Rejection

Gottcha!

Excitement brushed up to my cheeks when I opened my inbox that faithful morning and saw an e-mail from THE Company. My heart started beating and my fingers slightly trembled with joy as I touched the mouse to move the cursor over the feedback e-mail. As I clicked on the bold letters, the content of the e-mail was revealed to me like a magical secret. This must have been the exact feeling that King Arthur must have had, when he finally held Excalibur in his seeking hands.

I couldn’t believe it. Finally I would get the chance to show my true potential in a personal interview. I could finally earn the recognition I secretly longed for and do my very best for the company of my dreams. Finally, I would see a face to all the names that I got to learn about via e-mail over the last days. I was pure ecstasy.

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Happy New Year 2011!

First of all, happy, happy New Year 2011 to all of you!!!

Hm … seafood!

Ah (sigh), isn’t it nice?! Champagne, family, friends, cold sea-food buffet, fireworks, old German comedy reruns (yes, there is such a thing as German comedy!), warm winter coats and New Year’s resolutions? Yes, it is this time of year that is as glamorous as fabulous. It is this magical time of year where you can wish for the things that will never come true but you are so happily naive and in ecstasy that you do not care. Now is the time to think about all these wonderful things you want to accomplish and in my case, there are plenty of things!

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Slow ‘Magical’ December

C'mon, pick up!

(My ‘gift’ for you, dear reader, a little hint: ‘sarcasm’.)

No matter how intense the job quest has been so far, there seems to be an artificial ‘slowdown’ in the beginning of the month December. Hmm, come to think of it, that also counts for the middle, and definitely towards the end of this ‘wondrous winter month’. Especially in the Netherlands, you hear more answering machines and mailboxes when you call companies than that you actually get a hold of a ‘real’ human being. And while you are hanging on your phone, only dreaming of a human voice, in the midst of the unnerving application process, nervously tapping on your desk that is packed with books on Interview techniques, Marketing applications and E-commerce you can’t help but wonder, ‘Ahhhh!! What in the world?! Where is everyone?’

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The Night Before…

 

My idea of a perfect combination - Sherlock Holmes and China

“2:53!?“ I pulled the blanket over my head and let out a groan of annoyance. I had been trying to get to sleep for almost 3 hours without the slightest hint of success. Nothing had helped to calm my chaotic mind, neither the audio book of Sherlock Holmes’ case ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’, nor the Chinese history course’s 8^th lecture on ‘the Later Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms’. I just could not stop thinking about the first job/phone interview I would have the next day! I rolled to my left side, away from this monstrous alarm clock whose ghostly red digits haunted me every waking minute. “Ok, let’s see. What should I answer when they ask me about myself and why they should hire me?” This is it! This is the question that, how simple it might seem, will keep you up all night.

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Step by Step

Like building M. at 9 am

I awoke with a jerk. “Darn it! It is already 7:45! Noooo!!” I rushed out of bed and grabbed my bath robe. Would I still make it in time? The best seats in my beloved building M. where usually taken by 8:30. “Ts. 8:30!! When I started as a student building M. was only crowded during the exam period at the end of the semester. Exams… wait a minute.” I mumbled and slowed down. A huge smile was accompanied by my hand on my forehead. “Ahhh, you silly thing!! You don’t have to go to building M. this morning. You had your final exam yesterday, remember?!” I laughed at myself but still did not trust this situation entirely.

I sat down and turned on my computer. Hm. What should I do today? Hm. What should I do? Go back to bed? Na, after waking up in such a shock I would never fall back asleep. Hm. I should probably look for a job, I concluded and glanced at the playful home page of Google. Ok then. Off we go. “Job in the Netherlands”, I typed slowly. Immediately I received the notification of a mere 91,700,000 hits. Hm, interesting.

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