Job Interview Jitters

by Jochebed Jayasooria

Three young professionals tell Jochebed Jayasooria about their job interview experiences.

How do you prepare for a job interview? Wear your best outfit and say a quick prayer as you enter that interview room? Three young professionals share their job interview experiences, and a secret or two to help you succeed.

Firstly, do your research

Encik Aris Arapa, an Assistant TV Producer with Radio Television Malaysia (RTM), prepared himself thoroughly on the company before he went for the interview. The minute he was sent the interview letter, he surfed the Internet and did a lot of reading to gain more knowledge of the company as well as the job scope. Therefore when he went for the interview, he was not caught off-guard by difficult questions.

Encik Sayed Munnawar however got the other end of the stick at his first job interview. He was not prepared for questions that concerned his hometown. Unfortunately, he hardly spent time there and it turned out that one of the interviewers knew more about Sayed's hometown than he did. This led to him fumbling through his answer and it came as no big surprise when he was not offered a job there. This was a shame as the interview was with Shell.

An interview gives you a chance to assess the company. As Ms Josephine Wan-Wen Hadikusomo, a lawyer with Wan & Co, Kota Kinabalu, puts it, "A good fit has to go both ways. I need to know if the company is what I am looking for, not just if I am what they are looking for." An interesting remark, as very often we don't wonder whether we would really enjoy the job or fit into the working style. Instead, we are too caught up trying to impress the interviewers or fit into the job description.

Know the interview process

Different companies have different methods of interviewing applicants. It is good to do some detective work to prepare yourself for the type of interview, the number of interviewees, etc.

Josephine has been for all sorts of interviews, both locally and internationally. Overseas, she finds her interview sessions quite casual, just on a one-on-one basis; but she was still a student then and the jobs she was applying for were not corporate positions. At one interview, there was a panel of interviewers plus a fellow associate in Singapore communicating via videoconferencing on a large screen. This was quite overwhelming for Josephine. Nonetheless she still gave it her best shot and eventually got the job.

When Aris applied for his job at RTM, he was not invited for an interview right away. He had to go through three different stages in order to be selected for the job. Firstly, he sat for the online general test, after that he had to go through a voice test and a few other auditions. Only after he passed all those stages was he invited for an interview.

" Should the interviewers post some tricky questions that may twist your mind, you have to prepare for the worse because working life is just like that," advises Sayed who has experienced interviews with prominent companies such as Shell, Daewoo and Citibank.

"Different companies have different policies. So you have to anticipate, prepare yourself and adjust accordingly."

Be sure of yourself

In all instances, it is important to be self-assured and confident to convince a company to hire you. Most companies hire based on personality as well as credentials, especially big corporations and multinational companies. They always look for vibrant characters who can portray their company's image well.

It is important, nonetheless, not to "try too hard or be overconfident or no one will believe you," says Josephine who has never walked away from an interview without being offered a job. As Sayed puts it, "I know it is never good to be too confident." At one of his interviews, he was a bit demanding, a style that didn't match the more soft-spoke interviewee. Sayed did not get offered a position there.

You need to find your personal style, know your strengths and weaknesses and use them to your best advantage during an interview. Different people have different mannerisms, and there is no benchmark for the best personality. The key is knowing who you are and presenting that image clearly and confidently to others.

Josephine feels that everyone should have a "hook factor, something that sets you apart from others." It could be anything about your background or culture, just something that interests other people about you. This sort of individuality is very appealing to others and will certainly help in your presentation of yourself.

"Be true to yourself without disrespecting your environment, and don't be too individualistic as that doesn't exhibit wisdom," adds Josephine. That is definitely a very valid point. Very often, people want to be so different that they end up looking or sounding ridiculous.

Everyone should have a "hook factor, something that sets you apart from others."

Present yourself well

Dressing is extremely important; some fresh graduates have gone for interviews dressed in jeans, their hair messy and fingernails dirty. This sort of appearance makes it impossible for even the most sympathetic employer to hire you.

Aris had read the tips in Graduan and was prepared for his interview. According to him, "I wore formal attire and had my hair cut. I woke up early and reached the interview place 30 minutes before the interview started." This would have presented a good image of Aris to his potential employers. Also, by arriving early, it gave him some time to calm himself and not be harried. He also took the opportunity to talk to some of the staff about the interviewers so he would have a rough idea of what they were like. When it was his turn for the interview, he greeted the interviewers by name, which was a smart move because it showed professionalism and that he took the added effort to remember their names.

A suggestion from Josephine for fresh graduates is to "try and see yourself from a third-person perspective," meaning you should put yourself in the interviewer's shoes and reflect on the image that you are presenting. She feels that you should be able to assess the interviewers' response towards you within the first three minutes. She also advises people to be open during the interview and find some common platform with the interviewer to break the ice. This will also make you feel more comfortable and makes the interview a bit more relaxed.

Don't give up

Not all of us will be as fortunate as Josephine in getting an offer every time we go for an interview. In fact, most of us are likely to get one out of ten job interviews that we go for. Sometimes, it just depends on the type of position and the fact that your "profile does not suit the company's requirements, so you can be good for certain things but not relevant at the same time," says Sayed. He applied for more than 100 positions, and only got responses from about 15 employers. This indicates about a 15% success rate, which is not bad in his opinion!

"I made many mistakes during my presentation and interview processes, but I learned from them," remarks Sayed. Although he may have missed out on a few job opportunities, he eventually secured a position as a manager with Akademi Pengurusan YPEIM, which is owned by the Malaysian Islamic Economic Development Foundation. This was a very good opportunity for him because although he was a fresh graduate, he was appointed a manager plus he got paid above the market rate.

A learning experience

Every job interview, whether successful or not, is an opportunity to learn. Do a post-interview analysis - What was the experience like? How was the process? What did the interviewers want? How did you do? What could you have done better? The answers to such questions will help you in preparing for the next one.

And the learning doesn't stop when you do get the job. For Aris, working with TV programmes gives him plenty of exposure to high-profile individuals. Sayed "learned a lot of things, from managerial to accounts, finance to human resources. I guess I learned more about my country while serving YPEIM compared to when I studied Malaysian Economics 101. It was an eye-opener."