Subject: Info: CV/Resume Order: How Not To Compete For Work In Germany.
From: CV@
Sender: CV@

		I append http://www.berklix.com/~jhs/std/resume_order.txt

I used to hear a lot of bad advice:
mostly from clueless Germans not in the computer industry, who for some reason
used to think just cos they were German, & we were in Germany, they somehow
should know more than me. Duff advice like:
"Comply with German expectations: List your resume chronologically !"
That's Bad Advice for technologists, such as experienced
freelance computer consultants, for whom the last job & skill is
most important & should list on front page in reverse order.

Even though Germany is an old fashioned country compared with Britain
& USA, eventually they get with it, just it sometimes takes decadess.
Apparently it's now finaly considered "acceptable" to list in reverse
chronology, just as the returnable plastic bound CVs {"Mappe" are
finaly dieing out too, ('cos some German employers can't be bothered
returning them, who wants it dog eared, & frankly, the average
person has a PC now).

Suspect other bad ill thought out advice from those who may
advise the reflex adoption of the standard German employee resume
chronological listing method, inappropriate to us.
 
Locals often fail to "think outside the box" or fail to have objective
outlook.  Some foreigners are gullible too & fall for bad advice
to conform, but ask yourself: Advisers may mean well, but are they
competent to advise ? or blinkered ?

  While America & Britain & China & India etc are growing economically,
  Germany is an over regulated, low birth, ageing nation, with what
  in ~ 2004/5 had still been a many year moribund economy,
  strike burdened, run by incompetent politicians who've spent 15+
  years since the post `wall down' artificial boom, never learning
  "It's the economy, Stupid!", who obsessed on how to shuffle taxes
  & social `benefits', rather than liberalising the economy, to
  remove over regulation, & trigger growth.

  For many years it was no longer even a sensible business cost
  effective decision to Come to Germany (once was mid 80's, but not
  after), let alone `invest' working time learning the language of
  what was a dormant economy.  (Freelancers see peaks and troughs
  of demand employees don't, employees often say "the economy's not
  so bad" - They wouldn't know beyond what their TV set says.  Ask
  freelancers how's the economy compared to the past !  Learning
  German language & culture may be socially interesting, but time
  spent on it isn't a wise Business investment, but a leisure time
  activity.  A wiser investment of time would be to move to a more
  buoyant economy, or learn new technology.

People advise: "Learn German first, & apply German style!"  Wrong
!  Either go where where you know the language & customs already,
or offer here's what's needed: specialist tech.  skills & a more
flexible approach.  Germany's got millions of people fluent in
German, they're Unemployed; Why make your life & theirs harder by
competing in the standard German market ? Sell something different !

Work in countries, companies, & market sectors that pay a premium
for skills & business practices you have.  eg much of the world
wants to do business in International English, ideally with native
English speakers where possible, to avoid a double language barrier
of eg Chinese customer talking English to a German, with higher
chance of misunderstanding. Other good chances: working with people
in ex British empire, native English speaking countries, inc. eg
America Canada, Australia, NZ, India, & English speaking industries
eg aviation, & other high percent English speaking peoples, eg from
Nordic nations, and the aviation industry etc.

Skip trying to integrate into standard German internal job market,
where English is not financially rewarded as a useful extra skill.
Avoid or at least be aware of market sector where 
Germans have advantages over eg English speakers, eg:
   Lots of Japanese trade in English, but a  surprising number
   (compared with other Asians) also work direct in German (Japan
   & Germany were in a common war axis in 1945, Maybe some habits
   of learning German remain, & likely Japanese & Germans formality
   increases empathy ?)
   
   East Germans & East Europeans often used to learn Russian, before
   the Soviet empire collapsed. Russian is an advantage to some of
   what Germans call `Ozzies', except with those ex Soviet block
   countries who prefer to avoid Russian. (The word Aussie is not
   usually recognised in Germany.)

   Americans & British etc are aliens, so less likely to be used
   in certain areas, eg national security sensitive computer work.
   One mid size  engineering company in Munich once even had a
   policy of preferring Bavarian software houses (not even German,
   but Bavarian!) yet they didn't seem to care about nationality
   of the technologists, just the nationality of the bosses/ owners.

Would a European go to Thailand to open a Thai restaurant ? Not
likely!  So don't learn German language & adopt German methods just
to compete for standard German work, market other skills, a different way!

Ask fellow contractors, eg at Computer Contractors Group
http://www.berklix.org/mecc/ which market sectors are relatively open
and closed.

The author works for a specialist computer services & consultancy
company http://www.berklix.com   His resume: http://www.berklix.com/~jhs/cv/