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The German interview, and the questions they are not allowed to ask
A German interview is more formal than its English-speaking equivalent and less of a performance. Expect Sie throughout, a handshake, and a start that is punctual to the minute — arrive ten minutes early and be in the building, not on the doorstep. Überpünktlichkeit is not rewarded either: twenty minutes early puts someone to the trouble of looking after you. The structure is usually the same. Small talk is short and often about the journey. Then they ask you to walk through your CV, and the expected answer is chronological and factual rather than a story about your motivation. Then the competence questions, the ones in this lesson's grammar. Then your questions, and having none is a mark against you — ask about the team, the first six months, how the role came to exist. Salary usually comes last and often from HR rather than the manager, which is the next lesson. The part worth knowing in advance is what may not be asked. German law limits questions to matters relevant to the job, so questions about pregnancy or a wish to have children, religion, party membership, trade-union involvement, or an illness that does not affect the work are unzulässige Fragen — inadmissible. And German law draws a conclusion from that which surprises people: because the question was not permitted, you are entitled to answer it untruthfully, and an employer cannot later void the contract because you did. Courts have repeatedly upheld that for the pregnancy question in particular. You do not have to use that right, and a calm redirection often works better — Ich würde beim Beruf bleiben, wenn das für Sie passt — but knowing it exists takes the panic out of the moment. Two smaller conventions. Nobody expects you to praise the company extravagantly; a specific reason is worth more than enthusiasm. And the interview may well end with no signal at all about how it went, followed by a decision in a week or two. That is not coolness, it is the process, and the follow-up email that is standard in North America is neither expected nor held against you.