Monday, September 08, 2008
The Interview and the aftermath
I recently updated my resume and to my surprise, I realized that I chalked up quite a lot of experience in my current company. My job responsibilities filled up almost 1 page (in bullet form). Not bad, considering I have been on the job for only 6 months.
I went for an interview with a telecoms company. Sad to say, I screwed up the interview by shooting myself in the foot. In fact, I felt like shooting myself in the head as i felt the words leave my mouth. You know, its the same feeling that you get just nanoseconds after you hit the "send" and your sms get sent to the wrong person. That's the exact same feeling I got, but of course 10 times worse in magnitude. There was no way to retract the sentence since it was already halfway out of my mouth.
Oh well, it just shows a couple of things - 1) I need more interview experience. 2) I need to lie better
But I must say that all is not lost. I learnt quite a few things from the interview. For one, I realized that you better have a very good reason why you want to leave a company after just 6 months. My interviewer was very persistent about that fact. And perhaps I didn't lie well enough and she saw through it? And I realized that they valued my 6 months in my current job more than the 3.5 years in my previous company. They didn't focus much on my past job, despite the fact that it was telco related.
I also learnt to trust my gut feel. I didn't like the vibe i was getting from the HR person and my interviewer. In fact, I didn't even feel a nice vibe coming from the receptionists, both of them. You might say that I am sour grapes since I did not fare well for the interview, but seriously, if my interviewer is going to be the person I will be working with, i think I will be in a worse off situation if i got the job. And the HR person didn't even give a smile, didn't even bother to properly introduce herself (I still don't know what is her exact designation). What's up the with uppity atitude? And I'm not the first to have the same feeling about the organization too. Another friend also had the same treatment. In his words, he felt that he was scrutinized even to the smallest detail. His interviewer even commented on his slightly torn shoe! I was like.... ok.... do I really want to work in a company which micromanages to that extent? Especially when I don't like the micromanaging I get in my cuurrent workplace?
And after much review, I realized that I don't really hate my job. I do enjoy what i am doing, its only 1 person which I don't like (which I have totally no respect for. How do you work for someone when you have no motivation?) and just how the organization works, especially in terms of approvals (which take forever due to the levels I have to go through, which is 3-4 levels btw). And also the fact that my manager does not know how to groom people (which is why my colleague is leaving). But on the flip side, i have to admit that the place has very little politics. So i guess it is still a good learning ground.
So I am still looking.... I will still try to hang on for 1 year, but at the same time i am looking around for opportunities... Anyone have lobang, do tell me!
I went for an interview with a telecoms company. Sad to say, I screwed up the interview by shooting myself in the foot. In fact, I felt like shooting myself in the head as i felt the words leave my mouth. You know, its the same feeling that you get just nanoseconds after you hit the "send" and your sms get sent to the wrong person. That's the exact same feeling I got, but of course 10 times worse in magnitude. There was no way to retract the sentence since it was already halfway out of my mouth.
Oh well, it just shows a couple of things - 1) I need more interview experience. 2) I need to lie better
But I must say that all is not lost. I learnt quite a few things from the interview. For one, I realized that you better have a very good reason why you want to leave a company after just 6 months. My interviewer was very persistent about that fact. And perhaps I didn't lie well enough and she saw through it? And I realized that they valued my 6 months in my current job more than the 3.5 years in my previous company. They didn't focus much on my past job, despite the fact that it was telco related.
I also learnt to trust my gut feel. I didn't like the vibe i was getting from the HR person and my interviewer. In fact, I didn't even feel a nice vibe coming from the receptionists, both of them. You might say that I am sour grapes since I did not fare well for the interview, but seriously, if my interviewer is going to be the person I will be working with, i think I will be in a worse off situation if i got the job. And the HR person didn't even give a smile, didn't even bother to properly introduce herself (I still don't know what is her exact designation). What's up the with uppity atitude? And I'm not the first to have the same feeling about the organization too. Another friend also had the same treatment. In his words, he felt that he was scrutinized even to the smallest detail. His interviewer even commented on his slightly torn shoe! I was like.... ok.... do I really want to work in a company which micromanages to that extent? Especially when I don't like the micromanaging I get in my cuurrent workplace?
And after much review, I realized that I don't really hate my job. I do enjoy what i am doing, its only 1 person which I don't like (which I have totally no respect for. How do you work for someone when you have no motivation?) and just how the organization works, especially in terms of approvals (which take forever due to the levels I have to go through, which is 3-4 levels btw). And also the fact that my manager does not know how to groom people (which is why my colleague is leaving). But on the flip side, i have to admit that the place has very little politics. So i guess it is still a good learning ground.
So I am still looking.... I will still try to hang on for 1 year, but at the same time i am looking around for opportunities... Anyone have lobang, do tell me!
# posted by Xallista @ 7:10 PM 
