A Three-Hour Journey at the Jobmesse
Finding an internship in Germany to write your thesis is almost an extreme sport.
It depends on your field, your luck, and whether the stars that day decide your résumé doesn’t look too boring.
But we all dream of that — getting paid to write your thesis and, if the universe conspires, ending up with a job offer.
I managed to do it in three hours.
Yes, three hours.
At a Jobmesse that felt like an emotional rollercoaster — with laughs, many rejections, and a few promises as believable as a politician’s campaign speech.
First Hour
I arrived early, well-dressed and freshly scented, with four confirmed interviews.
Interview after interview, everything seemed fine… until they gave me that “we’ll call you” with a funeral smile.
I walked out wondering if my face said “hire me” or “run while you still can.”
But I had gone through so many interviews already that it felt like another failed date: you talk, she pretends to be interested, and both know there won’t be a second time.
So I took a breath, turned around, and decided to do what people do when they have nothing left to lose — go on a corporate speed date.
Second Hour
Some companies looked at me with pity, like a wet cat.
Others smiled politely just to get rid of me.
I knew they weren’t going to hire me, and they knew they didn’t want to.
Still, we all pretended to be civilized.
There I was, repeating my pitch over and over like a door-to-door salesman, while remembering my father saying, “You can’t have everything in life, Junior.”
Maybe not, but everything is such a relative word that I sent my insecurity to hell (sorry, Mom) and went stand by stand like a Jehovah’s Witness spreading the gospel of “please hire me.”
Third Hour
By then, with zero expectations left, I started to enjoy it.
Some people loved my story; others only wanted to know what it’s like to be “a foreigner in Germany,” as if I were some exotic species.
Maybe, in a way, I am.
Of course, there were also those who ignored me with professional precision.
To all of them, I gave my best smile before leaving.
Then I stumbled upon a company called Hot Ice Cream.
They gave me a quick, serious, no-nonsense interview — short, efficient, and somehow different.
Without knowing it, they had just opened the doors to a multinational where, months later, I would write my master’s thesis… and receive my first job offer in Germany, entirely on their initiative.
Sometimes three hours are all it takes for everything to change.
Or to end up with sore feet — but with the comforting thought that, even if nothing had worked out, I would have slept peacefully knowing I tried everything.
A Sad Thank You
By one of those absurd coincidences life throws at you, the morning I started handwriting this story —as I often do— I learned about the passing of Prof. Dr. Tilly, who had been the supervisor of my thesis.
I’ll always be deeply grateful for his patience and the time he took to accompany me to the company to define my research topic.
His students and former students will miss him dearly.
