03 & 04 & 05: Application & Onboarding:

Kühne + Hammer or Zappi?

After her well thought-out application for a vacancy in Controlling, which was tailored to the
position, Jessy Wellington was delighted to be invited for an interview with this renowned
global leader in logistics. After her very good Bachelor's degree, she had been looking
forward to starting work at last. She felt like finally being able to apply her knowledge and
no longer spend time at university. During her internship, she had already gotten a taste of
what working life could offer and was looking forward to a position in controlling. This had
been her major during her studies, and she was passionate about checking numbers and
tables for accuracy in order to examine business processes and develop optimizations.

Today, it was important for her to convince the interviewer with a good self-presentation
right from the start. How could she have been so nervous? She had prepared so well! The
assistant picked her up for the interview from the waiting room and introduced her to the
personnel manager Sandra Bauer as the applicant for the job in Controlling. The personnel
manager had also called in the head of the controlling department, Mr. Firaz Özben, to
attend the interview. Both seemed nice and open-minded, but Jessy still felt uncomfortable
because the small talk she was so familiar with from her second home in Wales was
somewhat lacking here in Germany.

The start of the conversation was relatively brief and abrupt, and she was immediately asked
by Ms. Bauer what had prompted her to apply for the job. Why did these companies always
have to fish for self-affirmation about how great their company is and that a job only with
them and no other company would be important to them? As if the job application situation
hadn't long since turned into an employee market - and this despite the Corona pandemic
that had now been going on for 15 months. Jessy hated this hypocritical way in which Ms.
Bauer was also 'asking' the facts of the company philosophy from her here, as if there was
nothing more important than dealing with it in advance. What was that all about? And she
was even less interested in how many employees were working at the Kuehne + Hammer
location in Bremen, the headquarters, or in the whole of Germany or worldwide. So she had
not memorized the numbers. For her, it had been much more important that the career
website was well designed and even here offered tiles in individual work areas... and the 45
open positions in Controlling had immediately caught her attention. Likewise, the
storytelling and some of the video clips had been convincing - so it was all the more
incomprehensible to Jessy that it now came to this fact checking. Unfortunately, she had
not been able to score at all here. Maybe the rest of the interview would improve in quality
and give her the chance to present herself in a better light.

Fortunately, her hopes were right and the interview gave her the chance to demonstrate her
skills. Ms. Bauer as well as Mr. Özben had probably heard about behavioral-based
interviews in university just like herself and asked questions that inquired about already
applied core competencies of the position to be filled. She had remembered this method
and had already looked at the desired competencies of the job posting and had prepared
herself trying to find situations that lent themselves to proving her skills in this regard. It
was good that she had done this. Now it was paying off, because she had obviously been
able to convince the two interviewers of her abilities. Although she was told when she left
that there would be a few more interviews, she received positive feedback within two days
that she could start at the next possible date. Now it was time to move as quickly as
possible from her old university town of Würzburg to Bremen. The move from her small
 03 & 04 & 05: Application & Onboarding:
Kühne + Hammer or Zappi?
student flatmate would not involve much effort, and renting out the room again should also
be possible quickly given the shortage of affordable housing for students.

Great, the employment contract was sent to her by e-mail the very next day. She took it
upon herself to read everything carefully, because this was the first real and important
contract of this kind that she had to sign. Now, at last, the eagerly awaited start to her
working life would come - she could hardly wait.

When Jessy got up the next morning in a good mood and ran into the kitchen, she already
saw her three room-mates sitting there at the kitchen table. When she had seen the mail
confirmation last night, one roommate was already asleep, and the other two were out
somewhere. So she had not yet been able to tell them how happy she was about the offer.
Completely proud, she sputtered right out and told the other three how well everything had
turned out and that the conditions were also really good. In addition it happened that the
rents in Bremen were quite favorable in comparison to Bavaria. So she would be able to get
by on a salary that was good for a young professional. And the company also had a really
good reputation. Both Ms. Bauer and Mr. Özben had really painted a positive picture of the
working conditions, and the working atmosphere had to be really good, too - with a young
and lively team.

After a hearty breakfast, she went back to her room, fired up her laptop and checked her
inbox - just a few notifications of more job openings she had subscribed to....but that wasn't
necessary now. She would stop the subscription as soon as the contract was signed. It could
only be a matter of a few hours before she finally received the contract.

The morning passed, the afternoon too, and Jessy had not yet received a contract. She even
checked her spam filter, but no important mail had gotten lost there either. Towards
evening she checked again, but still nothing. Slowly she began to doubt. This could not be
true! Tomorrow she would contact Ms. Bauer. Pondering and slightly unsettled, she went
to bed.

The next morning she just rolled over to the other side of her bed and started her laptop,
which was still at the side of her bed, because she had streamed a movie in the evening to
be able to fall asleep...and again no mail from Kühne + Hammer. Well, then she had to call
Bremen. But first Jessy wanted to drink a tea in good English fashion with milk and wake up
before she picked up the phone. Half an hour later, she had Ms. Bauer on the phone. She
apologized, but said that some things had come up, but there was no problem and the
contract would come in the next few days. Jessy didn't have the courage to push the issue
and insist that the contract would be delivered on the same day as agreed. How should she
proceed now? She had to cancel her room in the shared flat, but without a contract it was
an uncertain matter. Maybe she should wait until the documents arrived for her. And the
other applications that were still in the pipeline? An interview was also scheduled for
tomorrow. Should she still go there? The preliminary interview had already taken place via
Zoom, but the HR manager and the specialist at the paper manufacturer Sappi Stockstadt
GmbH in Aschaffenburg still wanted to meet her in person. This was a small SME, originally
PWA, with changing company owners and several takeovers in the last decades. All just to
be on the safe side? She would have to lay out money again, even if she was reimbursed by
the company, but she was so strapped for cash. What a bummer!
 03 & 04 & 05: Application & Onboarding:
Kühne + Hammer or Zappi?
The next day, she actually went to Aschaffenburg, and the interview went really pleasantly
and well. The company was not Jessy's first choice, but her interviewer had immediately
signaled strong interest. She was still on her way with her carpool ride when Jessy got the
call that she could have the job. Now she had a real luxury problem on her hands. Two job
offers! Bremen would be a nice change, even though Jessy wasn't so sure she really wanted
to get out of Bavaria. She had been born and raised in Ingolstadt, the child of a Brit and a
German, then she had studied in Würzburg, and somehow she was proud of her Bavarian
homeland.

Once she arrived in Würzburg, she looked in her mailbox again, and what did she see?
Again, no contract from Kühne + Nagel, but instead she had mail from Zappi. She was
welcomed as a new member of the Zappi family. Attached to the very nicely written mail
was a PDF brochure on the company's onboarding measures. Likewise, this outlined
development opportunities and also the company's own mentoring program. It all looked
really quite good! Why didn't Kühne + Hammer get off the ground and finally send the
documents...because this was actually her preferred option.

The next morning Jessy called Bremen again, but Mrs. Bauer was on sick leave for the next
two weeks and nobody else was able to give information about Jessy's contract. Well, too
bad! Jessy had to make a decision as soon as possible, look for a new apartment and cancel
her room rental. She had no choice but to accept Zappi's offer - then she would at least stay
in Bavaria for the time being. Aschaffenburg and the surrounding area was also good. At
least she would have the Main River as well as beautiful vineyards around her there too, just
like in Würzburg. The rents are of course much higher due to the proximity to Frankfurt, but
the conditions at Zappi were remarkable for such a small company.

Jessy had made her decision and told Zappi that she would accept the job. Within an hour,
she had received all the documents from the HR department - well, there you go, Jessy
thought...and after that, everything went in a flash. Fortunately, she had found two small
apartments via Immowelt for the next day, for which she could arrange viewing
appointments. She had booked the ride with the carpooling agency and with the support of
her parents, the rental of the second apartment, which she found really cute, also went
okay. Now it was getting serious! Two contracts within such a short time - and everything
happened so fast! At the first of the next month she would move her residence and start
working at the same time. Now it was really serious - and yet she looked forward to it all
with joyful excitement.

Now the time had finally come! In advance, Jessy had received a map of how to get there as
well as information about the schedule for the first day of work. It worked! She had not
heard anything more from Kühne + Hammer - really disappointing. Instead, she had
probably made a really good choice. After she had been given her company ID and access to
e-mail and the intranet, Jessy had a meeting with her new manager, Helena Karagonis,
whom she had already met in the personal interview. Helena directly offered her the "Du"
and first-name basis, then she showed Jessy her work area. Both went to Helena's office,
where a pleasant conversation was going on, in which Jessy was also introduced to her
departmental mentor, Sascha. Just like Jessy, Sascha had the job of a controller, however,
he had been with the department for two years and knew his way around. After Helena
asked Jessy to spend the first week working through the organizational manuals that were
 03 & 04 & 05: Application & Onboarding:
Kühne + Hammer or Zappi?
posted on the intranet, Sascha walked her through the department and introduced her to all
the other employees.

Oh no! Going through the organizational manuals now - surely there were other ways to
learn about the company and common methods. Sascha seemed okay. She would just ask
him if she couldn't get around this boring reading. When Jessy at the common lunch
cautiously probed whether Sascha saw alternative ways of proceeding, he only meant that
she should rather stick to the instructions, because otherwise Helena would be quickly
disgruntled. Starting next week, Jessy could then also work with Sascha to learn the
department's own procedures.

Well, there she was, not sure if she had made the right choice?!?!

A few weeks later, thanks to Sascha's help, Jessy had settled in quite well at the company,
although she wished that her direct supervisor Helena Karagonis would treat her with more
appreciation and include her in the issues. Why did Helena have such a hard time trusting
her coworkers? It almost seemed as if Helena was constantly checking whether the
employees were really doing their jobs, while Jessy always had the feeling that her
colleagues, and Sascha in particular, were motivated, willing to take on responsibility, and
happy to do their jobs. Nevertheless, Helena was always busy with micro-management and
gave everyone the feeling that Helena almost assumed that the employees simply did not
have the necessary skills to do their jobs.

Jessy was still in her probationary period. Should she possibly apply somewhere else? She
could still get out of the job pretty quickly, and despite the Corona pandemic, the job market
wasn't bad.