Everything started in june the 28th. After taking 3 weeks of holidays, I started my job research full of hopes and motivations. I left Reykjavik mid-june to continue my holidays in Paris where I thought it would be a good idea to start my researches. I spent several hours a day on the internet looking for something that could suit my wishes. I must say that I was quite difficult. I absolutely wanted to work in a precise field doing exactly what I wanted in order to avoid the “I hate my job” way of thinking. Foolish… …but fair.
One of the job offer that caught my intention was a position in Oslo, Norway, in the Information System departement of a major company: SA. SA is about 100 000 employees worldwide, present in around 100 countries throughout the 5 continents. Consolidated sales of 28 billion euros and more than 4 billion euros Research & Development. The big company indeed. I sent my application not knowing my chances really. June 28th was the date of my first interview in the mother company located in Paris. The interview went just fine. I have the necessary knowledge and educational background with the great asset of my experience in Iceland.
2 weeks later, and dozen of unsuccessful applications sent. I got an invitation for 2 others interviews in the major Paris office with the human resources director of northern Europe and the IT - information technology - manager of the European area. Once again, my interview went flawless and the two persons seemed excessively happy of my candidacy. They told me the next step was interviews and presentation of the position in Oslo with the managers of the branch. The bad point was we were indeed in the middle of July. Date where employees, and let me add: especially in Scandinavia, take their summer break.
I finally got an answer on August 21st and a formal invitation. I flew from Reykjavik to Oslo for a day in August 24th and met about 3 or 4 people during the afternoon. Once again it went flawlessly, I personnaly liked the job itself and the people there obviously liked me. On the way back to the airport the boss of the department even told me that they wouldn’t need to meet and that without any doubt they accepted my candidacy.
The information got back to Paris and I waited a few days until the administration process went throught. I flew back from Reykjavik to Paris and a day after my arrival, I received an email from a women working in the “International mobility” of SA telling me that I’m not eligible for the type of contract they were intended to make.
I called right away, the human ressources director that I met late July. The only thing she found to say was “Oh, I’m really sorry to hear that. Try to call this guy, he might have a position that would suit you“. My reaction was more or less like: ‘Tell me where the hidden camera is?’ I was furious… I wrote an email to the people from Oslo the day after. They answered they promise to see what they can do to eventually conclude a local contract. Nearly 3 months and 900€ of travel expense on their charge after, I had a final answer on September 21th. They are very sorry, obviously, but they can’t offer me any kind of contract but an internship training. I refused straight away.
[...] holidays are approaching slowly and I’ve been thinking I’m almost a year away from the SA fiasco and the aborted moving to Norway. While I was walking to my office I unwittingly started to sum up [...]