How to be interviewed for a job in Germany in person and by phone: questions, how to behave, how to prepare, appearance(dress code)

§ Preparing for a job interview (an employment interview)

So, while looking for a job in Germany, you have managed to find proper vacancies and prepared the resume as well other applicant’s documents, circulated them among the respective companies and received an invitation to be interviewed. On the one hand, such an invitation does not yet guarantee your employment, because it may have been received by other applicants, too; on the other hand, it means that your qualification is appropriate for the given company, but such a question as whether you personally will be appropriate for the given job remains open. Exactly therefore the employment interview is required. The major objective of the interview is to assess your personality and, to some extent, your qualifications and interest in doing this job.

Although the interview is always connected with nerve-taking emotions, the good preparation and the knowledge of the interview procedure, as well as typical questions to be discussed there will help you to feel positive and not too nervous.

For the employers, the major goal of the interview is to assess your personality, interest in the given job, and your qualifications.

So, during the interview, you will be assessed through the prism of the three following positions, for which you should be prepared in advance, such as:

• Your personality: qualities, mindset, skill to behave properly as well as to be on good terms with your colleagues and boss.
• Your interest in working at the given company in the given position.
• Your qualifications and work experience.

Proceeding from the objectives as pursued by the employer, you need to be well prepared: first and foremost, to know thoroughly your biography, your past jobs and taken positions, as well as the performed tasks. It will be good to prepare several examples of specific situations, in resolution of which you were involved, or which can emphasize your personal qualities and abilities. You should think through most thoroughly as what you can say about the tasks given to you in your previous workplace.

It is also important to have in advance the good knowledge of the company and the job that you want to get. Collect the maximum possible amount of information about the company, their history, goals, products or services. If, when asked a question “Why do you want to work at our company?”, you say that you need to earn your living, you will most probably be turned down. The employer must see the applicant’s interest in the company’s successful operation, willingness to learn something new, and interest in the company’s activities. Think well as what professional objectives you have.

As to your personal qualities, you should not demonstrate those you don’t have, as getting employed is not a key to all problems, and if you don’t fit in terms of personal qualities, it would be better if this fact becomes evident during the interview rather than after the start of your work as in the latter case your dismissal would follow rapidly. Nevertheless, it would be worthwhile to show saliently your strengths and weaknesses in relation to the job being claimed by you. Your nervousness, manifested in the interview course, may spoil and distort the impression of you and therefore it makes sense to prepare thoroughly, as such preparation will pay back. The information below on this page will help you to get ready for the interview.

Come on time - best of all, 10 minutes before the start of the interview.

§ The way the job interview in Germany is held

The scenario of employment interviews is always the same, although in some cases some elements may be excluded and some added. As a whole, the scenario includes the points as presented in the table below. The applicants have to come for the interview at the appointed time – best of all, 10 minutes before the interview starts. Most probably, you will be asked to wait a bit – so, please, wait patiently. On an average, interviews last from 30 minutes through to 1.5 hours.

Table 1: Procedure of the interview.

§ Your looks – what clothes to put on for the interview

The outer look says much on the person, and the impression of it lingers in memory for a long time. The interviewers will immediately pay attention to the clothes, skill of behaving, voice and words. The clothes and the outer look have to be clean, tidy, and correspond to the position you are applying for.

Style of clothes for the employment interview

For the work in the executive positions as well as at financial or large-size companies, the classical style will be appropriate for men – a suit, a shirt, a necktie, leather shoes and a belt. In other cases, the style may be more casual; trousers and jacket may be of different color, and the necktie is not required. However, the clothes must be iron-pressed, and shoes polished.

For females, the rules are the same: the classical style includes the suit with a skirt or trousers, and a blouse. However, the too shirt skirt, or too tight or open clothes, as well the naked parts of the body, or red-color clothes are not welcome. Cosmetics, hair-styling, perfumes, and jewelry may not attract attention.

If you are not sure about the dress-code of the company, you may find it out in advance, by telephone or by visiting the company’s website or its page in a social network.

§ How to behave in the course of the interview

The manner of the applicant’s behavior is very important. The following list shows (1) what is desirable, and (2) what is inadmissible in the course of the employment interview:

• (1) To smile, be friendly and open, to listen attentively, look into the eye, speak clearly and legibly.

• (2) To chew something, to be cheeky and untidy, to speak disrespectfully, to keep hands in the pockets, and to interrupt the interviewers.

§ What questions the employer would ask the applicant

At the employment interview, they usually ask typical questions. Knowing the latter, you can get prepared in advance so that during the interview not to make any hotheaded or odd statements. Further on, you will see the list of the questions, some of which are usually asked at interviews in Germany. Think over your responses to them, taking into account the goals pursued by the employers while conducting the interview. It is not forbidden to use your notes during the interview.

• Why should we hire for this job exactly you rather than somebody else?
• Why do you want to work for us?
• What are your strengths? Special talents?
• What are your weaknesses? How do you cope with them?
• What do you expect from working at our company?
• What are your motivations in work and in life?
• Your professional goals? What do you want to attain?
• What do you know about our company and the position that you are willing to take?
• Your biggest bad luck or failure in your work, career and human relations?
• Your biggest success in your work, career and human relations?
• What were you criticized for in your past jobs?
• What hobby do you have? How do you spend your free time?
• Why did you stop working for your previous employers?
• Why are there gaps in your personal history report?
• What irritates you in other people?
• What do you need for doing your work?
• What is your idea of your salary?
• In what professions have you worked before?
• How do you usually plan your working time and arrange the list of priorities?
• How do you react to a stress? How do you cope with a stress? Can you give an example from the past?
• How do you usually resolve conflicts with other employees?
• To what extent can you work in a team with the others? In what kind of teams have you already worked in the past? What were the roles you played?
• Where do you see yourself 5 years from now in your professional career?
• What kind of tasks would be interesting for you in our company?
• Which of your abilities and pieces of knowledge would you like to enhance?
• When will you be able to commence your work?
• and so forth...

Besides, the applicant will be most probably asked questions designed to verify his / her qualifications. This depends on the respective profession and the scope of tasks.

The interviewers would most likely consider the applicant as an insincere person, if responding to such questions as “What are your weaknesses?” s /he responds that such ones do not exist. It is necessary to think well what shortcomings can be named as well as what positives can be added thereto.

For the salary-related question not to take you unawares, define your desirable salary in advance. Find out on the Internet how much, on an average, employees of your profession earn in Germany, and how the land lies at the given company; the websites, which present reviews, references, opinions about employers in Germany, can often be quite informative on the level of salaries in companies.

Prohibited job interview questions in Germany

The German Equality Act (AGG) prohibits discrimination in hiring for employment, in which connection you may refuse to respond to some questions. The prohibited questions are as follows:

• What is your religious confession?
• Are you a follower of any certain political party or trend?
• Do you support trade unions?
• What are your plans regarding family: marriage, children?
• What diseases did you have?
• What is your financial situation?

§ What questions the applicant would ask the employer

You should think through in advance as what questions you want to ask the would-be employer. The questions should express your interest in the given company as such as well as enable you to collect the relevant information that will help you to decide whether it makes or does not make sense for you to work at the given company. Please, pay attention to the following list of typical questions.

• How large is the department, in which I might be employed? How many employees work there?
• Who is my immediate superior?
• What would the initial period of work (Einarbeitungsphase) be like?
• What expectations do you have regarding me? What in particular will I have to do?
• Shall I work in a team or independently?
• How does my workplace look? How many persons are accommodated in the same office?
• What are the working hours?
• Do you expect me to work overtime, and if yes, then how often? How much do you pay for the overtime work?
• How many days of leave shall I have?
• What kind of dress code is accepted in your company?
• Does your company operate abroad as well?
• How successfully has your company been operating in the past several years?
• Shall I have to attend seminars or other events? Shall I have business trips?
• Do you have opportunities for career growth or additional education?
• and so forth...

§ What is to be done after the interview

In the course of the employment interview you may make notes – in particular, when the interviewers respond to your questions. You may as well make notes right after the interview, not to forget important details. Following the interview, analyze the obtained information in order to take decision on your work in the given company. Some applicants e-mail a brief message of thanks for the conducted interview.

By the end of the interview, the hosts usually say when you may expect the company’s decision.

§ Telephone talk – telephone interview

In the course of job placement in Germany, sometimes it happens to be necessary to call the company in order to clarify the points of your interest. Besides, depending on the kind of the job and the company, it might be expected by the latter that the applicant will make a phone call and thus enable the employer to assess the applicant’s freedom of communication and the quality of his / her presentation of the company in the phone talks with their clients. However, many applicants are less enthusiastic about making telephone calls, or are not well prepared for calling. Thus a good job can be missed.

Besides, having received the applicant's resume, the would-be employer may make a call in order to specify some details, to have a better idea of the given person, or to check the way s /he reacts to telephone calls. If you receive such a call at improper time, it is not a problem – you may just say so and ask when you could return the call.

The following pieces of advice will help you to prepare for the telephone conversation in the course of looking for a job and to conduct such a conversation correctly.