Nothing). Part II
“We have a boss, as he says, so it will be”: a relatively quick interview process, when you communicate only with HR and with the manager (or managers) of the company (in today's German realities, the format is in danger of extinction).
First call – this is a fairly detailed conversation with hr. It lasts plus or minus an hour and a half. During this, a kind of combination of the first and second calls of the previous format occurs. In other words, they will tell you about the company, and ask you about your desired salary, and to catch up, they will conduct a short version of a behavioral interview. There are no special nuances here, but be prepared for the fact that this conversation may be the last, in the sense that this is a really important stage and you need to prepare for it, unlike, for example, the first conversation in the format already described above . But how can you understand in advance that they will have just such a combined conversation with you? Everything is simple here, look at the time planned by HR to communicate with you, if it is an hour – an hour and a half (or more) – then this is it.
The most interesting thing in this format is second talk. The fact is that at this stage you communicate directly with the boss himself (I was always “lucky” and was interviewed by two or even three bosses at a time). But what comes to the boss’s mind and what range of issues he wants to go over with you – this is a great mystery. Of course, an interview with the boss implies that he has a certain level of technical training, but almost always the conversation turns not so much on technical issues (at least this was the case in my case), but on finding out how you found out about the company and what is the general your level of awareness regarding what the company does. This format has obvious disadvantages, which are that you will not have any idea who you will end up working with; you will most likely recognize your team lead when you come to work on your first day. But there is one undoubted advantage here – the hiring process in this format is quite fast. Here you will also be paid for travel and accommodation, because almost every boss wants to see his potential subordinate in person, which means that you will have to go to the office.
“'Madhyamā pratipada' aka 'The Middle Path'”: here you will have time to communicate with everyone a little and at the same time will not get so bored as with the format “I will interview you until one of us dies” .
First call here, too, as a rule, it lasts one and a half to two hours, but it can be distinguished from the first call of the format “We have a boss, whatever he says, so it will be” it’s not difficult: besides hr and you, the email inviting you to a conversation will contain the name of one more person – most likely, this is your potential team lead. Here, during the conversation, you will not only have to learn about the company and answer standard questions about salary expectations and possible time to return to work, but, most likely, you will also have to talk about various technical aspects of your previous work, outline your stack and, of course, answer to technical questions that the team lead will ask you. Apparently, this format does not imply life-coding or anything similar (at least this has never happened to me), the team leader is simply looking for a person for his team who, plus or minus, understands the necessary technologies. The questions here will be like: “Have you worked with poetry?” “Are you familiar with bash?” “What about knowledge of Linux commands?” etc. As a rule, during your conversation with the team lead, hr sits and blinks his eyes tensely (I don’t know if he has some kind of mission and whether he should somehow analyze your speech activity), however, at the end of the conversation, having waited for his finest hour, he will dump a lot of information on you – if, of course, he senses that you are their candidate – about what bonuses the company has and how many new things you will learn by becoming their employee.
If the first conversation went well, then – now you will be furiously surprised – you are invited to second. There will be all the same people plus the chief of the company. As I already mentioned, what will come to the boss’s mind, apparently, the boss himself does not know, but he will definitely ask about how you found his company and what you know about it (apparently, the greater awareness of outsiders about the work of the company will greatly amuse one’s vanity any boss). The most unexpected question that one such boss once dumbfounded me with during an interview was a question about my mother, namely about how she feels about the fact that I live in another country. Speaking generally about this format, in my opinion, it is the most convenient for a candidate, because it is quite fast and gives a general idea not only about the company and its boss, but also about your potential colleagues with whom you will work in the same team.
Receive an offer and sign
So, all the conversations have been successfully completed, now all that remains is to wait a little longer. On average, after going through all stages of the interview, companies take about a week to “think about it” and then notify you of their decision (and they usually do this over the phone; this is how I once got a call from Germany and my neighbors in a subway car began to attack me looking sideways very suspiciously after I asked in German to call me back later, I’m still glad that I wasn’t tied up as an enemy spy), although there are, of course, “hurry people” who will get in touch with you in a day or two. By the way, this week of “thinking” is a good opportunity to once again appear in a good light in German eyes: write to hr or the same boss (if he left you his business card) and ask something that interests you question. This will once again show your interest in the position and add extra points to you.
Voila, the decision has been made, you are “suitable for us” and we want to make you an offer that you are unlikely to be able to refuse. That's it, you can pack your bags, fly off to meet your new German colleagues and immerse yourself in everyday work.
Originally published in my Zen channel.
