How to job hunt if you're always away on business

I've been on the lookout for a new job in the past few months, and the urge of moving on to the next employer is getting bigger and bigger. The thing is, I have applied at some places who had invited me, but there was no timeframe that I could commit to for an interview. The reason for this is that my work plans me away almost all the time. My working week gets filled up with appointments in every single place of Germany that you can think of, and strangely enough it's never closeby. So here I am, spending almost every working day whereever, and I don't have the possibility to schedule interviews. Because of this I have had to let go a few applications already, which I think it's such a lost opportunity.
It's already really difficult to schedule things like doctor or dentist appointments, and taking an afternoon off just for no reason is a big not-done apparently. I have already taken some "sick days" for an interview, but I can't do that all the time...

Does that mean I am stuck in this company until I get really lucky by getting an opportunity and being able to schedule an appointment which I think is almost impossible now?

If you want to leave the company anyway then racking up a few sick days shouldn't be such a problem. Otherwise, try and schedule three appointments on one day and take a days holiday. And what about telpehone interviews?

As MAM says try to schedule several on one single day and take it as part of your allowed vacation days. No one can deny those for you.

Another possibility is to ask the potential employer whether they have offices where you are going to be on a given week and try to arrange the interview in that office instead of the Munich office.

Are you away in the same place the whole week or you come back to Munich every day, every other day? If you are in Munich every other day of the week maybe you could try to arrange a late interview, at 6 in the afternoon for example.

They can't but they do, in fact, they have allowed vacation days before, and a last minute retraction saying that I can't have the day off...


That is a possibility, but not an easy task, I hear this sentence a lot: "the appointment at X is cancelled, therefore I scheduled you at customer Y, so you'll have to change your flight/hotel/etc".


That's different every week. How it looks like the next couple of months is that I am three to four days in Hamburg, and the other days in other places. But I usually don't come back to Munich every other day, and if so, that's always closer to midnight than to dinner time...

In your application, explain you are on the road a lot, and request telephone interviews first. Then once the telephone introductions are out of the way, and you have a good vibe, an in-person appointment can be scheduled far enough in advance that you can take vacation (or just call on sick). If your company says you have to work after giving them ample notice of a vacation day, tell them to fuck off (or just tell them the flight is already booked or whatever). Good luck, man. The job hunting process sucks.

Sick leave all the way. Check your contract to make sure you are allowed to take a day self-certified*, and simply call in sick alot. You pay a fortune in tax here for socialism, so take advantage I say. If you are planning to leave anyway, then why care too much.

*I don't know about employment law in Germany, perhpas everyone is allowed x days self-certified before they have to get a doctors note. At my current place of work, I get 3 days before I need a note I think, but at another place I worked, it was not the case. I was genuinely sick once, vomiting, squitty arse, very nasty. Called in sick, and got a call from my boss 30 minutes later screaming at me that he wanted a doctors note faxed over within the hour. Fucking ridiculous request. Staff annual bonuses were also reduced by however many days you had taken sick - cannot be legal can it?

/vent
I had a job like that once, many moons ago. They had me running all over the country. They wanted me to fly out on sundays and come home on Fridays and sometimes, spend weekends away from home. Then they wanted us to cost justify flying home on weekends. What? I'm not married to this company! So I made the hours. If they didn't like it, tough. I was quitting anyway. Call in sick if you have to. If they fire you, at least you can collect a little dole until you find something to replace their sorry asses.
/vent over.

Do NOT take sick leave to go to an interview if you are at all serious about getting the job. The new people shouldnt try ringing you at your old job but it happens and if they then get the message "oh, hes off sick" you can forget the job on the spot. Its much better to book holidays and then tell the company you work for to fuck off when they try and cancel becuse youve got flights booked, non-movable appointments etc. Your old boss may get pissed off but legally theres actually nothing he can do. If you want to be even more secure, book a long weekend. With one day a boss could always argue it was never going to be very relaxing in the first place, with several days he hasnt got a leg to stand on.


No, you dont, do you. It would worth your learning at least the basics.


It varies but three days is usuallly the cut-off. Some places want a note immediately.


Depends when you rang in. If you rang in before nine or ten am then it was ridiculous. If you rang in much later he has a right to be psised of but no right to the note. Did you give it to him?


If it was in your contract, yes it can. It also depends on what bonus that was, exactly. Anything that is classified as "freiwillig", particularly stuff such as christmas gratifications can be paid or not more or less at the wim of the employer. If he wants to link it to sick days - Its frowned on but not usually illegal. He could state it as an attendance bonus and only pay 100% of you were never sick, for instance. Not somewhere Id want to continue working, though.

andy M

That sounds well out of order for Germany. I think it's common in US and other places with a puritan work fetish, but I dont think its permitted in the EU. You have rights here - as a German said to me way back when I arrived here with body and soul tattered and torn from living in Thatcher`s Britain. I think it was the first time someone had ever told me I had rights!

Follow some of your own advice. It's three days and doesn't vary unless it's a special Tarifvertrag and then it's what's in the contract that counts. So the normal Joe can take three days off before having to produce a Dr's note.

"Das Gesetz sieht vor, dass eine ärztliche Arbeitsunfähigkeitsbescheinigung vorzulegen ist, wenn die Krankheit länger als drei Kalendertage dauert. Die Vorlage muss dann spätestens am vierten Arbeitstag erfolgen"

Well next time they try that tell them you have a cat scan/ecg/rabies shot or something scheduled & must have the day off.

native speakers find it hard to look for a suitable job. how much more for asians? do we always end up working for the jobs, Germans and Westerners won't think of doing? sigh!

Hi sparty,

How about asking for an interview on a weekend?? This can make you appear very interesting. You are such an important busy person that you do not have time on weekdays. This helped a friend get a top job (honestly!).

The other option is to quit and interview after you have left your current employer. This takes some courage but as you say other companies are interested in you and want to schedule interviews so you should not be without a job for long.

Good luck!!