[GER] [GER] Job application help

[Enjo]

Could somebody give me a hand? My wife needs to write a sentence in German along these lines:

I'd like to work full time, but it would be also possible to start as half-time

TA

 

[Urwumpe]

I wouldn't explicitly mention it in the application, but leave this to the job interview.

Otherwise, you could write "Ich kann es mir auch vorstellen, als Teilzeitkraft anzufangen." (I can also imagine starting as part time employee), implicitly looking for a full-time job or "Ich wäre bereit als Teilzeitkraft anzufangen, aber suche mittelfristig eine Vollzeiteinstellung." (I could start as part time employee, but look for a full-time employment in the near future)

Don't make the error to go by priorities and write it like you posted, with the full time before the "but". Everything before the "but" is erased by it and you essentially just said that its fine for you working part-time, without the desire for a full-time employment. If you swap both options, you erase the part-time job part from the message and focus on the full-time employment.

Still, I recommend the interview for that. I am not sure if this is different in other countries (Germany usually is pretty special as I have heard in terms of job culture).

Maybe your wife doesn't know if the employer even wants a part-time worker at all or would not like her to start part-time (but rather allow her to reduce her work load after the company had the chance to see who she actually is). The interview is a two-way communication: She presents herself to the employer and the employer presents itself to her. It is the best part in the job application to find out what the employer really wants.

All the paperwork called job application has just one purpose: Let the HRD get interested in reading more after the first five lines and make the HRD feel like you are a great candidate after reading the rest and invite you to the job interview. As long as you didn't have to lie too much there, it is fine.

But the really deciding part is the job interview.

 

[Enjo]

Thanks for the detailed reply.
In this case the truth is that we were instructed to state this implicitly by our contact person. The part time employment serves as a form of probation period for the company.

 

[Urwumpe]

Thanks for the detailed reply.
In this case the truth is that we were instructed to state this implicitly by our contact person. The part time employment serves as a form of probation period for the company.

Well, then it is no problem to write exactly that in the latter parts of the application - that a contact person remarked that part-time employments are common and that those are no problem for her. It is NEVER bad to tell that you already know somebody from the company.

 

[Enjo]

Yes, practice also taught me that. It's funny how this opens closed doors.
Here it is official - the contact person has given us standard recommendation forms with his personal details and signature. We attached them to the job application. It should be a formality.

 

[Urwumpe]

Yes, practice also taught me that. It's funny how this opens closed doors.

Normal in Germany. We call this "Vitamin B" (B as "Beziehung"/relationship).

Who you are related with is very often more important in Germany, than who you are and what you are capable of. It is not bad if it is a professional relationship, like knowing other employees or having already cooperated with the company.

It is very bad if this extends to the education system - being son of academics increases not only the chance of getting good grades in school and get recommended for an university career, but it also increases the chances of getting a good exam at university later - even if you performed much worse than a non-academic student. Or if somebody becomes CEO only because he is related to his predecessor.

 

[Enjo]

Normal in Germany. We call this "Vitamin B" (B as "Beziehung"/relationship).

Yeah, I know. And it's not really so unique to Germany. Actually I find it generally easier to get into the job market here than in Poland. And I base my observations not only on IT sector, but from my wife's perspective, who is a secretary / marketing person. We don't have any relationship based Vitamin B - only professional - gained by hard work, and this alone helped us in reaching a level we'd never dream of in Poland.