GERMANY

Daniela Lemmermann,
Agathe Okumura (Univ. of Hamburg)

A lot of college students are thinking about working abroad after their graduation. Because of its save pension scheme and its intact social- and health system, a rather attractive country is Germany.

But how can one find a job in Germany?

    The first and probably the most important step is to determine one’s aims and abilities. People who are still uncertain about that can obtain a lot of information on various jobs and positions at www.arbeitsagentur.de, which is the offical homepage of the Bundesagentur für Arbeit (BfA, the German employment bureau). There, one can also receive career advice from counseling service.
    Furthermore, a lot of companies prefer applicants who have already had some working experience through internships.
As soon as one has found the job of one’s dreams, one may choose to apply via an unsolicited application, but that would not lead to success in most cases. The common way is to apply by responding to an offer of employment. Such offers are to be found e.g. at the homepages of the companies themselves, at the BfA, or in local newspapers.
    Found an interesting offer, now what shall I do?

The Application Procedure

Step 1: The written application

In case of the written application, there are strict policies. One has to collect and submit a whole set of application papers (written application, curriculum vitae, a copy of the last graduation certificate, certificates of internships, etc.), flawless and tidy in a special application folder. This folder has to be sent in time to the correct receiver. If one doesn’t know who is the correct receiver, it’s recommended to call the company or to go there and ask for the name of the person in charge. By doing so, one shows interest, which is always warmly welcomed in Germany.

Step 2: The job interview

    If the written application was a success, one is usually invited to have an interview. From now on, it will get even more complicated. What shall I wear? In Germany, it is not obligatory to wear a black suit. However, the dress matters of course, and it is better to wear clothes that are not only tidy and respectable, but also that make the applicant feel comfortable. It is recommended to choose clothes, which fit into the dresscode of the company in question. Keeping all of the above in mind, one should also never hide one’s personality.

    Dressed up? Here we go! Following the motto “Better too early, than too late,” one should absolutely and at all costs make sure one is not late. Usually, Germans are too early rather than too late!
        During the interview, one has to prove one’s abilities and sell oneself in the best way possible. It is very important to show that the decision to apply for the job at that company was company was made consciously and that one will be an essential gain for the company’s good. Typical questions at a job interview are:

    Why did you decide to apply for this very job?

    Why of all things do you want to work for our company?

    What interests and abilities do you have that are important for this position?

    In the case that one could convince the company during the interview, one receives an employment contract. With this contract, one can apply for a residence title for specific purposes, which is a kind of visa that allows one to live in Germany if one is employed, at the aliens department in charge.

    Viel Glück! Good luck!

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U. S. A.

Yui Kajita (Faculty of Letters)
Elena Kirillova (Colby College)

Fitting for the country of “freedom” and “individuality,” job-hunting in the United States is a rather individualized process, largely depending on one’s experiences, abilities, and self-assertion. I talked to a few people who have seen a bit of both sides of the story – an undergraduate and a graduate student, and an employer – in order to gain a more hands-on view of job searching in the US.

    Even though the actual application for jobs begins after graduation for most university students, the preparation beforehand often goes back as early as high school. In the US, high school students are encouraged to excel both in academic and extracurricular activities such as athletics, arts, or volunteering. They are required to do certain hours of “community service” in order to graduate; and to be accepted into a “good” university, they must have something to show for their years spent in high school other than simple grades. Thus the “extra” part of their schooling is emphasized because it becomes useful when applying for work. All of these experiences can be harnessed into the students’ future jobs, as well as help students make a strong résumé. Actual experience and abilities are prioritized attributes when applying for a job, in deciding what position is suitable whether in the perspective of oneself or one’s prospective employer.

    After high school, one place where students can begin the job hunt is the careers service in their college. In many universities, the career center does a big job. They have tutors who are available to help students write their résumé; they perform mock interviews and organize various workshops – preparing students to fight any and all battles on the path of pursuing their careers. The most helpful part of the career center is the substantial network built by the university with various companies and college alumni. By notifying the career center, alumni often inform their alma mater about openings at their companies. In the same way, companies contact the career service directly, seeking future employees in excelling students. Firms reach out by sending representatives to campuses to perform interviews right on the spot. The careers service often gives many opportunities to job-seeking students.
    Another indispensable step in job-hunting are internships. In general, American companies invite university students for internships in the summer of their junior year (although it may differ). Depending on the student’s performance over that time, the company might offer a position to the student at the end of the summer so that he or she can return to the company in a year. The value of getting such an internship goes to quite an extent. Some statistical data show that if one does not do an internship after junior year, by the time he or she graduates, all the “goods spots” will be taken by those who have completed internships and received offers from their companies. Since internships are an excellent way to gain practical knowledge, experience, contacts, and much more that is crucial to job hunting, the earlier it is done the better. Before then, especially in the freshman year, summer is spent rather on discovering one’s interests – students often participate in volunteering projects, such as building homes in India. In terms of job hunting, this gives variety to one’s experiences and show potential employers that one can work hard in situations outside the office as well.
    After deciding on what industry or firm suits one’s own characteristics (though in many cases students are lead to try their luck at any job they can reach because of the on-going difficulties in the economy), the application process begins. Many undergraduate students begin applying for jobs in the winter before their graduation. (For students with a post-graduate degree, the summer after graduation is the season to do so.) It is crucial for job-hunters to be “pushy” and take the initiative – in other words, not only send e-mails, but also make calls or visit offices directly. Large firms often hire another entity especially for organizing the application forms – separating them into piles of ones that the firm they are meant for would see and another it would not. Therefore, getting in touch with the people who actually work inside the firm – someone who can make decisions about hiring new employees – increases the chances of one’s application being considered. This can be done through one’s contacts, or attempting direct communication with the company, for example by calling the office and asking for an email address of someone of authority in the firm. Building contacts is generally considered to be an essential part of job-hunting.

    One issue for “foreigners” to keep in mind when planning to work in the US is the challenge of getting a worker’s visa. Especially in recent years - ever since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 – the US has made their border regulations more severe than before. Even overseas students who have done a full university degree in the US but are not a US citizen find it difficult to obtain a visa that would allow them to be a permanent worker in the country. The best chance a non-citizen has in acquiring the necessary documents is for the company looking to hire the person to arrange it for him or her. However, this is likely to happen only when the person (and their abilities and experience) is a particularly useful asset to the company. Therefore, it can be concluded that before the gap in culture and language, there is a formidable wall of such regulations in the way of overseas job seekers. Whether or not to take that risk is up to one’s choice – there still may be something that is strangely alluring about the “American dream,” however changed it may be.

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U. K.

Yui Kajita (Faculty of Letters)

    Like most other countries in the world, there is no simultaneous recruiting of new graduates in the U.K. Even though some stages of the job hunting process are comparable to the Japanese ‘shu-katsu’, its major characteristic – that it is a mass movement, in which the majority of students begin trying to receive promises of employment in the same period, over a year before they graduate – is not felt as much in the U.K. Job hunting in the U.K. has a less rigid structure for several reasons, including these – because (1) the number of years one spends in university varies according to the degree; (2) both the rise in university tuition fees throughout the country starting 2012 (which has resulted in a significant drop in the number of university applicants) and the high rate of unemployment especially of youths under 25, even for graduates of higher education, have lead more students to consider options besides moving up to university, carefully analysing whether or not their degree (and what’s more, going into debt for their degree) will actually be ‘worth it’ when it comes to finding a job; and (3) job searching methods are often diverse.
    There are many ways to go about looking for jobs. For graduates and non-graduates alike, there are careers fairs, where job seekers can obtain information about industries and companies, expand their network, and hone their interviewing skills. There are many websites specifically for seeking jobs in the UK and abroad, such as the government’s ‘Job Search.’ In addition, one can find many articles and videos online, such as those on the BBC website, that gives constructive advice on how to land that elusive job: tips on writing an honest but effective Curriculum Vitae, dressing well to give a good first impression to prospective employers, and – perhaps most importantly – shining in interviews. Job hunters are encouraged to try various tactics according to the type of industry they are seeking to enter. (For instance, applying for work in the public sector means more standard procedures one must follow, whereas going for a placement in the media industry calls for much more networking and grabbing opportunities.) It seems that much of job hunting is done on an individual level.

    For university graduates, there is usually a careers service in each university that offers numerous kinds of information and support. Sometimes a talk or dinner with a professional is arranged in the university, providing students with the opportunity to build connections or acquire first-hand information about a certain career. According to their career interests, many students apply for internships – either paid or unpaid – or participate in volunteering programmes during vacations as early on as in their first year, or even after graduation before getting an actual job. There are also graduate schemes, which are usually run by large organisations in both the private and public sector, hiring many graduates in the autumn of their graduating year as full-time permanent workers, in which the first eighteen months to two years of their employment is a structured training programme. Especially in the last decade, many graduates have found it increasingly difficult to acquire full-time jobs that are suitable for their abilities, and oftentimes, the job searching they begin after graduation turns out to be a long struggle.
    For those who turn away from university, there are alternative options such as entering into government- or corporate-run school-leavers’ job training programmes, doing a paid internship or apprenticeship at a company, establishing one’s own business, et cetera. The idea of choosing a different path from university seems to be spreading and having a greater appeal in more recent years, since more education does not necessarily mean a better position, or even a better chance at acquiring a job.
    Both for graduates and non-graduates, job-hunting in the UK is as daunting a prospect as it is in Japan, especially with the country’s economic recession. It is hoped that the (supposedly temporary) boost from the London Olympics in the summer of 2012 will turn the UK’s economy in a better direction.

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SPAIN

A special essay by Alvaro Martinez (B.A. in Economics)

How the Economic Crisis Affects the Spanish People
    In 2008, the economic situation in Spain was knocked by the markets. It was a punishment caused by the really bad use of the investments in Spain.
    Until 2007, Spain was living in a dream, which was only an economic illusion. Many people spent a lot of money on new houses, expensive cars, and luxury goods that they did not need. Banks gave people huge amounts of money, and most of those people spent all the money without any worries about how to return the money to the banks.
    However, the main problem was that the Spanish economy was based in the construction sector, which would have been good if it was a country about to develop, but not for a developed country such as Spain. Accordingly, many companies started to invest a lot of money in buildings, states, et cetera with money that they borrowed from the banks. Despite the situation becoming worse than before, they continued with the same idea; and that is why everything fails. There were more houses than people who were looking to buy a new house, which means supply excess. Obviously, if there is a supply excess in housing, prices fall down; and like a “domino’s effect”, the companies have less income, which results in many workers being fired, as well as many companies closing down.
    In this way, the situation was depressing; many workers from the main Spanish sector were fired. The companies that had been borrowing money from the banks started to fail with the payments, and the banks decided not to lend the money to customers as easily as they had been accustomed to do. Higher interest rates, unemployment, closing companies… Spanish economy was living one of the worst situations of its history. The people, who were afraid to spend money, decided to decrease their consumption – as a result, other sectors of the economy started to get worse.
    Another problem for the Spanish economy was the state’s corruption. There are too many politicians in Spain. The last government tried to hide what was happening in the country, which had really bad consequences on the nation.
    After all that had passed, the new Spanish government decided to invest less money in essentials like education or researching instead of using tax policies. Protests to this are more and more frequent in Spain, and many people show their opinions on the streets. The last measure, which was to increase the V.A.T. (value added tax), was controversial and many protests against it have been rising. These protests are supported by many people, the majority of which are young people who are suffering from the crisis more than anybody else.

What is happening with the young people? Are they affected the most by the crisis?

    The government has reduced the investment in education. However, the young people are worried about their futures.
    There are no jobs for them, but the problem is that most of them have a bachelor’s or master’s degree, or have done high qualification studies. The bad situation in Spain encouraged them to leave the country. It’s a shame, for it is likely that most of them are leaving their families, friends, and life, just looking for a new opportunity far from home.
    That was what happened to me. My name is Alvaro, and I’m a 27-year-old Spanish guy. I had been working in Spain in a business school for the last 2 years. I had a good job, but it was not the one I desired – which was one of the reasons that pushed me to come to Ireland. I knew the situation in Ireland was not the best for somebody who wanted to start a new life, but at least, I could improve my language skills learning English.
    When I decided to come to Ireland, I thought about the advantages and disadvantages; once I realised that there were more pros than cons, I moved to Cork. However, I was leaving my family, my friends, and home.
    I had two challenges: one of them was to pass the FCE exam for Cambridge, which improves my CV and could be helpful to find a job. The second was to find a job. Obviously, both challenges were not easy, but everything was in my hands. If I wanted to pass the exam, I had to study hard. If I wanted to find a job, I had to apply as much as I can and wait for a chance to arrange an interview.
I surpassed my first challenge on July, passing the FCE exam. That was great, and I was really happy with this achievement. It was not easy to pass the exam because it consisted of different exams, such as speaking, listening, writing and reading.
    Once I knew about my achievement, I started looking for a job. At the beginning I applied for IT Companies, which were the most common in Cork. A month later, I received a call from EMC². Surprisingly, they were looking for a person to work in the financial department, which was suitable for me. Suddenly, the same day I arranged the interview with EMC² , a friend of mine called me and told me about a job position at Deustche Bank as an analyst. I was really interested in this position and the only problem was that I have to move to Dublin. I had the interview on Friday, which was more complicated than I had expected. I did two ability tests, such as comprehension and maths. After the tests, an interview was waiting for me.
   It was a long day, which started at 7 in the morning when I woke up to take the bus from Cork to Dublin, and finished at 8 pm when I came back. However, sometimes it happens that you have to fight for your dreams. It does not matter how hard one day is, or how long it takes to find a job. Next Monday morning, I received a call from Deustche Bank. I got the job, and I will start work on the 20th of August. I was over the moon – an expression that English people use to mean that they are really happy. I found what I had been looking for for a long time: happiness. Of course, it was not because of the job – I was happy because I overcame my challenges.
    I would like to finish by telling you something that could be interesting for you:

“Life is a challenge, you have the choice, take it or leave it”