Time Travel

Time Travel (Week 14)

As my internship (and actually, blog posts) is nearing its end, I would like to share my whole experience from the very start when we were asked to fill out the internship form until I was hired as an intern.

May I say that aside from the thesis requirement, this internship has made my life tumbling up side down! Honestly, what made my feelings crumble down slowly is the waiting game. I received a call from the human resource department in the company that I applied for in around July to August and she told me that once I have secured my registration form and recommendation letter for the second semester, then I can call them back for the application process.

I was good with the waiting game. Honestly. But then with my professor’s constant nagging (sorry sir!)  about why this company’s policy with interns is different with the other companies, I got so anxious that I might not make it. But then I still waited for until the last week of October, where I already got my recommendation letter. By November, I obtained my registration form.

And so on the 4th of November, I took the pre-employment examination. It consists of questions that will test your cognitive abilities, such as abstract reasoning, numerical reasoning, verbal reasoning and more to name. This will test your ability to think critically and carefully at a limited time. We were given 40 questions to be answered in 20 minutes. Basically, you are required to answer each question for 30 seconds only! To be honest, the questions weren’t that hard, but you really have to review your skills in logic. Trust me, when the company you are applying for requires pre-assessment tests like these, go study. You can never go to a battle unarmed. Hahaha.

And so, after the examination, we were allowed to go home, they said, “We will call you regarding the results.”

The waiting game, the real waiting game, starts.

I waited for like a week or so before I received a message from the assistant HR specialist regarding my application. I was so depressed, thinking I would no longer have hope in taking any internship this semester and that my graduation will be delayed because of that. But then on the 15th of November, they did send a message saying that “we were impressed by your application, your qualification makes you an excellent candidate for this role. So, we would like to invite you for an interview at our HR Office. During the interview we will explain more about this role and of course get to know more about you.”

On the same day, I was hired as an intern.

There are a few things that I noticed, actually, when I was there on both days, and I would like to share them to you.

First of all, you must bring your resume at all times. I suggest that it should be on hard copy. On the day of the exam, two of the applicants were asked to give a copy of their resumes because theirs weren’t on the files in the HR. Turns out that their resumes were only sent thru e-mail and was not printed. They weren’t able to bring even a soft copy of their e-mail and that was a huge problem. How would the human resource management know your qualifications and skills? Your resume will actually serve as your line of defense in this game. More like, an ID. This is what you will be recognized. This is how they will contact you. This is how they will get to know you.

Second, make sure that your picture on the resume is a white background (or any plain color background will do, I think) picture with you wearing corporate attire. Do not, ever, use a selfie and place it as your picture in your resume. One of the applicants did it, and while she was asked to come for the interview, but didn’t make it. I think, that when you did good in the interview and you are against other great applicants, the management will then pick the winner according to the resume you handed. And while no one should judge anyone for mere looks, your picture attached on the resume will unfortunately be a basis. It’s reasonable though, how ready are you for this job? How willing are you? How presentable would you be for this? How good are you with presentations? Honestly, I believe that creating your resume is most likely creating a PowerPoint presentation that you are to hand over the company. You must show them that this is a serious thing for you.

Third, well, be confident. Don’t feel nervous on the interview! There aren’t really generic questions asked in the interview, but I guess you will have to prepare for the following questions, since this is what I and my friend was asked about:

1. What job would you like to obtain after graduation?

2. What are the responsibilities that are you going to do, in accordance to the program you are doing?

My interview was pretty fast because it turns out that I was the only applicant who applied for an intern position in the finance department, which has finally relieved all my tensions. I no longer have all my worries and as you can see, I am more than half way to my internship, and this near to graduation!