Something in a name? CV
Author
Discussion

magic torch

Original Poster:

5,781 posts

251 months

Tuesday 15th January 2013
quotequote all
I'm currently living in Germany, and have now got a job in London, with my girlfriend hoping to follow me.

She's experienced and successful in her field of work, qualified, well educated, speaks five languages fluently.

So far so good, or so I thought. But from hundreds of applications she only has one interview lined up.

I think her CV is ok, she had it professionally written and I've successfully used a similar format.

Having grown up in Romania, to a German family, she has a Romanian surname. The only interview she got was when she used my surname (we're soon to be married anyway).

She was fobbed off from very specific job descriptions that matched her exactly, including the requirement German fluency.


Any ideas what's wrong here? I'm reluctant to believe it's anything to do with her name.

Thanks for reading smile

0000

13,822 posts

220 months

Tuesday 15th January 2013
quotequote all
I know of someone whose surname sounds very Polish and had a lot of trouble looking for work related to the building trade.

His simple but effective way around it was to follow up the CV application with a phone call; it made it immediately obvious that, well, he was actually English.

Might be worth a similar approach, you haven't really given us much more to go on than the name though!

magic torch

Original Poster:

5,781 posts

251 months

Tuesday 15th January 2013
quotequote all
Interesting, thanks 0000.

She has been following up with a phone call, but she's not English, she's German / Romanian, although she doesn't have an accent to speak of.

They're looking for native German speakers, so I'm hoping the recruiters don't expect applicants to be English.

Her line of work is FMCG project management.

Gargamel

16,349 posts

290 months

Tuesday 15th January 2013
quotequote all
Ah there you are, don't think I have seen you on these pages for a long long time.

Years back you kindly helped me set up my mac wifi, when it was driving me crazy.

I am an inhouse recruiter for a large FMCG company, might be worth PMing me the CV.

Happy to take a look. Odd feedback, most large companies don't care about names these days, might have been true 15 years ago, but not now. I recruit all over Europe so I am pretty used to it. It is the standard of spoken English that is often the dealbreaker, and of course, you don't know that until you pick the phone up.


MotorcyclesFish

211 posts

227 months

Tuesday 15th January 2013
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The silly way would be introduce an inconsequential error so that each time she can ring and correct the error verbally and prove that she's culturally German and not a thieving Roma gypsy (come on everyone, this is the elephant in the room that is really under discussion).

The sensible way might be the same phonecall but with the more usual follow-up chat or confirmation of receipt of CV?

Gargamel

16,349 posts

290 months

Tuesday 15th January 2013
quotequote all
I suspect (although I don't know) that she has stated that she has an EU passport or an English partner clearly at the top of her cv.

Candidates from Romania at present aren't in the EU so we would have to sponsor a VISA and that is a real pain in the arse. (You have to demonstrate you can't source the same skills in the UK population.

That might be the real explaination.

magic torch

Original Poster:

5,781 posts

251 months

Tuesday 15th January 2013
quotequote all
Thanks Chris, have been off here a while will PM you.

She has a German passport, so no issues working, and has absolutely no issues with the English language.

LIke the tactic Grant, will pass that on.