informatik". Even in this respect, one of my good friends helped me out by finding a couple of good options to apply to. I applied to several positions, and waited. At last, I got invited to an interview! I wasn't sure at first if it would be in German or English. As it turned out, they asked which one I preferred to interview in, and I requested to start in German and we could always switch into English if necessary. For the majority of the time, however, it was not necessary to switch. I actually believe I was more comfortable interviewing in German than in English. It went well, and within the day I had a job offer. I ended up interviewing at a second place also, which went similarly well. The interviewers were very understanding of my German skills and willing to work with them. They really made the process significantly less intimidating than it could have been. So far I've been at my internship for 2 months already. I've gotten to learn various skills for my major and had the opportunity to work with multiple interesting products and platforms. The atmosphere is definitely more relaxed than I had expected initially. There are so many stereotypes about the German workplace, but at least with my company, the dress code is casual, meetings might start a couple of minutes late, and importantly, everyone is very kind and friendly. I've already gotten used to their use of Swäbisch (the local dialect) and I've been picking up on some cultural things, such as how between the hours of about 11am and 3pm everyone is greeted by "Mahlzeit" which means "mealtime". Somehow the process of finding an internship here seems easier than back home. Perhaps it's just the different language or a different mindset, but either way I'm glad it worked so smoothly. Life as a member of the workforce is definitely different from student life, but I'm slowly becoming accustomed to it. I think the hardest part is making sure I get to bed at a reasonable hour every day, even when friends might still be hanging out because they have no early classes the next day. But overall it is a good experience so far!
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AuthorJust a girl trying to get by in Germany for a year and having adventures along the way! Archives
April 2017
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