2/3 of my internship are already over. I definitely feel like a full team member of my local HR Team here. The support they give me is great and time flies way too fast.
It is really exciting to figure out all the differences between German/European and American HR tasks. E.g. in recruiting it starts with very basic things like a very different layout of the Candidate’s CV (which is called Résumé here).
“The layout of a resume in the US is very limited to information transmission”
The layout here in the US is very limited and does not focus on fancy design like a lot of European CV’s do. Furthermore, CVs are much more comprehensive than Résumés and are lengthier in size. In the US a Candidate would never put a picture or any other personal details on his Résumé but interests/hobbies would be included.
European candidates usually list a lot of personal details such as Age, Gender, Single/Married status and sometimes even dependents. Moreover, a US Resume will typically and only contain High School information if an applicant has not completed any higher learning degrees whereas a European CV will typically contain ALL educational degrees earned.
Exploring those differences makes it very exciting working in the US. I am really looking forward to what kind of challenges I will meet during the last third of my internship!
During the meantime I had the chance to visit my first concert in an old theatre in Chicago that has had its days already. It was a great atmosphere and the band ‘los amigos invisibles’ was an interesting combo of different music styles. Furthermore, the winning run of the Blackhawks continued and unfortunately to the time they made it to win the Stanley cup I was out of the city for the whole week.
A road trip to Detroit was on my list in order to get to know my colleagues working in our office in Michigan. The 5 hour ride was much easier than I expected and I had a great time there, going for dinner with my coworkers or explored downtown Detroit at a great “fall, rise, renewal” tour with my knowledgeable guide bob. All in all it was great to get an own impression of the myth-enshrouded motor city and I go back with my bags packed full with positive experiences.