Get a job...

I am taking a German course. Why? Because I speak German about as well as Latke from "Taxi" spoke English. Ok, a bit better, but I definitely miss feeling like an adult when I talk to the neighbors. Interestingly, one of the items we read recently in class claimed that without any formal study of the language, your language abilities become "fossilized" after about 2 years of use. That is, you'll continue to add vocabulary, but your grammar and such won't improve further. Perhaps a bit of self promotion on the part of the textbook publisher, but I felt myself that I'd reached some plateau after 1 1/2 years here; that's why I signed up for the class.

But that's just background. I'm really trying to avoid doing this weekend's assignment, which is writing a cover letter for the class. I've decided to "apply" for a job as an English teacher. I've already prepared a resume, with substantial help from the husband, for another, ill-fated application, and I've noticed in these two exercises some differences to the U.S. system that I thought you might find interesting:

• German employers expect to see a picture of you on the resume. Online advice tells me they take this very seriously; a professional portrait is advised. My teacher says they look at this to get a feel for the person behind the resume, as well as to check out age, fitness, professionalism, etc. Considering how at one U.S. employer we were instructed NEVER to indicate age, race, gender etc. on our interviewing notes, it seems odd to me that these are things the employers here want to know right up front. However, I can see why it would be to the business's advantage to know about these things, though it raises hackles on my sensitized "Equal Opportunity" self.
  
• The German resume wants to know every detail of your life. It's not called a Lebenslauf ("life's course") for nothing. This includes all schooling, including elementary school, and marital and family status.
  
• It should be noted that they still want all the above information on 1-2 pages at most (and only more than 1 page if you're really special). So great creativity is required to get past the trivia and fit in the interesting bits of the resume.
  
• Addenda to the application usually include transcripts for high school, college, etc., as well as copies of any certificates that you've hyped in your resume. German companies don't waste time calling around to see if you're telling the truth - they want the proof upfront.
  
• German companies provide departing employees with a sort of report card of their performance to show later employers. The husband tells me they have certain stock phrases to indicate how beloved you were. Unexplained gaps in this record of employment would be very poorly viewed by potential employers who might believe that you were trying to cover up a bad review.
  

The cover letter contains more or less the same kind of information and themes you would find in an American example. There are actually business letter standards defined to which you really need to conform for an application cover letter. Non-conformance to them would be akin to misspelling the name of the company in the letter; it's considered a basic test of competence.

OK, I'm out of comments on this theme now. Back to the homework. Desperately yours,