“The others seem to be enthusiastic about you joining the team, but I’m still not so certain,” were the first words out of the Director’s mouth. This was my first job interview since moving to the Netherlands from the US. “It seems like Americans are extremely sensitive about almost everything. Are you?” he continued. This style of communication really caught me off-guard. His words rang like dissonance to my ears. How do I respond to this? Was that an insult? What does me being an American have to do with sensitivity? One thing was sure, this was one heck of an introduction to the Dutch labor market.
As the conversation went on, the direct line of questioning continued. “What’s going to happen when one of us tells you that your work is ‘lousy’?” It wasn’t until this very moment that it dawned on me what he was getting at. Actually, it was a very reasonable question to ask of any potential employee. Though his style seemed a little crude and left me somewhat befuddled, he was simply asking about a competence needed for this line of work: handling criticism. This was a crash course in cultural communications, a lesson that I’m certain never to forget.
In my short time working as a technology editor, I’ve actually come to be a fan of the Dutch style of communication. People in this country don’t mince words and they say exactly what’s on their mind. While it takes me out of my comfort zone and definitely takes some getting used to – something I’m still working to do – this sort of direct dialogue can be very helpful as you almost always know exactly where you stand.
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