2015 First interview : The Digest & Analysis

Left (envelope) : My scribbles during waiting for 2nd session.
Right (spiral book) : Accept or Withdraw self-analyze.

First interview in 2015 : 

The digest and analysis

I promised to myself that I’m going to seriously re-launch the job-hunt activities for permanent ones, starting Feb 2015. Very few know the reasons and yet very few too knew what I’ve been doing in these 1 and a half years.

Let me get straight to the point. I didn’t apply for the position offered, neither nor not of this company. I had this unfamiliar number calling me since Thaipusam Day (Tuesday) that I didn’t intend to take. Until the next day (Wednesday), another unfamiliar mobile phone number called and later left me an SMS telling me who they are and their purpose of contacting – to arrange an interview session. I have no idea why I’m invited since I’ve no memories applying any position at the company. Nevertheless, I checked the company background, with curiosity. I didn’t get a clue. But when they call me again on the next day (Thursday), I can’t help to feel… strange. I asked what position I’m interviewed for, but the person in charge told me, “Maybe Chemist”. Maybe?

Later, I recalled myself hand passed my resume to my neighbor who said he’d help me find a job – that’s like more than a year ago. Few months ago, he once called me said there’s a manufacturing company (factory) looking for someone with Chemistry basic, but at that time I didn’t pay attention to the location and the name of the company. So, was it him, my neighbor who did pass my resume to this company? YES, it was. I figured it out after I called him and confirmed it myself. And, he, my neighbor offered to send me to the company for interview. I hesitated since it’s Friday and there’ll be Friday Prayer and there’s possibility I’m interrupting – burdening in lots of way. But he insisted, so I told Mom and Mom talked to my neighbor’s wife, asking his wife to tag along. Yeah well, the company situated 40 minutes from my house – that’s uncertainty of distance - close or far gonna get people talking a lot of things, and we’re trying our best to avoid it. After all, he’s someone husband and I’m a single woman and we’re just neighbors, so.

We (my neighbors – hubby & wifey & me) departed at around 7.00am, Friday morning. The hubby pulled in at one restaurant for breakfast stop. I ate my breakfast at home so I just ordered some iced Milo – it felt so awkward being a stranger to a married couple, being watching the two eating & drinking while you’re doing & having nothing, so.

We passed the front gate of the company at around 8.45. But the hubby drove through and headed straight to Kuala Kangsar. Yeah, neither he or his wife told me they’re gonna head to KK earlier but it’s not a big deal, we had plenty of time to kill, in a good way.

So, it was the area affected by the flood several weeks ago. Few has started operating again but many still closed or under maintenance. How sad to see the old and shabby shops have to face the flood. Not just their belongings, part of their lives were swept away too. Well, we all have nothing to hold on except hopes right? Let’s hope they could restart their business and back to their normal lives. We spent about half an hour there, most of the time I filled by watching the surroundings and capturing few shots with my camera phone. I could’ve brought my digital camera if I knew we’re pulling in here but oh well~.

9.35 we’re headed to the company. At the entrance gate, I was asked by the security to turn in my IC and I’ve waited for few minutes while the in-charge security officer recorded my personal details on Visitor’s record. I was guarded until the main entrance and of course, once entered, I can’t simply walk in or out as my visitor pass won’t allow the automated doors opened. Hmm, pretty secured huh? The company is, quite huge. Yeah, considering the nature of their business, their manufacturing products… you want some hint? Every single person on earth must use this to build a house.

As usual, I have to fill in forms – all the personal particular details about you. At 10.35, I was called for interview. The interviewers – a couple of Indian woman, representative from HR and representative from my future department (I guess) who is a Chinese man. The interview, was more like a talk. I was asked by the HR rep first and it’s just general things. Then, when it switched to the Chinese male, I started to feel nervous. He wears serious face, not scary but you know, the type you can’t feel familiar with just few conversations. He told me about my future job scope, the task and responsibility and the potential raise in both career development and in personal growth – in a very simple explanation. I imagined myself doing a water analysis in a lab, monitoring the parameters, take the readings, doing the tests, analyzing the data. That’s gonna be my routine job. If error encountered, I’m gonna need to call technician or engineer for advice and maintenance help.

But as soon as he finished explaining, he asked me, “Are you willing to do the job?” I remembered what I answered clearly, “If I’m given the opportunity, I will definitely want to try to do it.”

So he tested me. He asked me if I know what is “mole”. Yep, I know. ALL pure science stream students will definitely have learned this in high school, you don’t have to be in college, you don’t have to have a degree. In fact, as long as I remembered, Economics & Literature students too have studied mole in high school.

But when asked during interview, in English, I’m hesitating to answer. What is mole? Can you describe it like once you did in SPM paper back then? I can’t. I studied the whole thing in Malay, later I was taught in Japanese. So the first word came to my mind was ‘kepekatan’, which is in Malay and the next is, 「濃度」, in Japanese. Then he gave me sample question,

“Give me the mole if I have 100g of Sodium Chloride in 1L of water.”

My first answer was 0.1. I almost forgot that mole, doesn’t have unit. I forgot I need JMR (Jisim Molekul Relatif) or Molecular Relative Mass to calculate mole. I took more than 10 minutes to figure it out. I scribbled on my Visitor pass in order to recall it back. So he said, “Show me the formula. I just want to know if you know how to calculate mole”. Gahh. Ashamed and feel stupid, I showed him,

mol = g / JMR

Yep. You’ll have mole when given mass is divided with MRM. How couldn’t I get it right at first? Nervous? No. Not just that. I left Chemistry for more than 5 years, that’s the reason & I didn’t prepare anything before attending this interview – more like an excuse. Then my first session of interview finished. But I were told that there is one more person will interview me but they’re uncertain of his availability. I expected he is someone with super position in the company since his ‘availability’ is uncertain. Usually the big bosses are like this, only those at tops of the company.

In the end, the second session interview was pushed to 2.30pm, after Friday prayer. My neighbor had to return home to pick up his daughters from school and also, for Friday Prayer. I feel bad to be such a burden. But I can’t help myself. It’s not me who decided to delay but pushed this interview to be done today.

Around 2.40pm, the HR rep who interviewed me this morning asked me to meet my next interviewer. It’s Mr. L, the General Manager. Great. And I happened to know he’s a GM after I’m seated in his room. A Chinese male, he looked very friendly from the beginning, the way he speaks, the way he greets, the way he smiles. But his familiar-ness is not gonna ease my nervous feelings.

He talked a lot. It all began when I pointed out a little information (issues) about my former company. Few points I exposed have indirectly giving him hints on how I see things and also, giving him first few vital impressions about me. I can’t write them all because it’s gonna be confidentiality breach. But few things that he mentioned and opinionated by him got me thinking and self-evaluating myself on how I view things so far. Some I already did and realized before but now, currently, forgotten.

“There is no such thing as bad companies. There’s only bad management. Or the bad that comes from the employee(s) themselves.”

“We hold the power to change the company, the key to change is us. It’s us to determine. We can stay or we can change or work hard to be a change.”

“The overtime is not created for earning more. It was there to finish the unfinished works. And the works is in order to smooth the operation, for company growth and development, and once it’s achieved, the company will reward you and that is also will become the real growth and development for you.”

So, I was said that I seemed to be a self-centered person, one who looks for self-contentment in life, one who seeks the quality of life. These are based on how I spoke and how I opinionated things, also the hobbies I wrote on the particular details form. Well, I’m still in the phase of analyzing myself. Have my thinking method or perspective have changed to be very very mild & shallow since I left manufacturing world? Have I gone too fragile or too soft to myself? I used to be tough, less-confident but tough on mind. Or am I have become too concerned with what people think of me on the inside, while on the outside I’m trying so hard to act the opposite?

I don’t have the answers to all these. But, I’ve given few days to ponder on my decision – to accept or withdraw this application. If I accept, there’ll be second interview with Senior GM, which will be scheduled only after my decision.