Scribbling #15: Finding the 'right' job

Slovak law has changed recently, making it slightly harder to register with the local authorities. Beforehand, as an EU citizen, all I had to do was show up at the Foreign Police, announce that I was here (as in just by going to the FP, not by shouting at a policeman's face 'Hellloooooo! Can you hear me!? I'm in front of you, look!', as this would be considered bad form) fill in some paperwork, and within a couple of weeks - hey presto, a shiny laminated residence card.

Moving from Nitra to Sala involved some change - I had to prove that I was at the address by giving a letter to the police from our landlord, to say that yes, unbelievable as it is, but we have a couple of Johnny Foreigners staying at our place - or words to that effect. Mrs C gained the added perk from marrying me in being able to obtain a permanent residence card as well. This means that she no longer has to visit the police, year in and year out, in order to get a visa sticker that will nicely cover one entire page of her passport. However, she still needed that one year visa renewal before she was able to get hold of the actual card, as the police needed something to tie her over with. More paperwork, but there you go...

With my card in place, I can quite happily become an employed worker within the realm of the Slovak Republic. I was so grateful and felt so blessed to get hold of a job within the space of a couple of months of 'officially' being here. Obviously the English language by itself is restrictive here, as it will limit you in what you want to do... but by combining it with the little Slovak I do know and add a huge sprinkle of mime - most conversations can be fought through. Although the end result may not be what one would expect or want, for example the people you're talking to suddenly look at each other and burst out laughing, probably because you've just sworn at them without knowing.

In finding a job, the cultural dissimilarities shine through, especially if the company's roots are in foreign investment. The 'middle ground' language is taken as English, but if you have a group of Japanese businessmen that had been taught by someone from, say, Glasgow, and a Slovak group that had been taught by someone from Chicago... then miscommunication can be rife. There has been many a time here at my place of work would just nod and smile along with whatever his boss was saying. The end result of this would be:

JC: Well?

Slovak tech: I do not understand what he said. But it sounded bad.

Not only that, but there was one time when I was introduced to someone who proclaimed that he was from 'sunny Barcelona'. Which, I thought, was a very nice if not slightly strange thing to say. It made the guy sound like he was on a quiz show. Ten minutes later, I realized that he tried to say that he was from 'Sony Barcelona'. Suddenly you're dealing with a customer, not some nice person who has a quaint outlook on life.

Increased foreign investment within the Slovak Republic also means that a lot of jobs are taking over people's lives. See those cars whizz past you on the highway, especially those with 'BA' written on the back of them? No they're not 'A-Team' enthusiasts, they just need to get to their next supplier, customer, sellling point, conference, or whatever.

I found this out by going to a job interview once in Bratislava. It was going quite well, and after an hour's talk it seemed that the Quality Manager was indirectly asking me to become one of the 130,000 employees that they have worldwide. There was one slight catch - he had to make sure that I was okay with travelling. I said I was okay with that, in light of what has happened over the last year and a bit.

He then said that the project I would be working on is something that is happening right now, this minute. And that would mean that I would have to spend a month in South Korea at the Kia plant.

He then spoke about more travelling, such as four months straight going to Zilina and only being able to come back on weekends, plus the extra flying back and forth to Korea and... I had to ask a couple of rather pertinent questions.

JC: What, exactly, family life do you have?

Silence.

Interviewer: There is no family life. It's just this, plus travelling.

JC: And you like this?

Interviewer: *shrug*

At this point I was saying silently 'Er, God, help?'

Silence. He knew that I had made my mind up already. This job was like putting a square peg into a round hole - there was no way that this was going to work. Not only that, but the job itself is highly demanding with the need to chase up people etc. In hindsight, I'm glad the guy told me about the travelling first without springing it upon me mid-job.

Thank goodness for small Japanese firms, that's what I say... ;-)