29 6 / 2010
Business Developer by Dialogues Technology - part 1
Everything started almost one year ago, Andra and me were getting back from an amazing 3 weeks trip to Japan, I was progressing with my thesis and we decided to rent an amazing apartment in the center of Amsterdam (the same one where I am living today).
I agreed to rent it with my closed eyes, being sure that I will graduate soon and I’ll get an internship or a job fast and for a couple of months. Why I was looking for a job when I told everyone in Bucharest that I am coming back after graduation? Because the desire to know how is to work in NL and if the benefits in terms of experience, knowledge, learning curve, diversity etc. will result in a more professional and personal developed version of myself, overtook me. And honestly, I did the right thing. But it wasn’t easy.
Still, I am coming back home, but not yet. I am just passing a phase of knowledge accumulation that I hope will help me to achieve my plans.
I was in Amsterdam, no job or internship and with a rent to pay each month. When you are a foreigner, undergraduate, with work permit issues in Netherlands, the situation is pretty risky and bad. But still, I believed in me and in my CV.
So, I started to apply … to almost 35 different companies (the big ones that make students wet: consultancy, multinationals, you name them) and received … 25 rejections (I didn’t get 10 internships possibilities though, those companies were to busy to give me an answer). What to do? I can’t leave Amsterdam like this, on the back door. I want the golden gates to be opened for me. So, I did not stop there. Another 15 applications, maybe, maybe I will get an interview at least. Nothing.
The luck has struck me when I visited Sven at his work place - the Dialogues Incubator. Sven was an Intern there, showed me the place, made fun of me when I could not close my mouth from a big “wow” that I had from seeing the conference room that looks liek an UFO.
A crazy and funny place that I am lucky to see everyday since then. Because I met his managers that instantly asked me to send them my CV, which I did in the same day. After 2 weeks, kabuum: I got the email - “When can you start?”.
1st lesson learned: Your CV can shine as gold, but you NEED to know people that can recommend you. It is known that “It’s always about the network”.
To be continued….
