Well, I recently had an interview with CVA (corporate value associates) and one of the people interviewing me was this german girl, although nice, but with broken english. I mean, it would take me a while to understand what the hell she was saying and where she was getting. Not that I am slow or anything but her syntax was in german, just patches of words in english. It was enough to make up my mind from staying away from that firm. Anybody had similar experiences?

Looks like you are ideally suited for multi-cultural assignments

Look, Fred. It is one thing to do business in a multi-cultural environment, which I do like a lot, and another to be interviewed by someone who does not express himself/herself correctly. I mean, your understanding level is being looked at. What is one supposed to do, tell the interviewer he/she is dismissed because of incomprehensible English? Be logical please!

It is frustrating, I agree! They are so demanding on new applicants and yet do not bother to make sure people they have on board are being understood.

Caution there, friend. You mention that the German lady was 'one of the people'. What was your experience with the other interviewers?Also, knocking a firm on this basis is rich coming from you. Look at your own use of English in your two posts here. Not the highest quality by any stretch.Don't be so quick to judge when you are no shining example yourself.

Vive la différence?

I agree with Bonzer on generalisation matters but I also think consultancies should carefully select whom they pick as interviewers. It can be very difficult for a candidate who is being examined based on answers to questions which were not put forth in proper English. It is like trying to score well in a badly formulated exam. It also projects a bad image of the firm to strong candidates.

Grrrr. I hate it when johnny foreigner doesn't use the Queen's English. It really grates my nerves. I prefer to stick to good old fashioned English firms like PA.

You know what? PA is actually full of foreigners, outside of the UK that is,.. can't say why that is..My office in Stockholm is actually full of foreigners, I was even interviewed by a lady speaking the queens (the danish queen that is) danish when I first applied! Can you imagine that!

I was also interviewed by this 'German girl' at CVA recently and found her English was excellent and I thought she was very sharp and intelligent. Her English was certainly better than my German and she certainly showed me up when she conducted the second half of the interview in German!

yeah yeah, but germans have to learn english because nobody else speaks german. the language of business is english. i'd rather speak one universal language well, than one parochial language well and a universal one badly.

Was she fit?

Now that's the question I was looking for!

Ash, are you sure you are not 'the German girl' ?

I am positive I am not the 'German girl'. She just interviewed me. I don't think it's appropriate to comment on her attractiveness!

When did you have your interview Ash?

"german girl"?!Perhaps "german woman" or, as Bonzer put it, "german lady".What happened to respect in this industry. Seems a bit dismissive to refer to someone senior enough in a firm to be doing interviews as a girl...

Pectin, good point about respect, although as an experienced hire (20 yrs MC experience) I have friends who are in a similar position to 'what a waste' and who I know have had to sit through screening interviews with a HR 'girl' (often under 25 yrs old)... It's truly an insult to their credentials to have a 23 yr old graduate (often a non-professional) judging whether they are capable of doing the job. No disrespect intended to HR people, but I can understand why someone who has been in the industry for 20+ years might feel a little irritated when being judged by somebody who they feel either cannot speak the language properly or who does not really understand what the job entails.

They may not know the job properly, but that's not their job. What you should be judging them on is whether they can they tell the difference between two candidates, against the criteria that has been laid out in the job description. If they can, then who cares if they don't understand your terminology. Surely you should be able to explain to them, as you should a client.Also, whether she's fit or not, of course.

Interview are typically a two-way 'fit' assessment:(a) whether you are a good fit, and(b) whether the interviewer (usually an unqualified-to-judge-me-HR-type-who-doesn't-know-sh1t-from-shinola) is fit.