HUNGARY | Internship: At Work | Applying for an internship
When applying for a placement you usually need two documents: your CV and a cover letter.
Your CV should be one or two pages at the maximum, and well structured. Therefore it is advisable to prepare a CV in the Europass format, as employers often prefer this format in Hungary. Please note that Hungarian employers consider a good academic background, linguistic and computer skills really important. Therefore you should emphasize them in your CV.
The covering letter is usually pretty short, about 15 to 20 lines. It is advisable to prepare a new and personalized cover letter for each application.
Since it is typical in Hungary that personal contacts lead to the application procedure, the first phase of having to write an application letter can be skipped and replaced by e-mail and/or telephone contact by the person acting as a contact.
If you are successful in the screening you will be invited to one or more interviews or to assessment centers. Hungarian companies as well as multinational firms often use psychological tests and assessment centers, as they have similar selection procedures for their worldwide recruitment activities.
Interviews are the most crucial part of the selection procedure. No rules can be given regarding how many interviews will be held. Most often, though, there are two interviews: the first is a one-to-one, and the second is a panel interview.
Dress neatly and conservatively. During the interview stay moderate and avoid the aggressive “sell yourself” approach because it can work against you; it tends to be considered as arrogance among Hungarians.
Sending a speculative application to the local office in which you would like to work is a reasonably successful strategy in Hungary.