It’s summer now and it’s a slow period with responses from hiring managers. Europeans love a summer Holiday in July and August.

I was looking back into the archive of Immigrant Spirit and found a cool story to share with you about a past client. This story showcases the mindset you need to have, in order to find success in this competitive English-speaking job market in Germany.

Here is the story from 2020’s fall program of the Expats Job Miracle.

“It was Christmas Eve, and Albert* did not have a job yet. I felt like I failed. Albert had shown up to do his part every week since we started in September. Plus, he was obviously an attractive candidate for employers. He was smart, had excellent people skills, and was a joy to work with. In Brazil, where he lived, he never struggled to get a job, because he was a Data Scientist. A profession that is in high demand in Germany as well.

But still, here we were, at the end of the “Expats Job Miracle” coaching – and Albert had no job. Worse: He had done everything I asked him to do. He sent me five new jobs every week – together with the five managers that he had identified. Over the course of our cooperation, I had reached out to nearly a hundred of them – and introduced Albert to everyone who accepted my invitation. But somehow these introductions never led to a job interview. In most cases, they didn’t even lead to a phone conversation. They just withered away like an unloved plant during holiday season – and died.

Why?

I was sure: There are jobs in Germany for Albert. I wasn’t ready to give up on him. So, I made him an offer: Even though the coaching was over, I would continue to work with him for another three months. Free of charge. We would start right after the holidays. Before I left the call for my Christmas party, I gave him one task to solve, before we met again: “Look closely!”

We started again in February. Suddenly Albert started to get job interviews. Employers took notice. In a single week he had four job interviews with four different employers. And he made it to the next round in each of them.

How did Albert change his luck?

He went back to look at all the interactions that he had over the course of the last three months. He ignored the failures. And he looked closely at every time that he got just one step further:

• “Why did this work?”
• “What did I do differently?”
• “How was the situation different?”
• “What did all these better results have in common?”

Albert noticed something: Every manager that had engaged with him, was attracted to one particular ability of Albert.

So, Albert made sure to mention this ability in all of his interactions. It clearly worked. Job interviews came rolling in. Once he got the managers on the phone, my coaching could help with the rest: Albert learned how to discover the real pain points of the manager and present his solution to these challenges.

All because Albert combined persistence with analysis.

Keep at it. But also: Keep adapting”

That was a really cool story that shows the evolution you have to go through in order to find a successful offer. 

Sometimes it doesn’t happen as fast as you want it to.

But this shows the importance of tracking your progress and having someone hold you accountable.

If you don’t analyze each win you had, no matter how small, you are missing opportunities from analysis.

And you keep your process going week after week, until you finally break through.