Still More Differences

One more difference between the German and the North American job application process is the amount of feedback an applicant receives. Contrary to what one might expect it is the German companies that provide the most feedback. Whenever you submit an application you usually receive a confirmation letter or e-mail from the company informing you that they did indeed receive your application. And most of the letters are actually signed by real people. You can also count on getting a rejection letter if you did not make the cut. Something that rarely if ever happened to me in Canada. At one point I did receive a rejection letter from Kimberley Clark some six months after submitting my application. By that time I did already have another job. However, getting a letter at all was definitely the exception. The German companies also send back the contents of your application package with the rejection letter i.e. your resume, supporting documents etc. . They do keep the cover letter though. Still it's good that you get back all the other stuff considering that you might have to send out up to 100 applications before finding a job.