Back in the Game, part 2

In my last post I talked about the smoothly running recruitment machine that led me to my current job. That’s not to say there weren’t some differences to navigate along the way:

Contract

The last time I signed a contract that wasn’t for a publisher, I was a freelancer doing work for the government. (I guess you could *almost* count signing an offer letter in the U.S. as a contract, but not like this).

My work contract was a multi-paged full-fledged agreement between two parties. And I’m not a contract worker or part-time employee or special expat case. This is just the way it’s done here. 

I signed an online version once the offer was made, then went into the office a couple of days later to sign a paper version and receive my own copy.

Health care and getting a SSN

Speaking of paper, before I started, HR sent me a list of things to bring the first day. The usual ID, proof of this and that, etc. Of course they wanted hard-copy versions, and my home scanner/printer/copier had suddenly stopped working. So I loaded the documents I had onto a thumb drive (with Google as a backup) and made my way to a self-service copy shop.

Unfortunately, the drive I had (an oddly shaped branded item from a previous employer) did not fit into the USB drive of the ancient tower computers at the copy shop. I was just starting to navigate their equally archaic system to get online and access my Google drive when one of the younger employees pointed me to the back room of the shop, where there were newer machines that would work.

With that problem tackled, one big one remained. Tax ID number and social security number were two separate items on the list. I had the former, and, as an American, had assumed it would be the same as the latter. Turns out it’s not, and it got more complicated. 

When I called my HR rep to clarify, I found out I needed to be assigned a SSN because this was my first employment in Germany. And oddly enough (to me), it was handled through my insurance. 

Because I needed the information ASAP, I bypassed the email option and steeled myself to call my insurance to ask them to send proof of coverage and information for my SSN. In theory they had a helpline in English, but I couldn't find the option so I forged ahead in German.

Another wrinkle: Because I was now employed, I would no longer be covered under Larry’s insurance and would need separate coverage. Ugh. I had looked up the new words I'd need to discuss my proof of insurance and tax ID needs, but not this.

A couple of phone transfers and awkward explanations later, that was finally worked out and I had confirmation that they would send proof of coverage and my newly issued SSN directly to my employer. (And they did. But did not send copies to me. Sigh.)

Probeszeit.

This is your probation period. Standard is six months, no matter your job or seniority level. Within this time period either you or the company can part from each other with two weeks’ notice. After this period, either of you must give a minimum three months’ notice.

As you can see from this photographer's proof,
I had important bridesmaid duties to perform!

I knew about Probeszeit in advance. So, even though it was frowned upon to take vacation during this time, I made it clear from my first interview that I would be traveling back to California at the end of April to participate in a wedding.

At that point I'd been there for a month-and-a-half, so just enough time to be getting some bearings and starting on my first big solo project. 

In that small window of time off, however, I went from easing myself in and learning the ropes, to coming back and running full tilt in multiple directions.

Office etiquette

Social security number aside, I had done some research before jumping back into the working fray. And by that, I mean scanning articles and blogs about the etiquette in German workplaces.

Weeks later, when I mentioned my prep work to one of my colleagues, she was surprised and appreciative. Them she asked the question to which I had immediately discerned an answer: “Did it help?”

No.

My teammates created a spirit animal wall to represent 
everyone in our department. The wall is between
our offices and across from the largest conference
room on our floor. As one translator 
friend noted, "that's not very German."

Ok, to be fair, it helped in one regard. In the U.S., when you knock on someone’s office door you usually wait for them to say “come in,” before you enter. 

In most cases here, you knock and then you immediately enter. It took some adjustment, but I started getting used to it from both sides.

(Although sometimes people just open our office door and come in without knocking. Still not adjusted to that.)

But in many other ways the world outlined in my readings was not the world of my particular workplace. 

True, it’s a startup and I expected there would be less formality than in traditional German offices.

But the dress turned out to be a mix of business casual and casual, and the approach to many things was very much like the Wild West Silicon Valley startups I had known, combined with a puzzling randomness of German bureaucracy. 

On the plus side, I had mentally prepared myself for the very direct manner of German communication in regard to feedback, but found there was a lot more diplomacy and sensitivity than I expected. 

(With the exception of one phone conversation I overheard which would have been cause for a management intervention in the U.S., but seemed to leave the caller on the other end unfazed).

I wasn’t sure if it was my age, past experiences or outdated data I had been reading. But in those first few weeks--language aside--I was feeling more “German” in my office than the Germans who worked there...

Back in the Game, part 1

It started innocently enough. 

Realizing that I was nearing the end of my greater Munich area sightseeing list, and that we would be staying for at least another year or two, it seemed like a good idea to look for something to do outside the house.

My team, minus our web developer

I’d casually looked before, including volunteer positions where I could help out with presumably less language pressure than in an everyday office environment. 

But postings with refugee organizations were surprisingly scarce and a local animal rescue group only needed volunteers who had a car.

So after several months I updated my LinkedIn profile and turned on the job search function, not expecting much. Within a few days, however, I’d been contacted by several recruiters. 

The messages in German I replied to with a “thanks, but not qualified” note. Another offered a job in English but required German skills beyond my basic functioning.

Then there was Celonis. A German software start-up offering a job writing in English, in an English-speaking office. Intriguing.

I contacted the recruiter late on a Friday and she responded over the weekend. We talked at the beginning of the week then two days later I went to their office for an in-person interview with the recruiter and my boss-to-be, the head of creative marketing.

I completed an at-home writing challenge, a week after that had an interview with the company’s newly hired CMO, then a couple of days later I was signing a contract. That was a Friday, and I started working the following Thursday.

Despite the whirlwind nature of it all, the recruitment and orientation proceeded smoothly, and I was thrilled at the prospect of being on a creative team again.

This whole returning to work thing was going to be easy, I thought...