Work Prospects: language and a real job?

We have a list on the sidebar of our blog for Prayer Requests. Unfortunately the RSS feed doesn't report changes to it, only new posts, but we appreciate those who check that section regularly. I just wanted to post an update on a few things.

A couple of weeks ago I finished editing another medical research article. This was the 4th or 5th one I've done since moving here. The plan is to blanket the university and local medical research areas/hospital staff areas with adverts later this year to try to drum up more business in this area for me. We have several friends who want to help network, so that's been a real blessing. I'll hang the bulk of the flyers in the fall since the university doesn't start it's next semester until sometime in October. This is nice work for me since I can work from home and fit it around language classes and other things, so it'd be good to do for the next year.

I've also recently landed a tiny 6hr/wk job for a family in our church. They needed a babysitter twice a week and want their kids to be exposed to more English. The 3yr old girl understands lots of English but won't speak it. The 5yr old (high energy boy) doesn't understand much at all. Doing the VBS with young kids this week has given me a lot of ideas, so we'll see how it goes. Babysitting in these demographics here pays a lot less than in the US; I'm getting 9/hr. It's something and it's only a 10 minute bike ride down our street. The parents are really nice, too. I start late next week.

Language exams: I'm still waiting for the results from my Zertifikat Deutsch exam to arrive in the mail. We expect them any day now.....eek! I really hope the results are good!! Theoretically I would pass and then could start taking more German classes at the university and shoot for the DSH exam. If I passed the DSH (hopefully in late winter/early spring '09) I'd feel like I really knew how to use the language. The DSH has to be passed in order for somebody to be admitted to a degree program at any German univeristy (as in, somebody wants to do their whole degree there, not just a semester abroad or so). People in the university classes are highly motivated to learn as most of them are trying to prepare for a PhD or sometimes a Master's level degree. These classes are 4-6x as expensive as those I was taking at the VHS this past year, but it's worth it. (of course, any side jobs I can pick up will go toward funding the new classes!)

In the mail today was a weekly free newspaper that we brought up mainly to see when the new Narnia film would be released here (yeah, we're STILL waiting for it!). Flipping through the paper I noticed a huge section on Ausbildungen. Here in Germany it's all about the paper you collect, so if you don't go to Gymnasium and then to University and get into a specific career field, you're probably a person who didn't make it into Gymnasium and went to either a Realschule or Hauptschule instead. These people then have to get trained to do a specific job (work in a bakery, grocery store manager, etc.) and that training is called an Ausbildung and usually lasts between1-3yrs. You earn money, but not a full pay, and you're doing other stuff related to learning the job like tests and things.

I've never thought too much about them b/c I'd always categorized them in my American head as a way to legitimately monitor and train blue collar jobs. This is reassuring b/c you know the girl working at the register in the drug store actually knows about her products and not just how to scan UPC codes. In the US you graduate high school and then graduate university/college with some kind of degree and any job you get can be based on your type of education, but is mostly based on your work experience. If you dropped out of high school, or only have a HS diploma, the joke is that you end up flipping burgers for $6/hr at McDonald's for the rest of your life.

What's my point? Well I saw an ad in the paper for Fremdsprachen Korrespondent/in for both Novartis and Behring. The position is something like a foreign language correspondent for business correspondance. I thought to myself, I bet that's English stuff that I could do. I would just need to get the German end of things first. The other red flag was the name Novartis (Behring is decent too, but not nearly as well known). I'd looked for work with them before we even moved to Marburg b/c they're a massive pharma company (flu vaccines among others) and are really well known. If my paycheck has to come from a full-time-non-ministry type of job, then I try to collect big names to help with the next time I have to get another such job. Novartis just opened up a Boston area location 2yrs ago (and I'd looked at them then) so if we go back there for more school for Stefan it'd be a fair shot at a decent place of employment to help us get through the next degree. Even if we didn't move back to Boston, everybody knows Novartis, and they just happen to have a location here in Marburg of all places. (and by Davis, CA, so funny! in fact, they're building a whole new office complex here and we have a friend who's on the architectural/building team of sorts)

My German skills on the phone are not great, so Stefan called the general number to see what the whole process entailed and whether my current education and work experience would do anything to help grease the wheels. The tricky part is that while my German isn't great, it would be in September of 2009 when the program started. You have to apply a year in advance, meaning you also have the interview a year in advance if your paper application looks good enough and, of course, the interview is in German. I know I look good on paper, but I don't think I can really hack an interview at this point, which is annoying. The woman on the other end was actually very helpful. She said I would be a strong candidate and that if I did indeed obtain the DSH language status I would almost be guaranteed a position b/c of my native English skills and already-present work permit in my passport.

The trick would be to assure them that I would indeed obtain this DSH status within the year. There are also some courses in 'business German' where you learn office vocabulary and stuff like that. I also need to learn how to use Microsoft Office in German. That's really tough b/c we only have one American laptop and I just don't use Excel or Powerpoint on my own and don't have any 'assignments' to practice on even if I DID have a German laptop.

However, the challenge is there. It's something tangible to shoot for, and it's nice to have something to actually try for. I'm bored with language classes, language isn't my thing and neither is just going to school. It's not like we have kids to keep me busy at home and I feel lame not contributing to our income and helping us move toward certain goals in that way. This program is a 3yr thing, but if we're here that whole time, why not? It's always good to actually have an Ausbildung in Germany if you live here - it's pretty much the only way to get a job. They don't value your marketable skills, just the papers you've collected - really annoying. I think I could wiggle around once I got my foot in the door, but maybe that's just the American in me. I'll post more on this as I go through the process. I need to work on a German version of my resume, create a German cover letter, and do some interview practicing auf Deutsch.

Sorry for the long text-heavy post, but it had to be done!