Category Archives: job

Summer of Tech: Meet & Greet

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Today was another event in preparation of Wellington’s Summer of Tech 2010: the Meet & Greet.

40 companies have so far signed up for Summer of Tech and at least 35 attended tonight’s event with one or more representatives.

It was a great and well-organized event. We had the chance to talk to students interested in working for Catalyst IT for their internship and get to know them a little bit. We can take these impressions into account when we go into the next phase which will be shortlisting students for 10-minute interviews.

Meet & Greet; CC shared by Kristina D.C. Hoeppner

Meet & Greet; CC shared by Kristina D.C. Hoeppner

In preparation for the event I looked at the profiles and CVs of the students who were interested in our e-learning team position. Some were done very nicely and in an easy to read format. Others however were written entirely in prose. No bulleted lists at all or even keywords highlighted. It was rather difficult for me to stay interested in the novella-length CVs as they just took a lot of time to go through and pick up the important stuff.

I am not a fan of standardized CVs, and the personality of the application should come across. However, some points should be taken into consideration when writing a CV. There are lots of web sites that expound on that. One of my favorite ones is JoblineLMU (because I know the creators and have taken a course with them. :-) ). The resources can be worked through in self-study. It was created having German university students in mind, but others can also find valuable resources and tips in there.

Students writing CVs should keep in mind that people who don’t have much time are going to read their CVs. Being concise, to the point and stating things in a fashion that is easy to grasp are very appreciated.

I am looking forward to the next step, the speed interviews to hopefully find somebody who’d be a good fit for our e-learning team.

New job, new country, new hemisphere

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May 27, 2010, 5:02 p.m., has turned into a milestone for me. The embassy employee responsible for visas at the New Zealand embassy in Brussels left a message on my answering machine letting me know that my work visa  for New Zealand had just been granted and was ready for pick-up.

My temporary work visa was issued very quickly for which I am very grateful because having to wait for the news of whether I got it or not for already 4 weeks was the most excruciating time in my life so far. I would have surely gone insane had it taken longer. Going for the temporary work visa (valid for three years, and it can be extended) was the quickest way. Other visa options would have taken much longer. However, I will apply for residency to avoid having to go through the temporary visa process repeatedly.

Before I can finally start my new job as e-learning specialist with an IT company in Wellington on 15 June 2010, I have lots of things to organize, wrap up, etc. It will be a hectic 2 last weeks in Luxembourg for me before I go on the 19,025 km journey to Wellington via Singapore and Sydney.

Everything will be new for me: the job, the country, and the hemisphere. But what about the continent? I had wondered if New Zealand belongs to a continent, but it is already too far away from Australia. Geo-politically, it is grouped under Oceania, but does not belong to the continent of Australia. It is just a group of islands. Thus, no continent for me.

I am very excited to embark on this new adventure. Thanks to the internet, staying in touch won’t be a big problem though I will miss face-to-face encounters.

Let the adventure begin. :-)