SHAH-AZZ, INCORPORATED

assalamualaikum..

Never in my life so far that I attended any kinds of interviews...Well, maybe there was unofficial interview like, they asked question and you answered it. But that's that...I mean, the kind when you are looking for a job, the one you have to bring your CV, certificates and other stuffs..the one where you have to wear very smart, long sleeves and ties, that sort of interviews..

And why's that? Had I graduate early, I might already had two or three job interviews' experiences. So currently, I have none..

But of course, everything starts with experience, and one has to gain it in order to learn what kind of mistakes we make, and what to improve. So, CEC had organized the last class of INSEP, the two-day Interview Skills. The 1st day was some speech on preparation before any interview. But the next day was the day everyone had been waiting for. At least for FKEE gangs (amongst other few more faculties as well)..

This was a mocking interview day, so we wouldn't get a real job anyway. Even though that was the case, we had to treat it like as it is real as it can be. Like Mr Rashid said, "walaupun olok-olok je, anda mesti gembira kalau interviewer kate "You're hired" kat korang..kalau korang direject kat sini, konpem seminggu gundah gulana jugak larr.."

So that morning, I wore the best possible outfit, polished my shoes, and brought along my INSEP jacket (Dr N told us to do so)..the only thing was missing is my CV; I hadn't print it out yet...so I had gone to the MRSD lab and tried printing it.

But no matter how many times I changed the settings, it did not print the size that I wanted. Each of the printouts were half the size of the A4. Since I was late and already wasting much time, I thought "What the heck", and bring along that kind of resume. It came immediately to my mind that the interviewer might ask why I printed like that. I might be possibly kicked out even before I sit!!

Since there were a lot of my friends queue up for the interview, and some others were still looking for the correct job posts as pasted on the walls, we couldn't do our interview session at the morning, so our session started at the evening. (We - me, Jamal, Matyuz, Hisham, Daus, Adnan). This was supposedly the time I should go to CC and reprint my CV, but I was too tired and slept so I lost the chance. With my resume still unrepaired, I gambled and brought it along with me inside in front of the interviewer. Luckily it was a three-person interview, so Jamal and Matyuz were also in my group. But still, the feelings of 'Bad resume = no Job for you' still dangling inside my head. But once again I thought 'What the heck, this isn't real anyway', so I had prepared a bit if the interviewer rejects me..

There were two interviewers. One of them was from a company, as an onlooker (He also asked some questions)..The other one was from UTHM itself. I thought I'd seen him before...Then I remembered my team-building 3 months ago, I thought I saw Dr N showed a lot of pictures along with him. I also seen him going in and out Dr N's room at CEC. But I didn't think too advance, my mind fully (or half-ly) focused on the interview. The moment I gave my resume to them, I could see their 'amusing' faces.

As usual, the question started with "Tell me about yourself". Matyuz opened followed by me and then Jamal. After a lot of QA, this UTHM interviewer evaluated us. When it's my turn, he said something that suprised me, as well as astonishing..."I see that you are a STARian...Do you know that I'm also a STARian?" "OMG" I thought, "By looking your resume, I thought that you are much more capable than what you are right now," he said. So true, I wasn't really prepared for this.

At one point, the interviewers asked us to build 4 equal sided triangle using 6 straws. While they gave us the straw, there's one mysterious tape lying on the table and none of us asked for it (and they purposely not offering it)..Each of our design were different, but I thought I made the correct one. (see photo below)..

This was supposed to be easy, right? (I have 'leaked' to you the answer, so if your interviewer asked about this, you know how to do it :p)

They were thinking of firing us (mungkin gertak je kot), but they reconsider and gave us one last chance. They asked us to sing (that's right..SING) any songs, and sing it thoroughly with emotions and feelings..Matyuz sang Negaraku, and immediately they halted him, "Ok cukup2, mane ade org nyanyi lagu Negaraku sambil duduk.." aise foul ke nih..so it was my turn...I stood up, with the straws still in my hand, I held it like a mic, and with my other hand moved as like a real singer (terpakselar, kalau nak tunjuk emotion sangat), I sang:

" I will never let you fall, I stand up with you forever..I'll be there with you through it all, even if saving you sends me to heaven.."

This was the chorus of the song 'Your Guardian Angel', from the band 'The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus' (see above entry for full lyrics and sounds)..I didn't choose this song randomly, It immediately came across my mind as I was thinking of someone :)..Next, Jamal sang the Perak State Anthem (similar to Negaraku)

Finally, after much assessment, we were hearing something that everyone one in this planet who are looking for their ideal job badly want to hear..

"I am happily to say that each 3 of you have the qualities needed by our company. And so, I would like to hire you all."

"YEEAHHH bebeh!!!" (actually, this was in our heart, not in mouth). We, the trio, were HIRED..huhuhu..

Still, after that, each of us were evaluated for our performance. When it came to my turn, the STARian interviewer told me:

"Shahiran, I don't really see you lacking in any parts..But there's only one thing..."

My highly probable guess was that he wanted to talked about my CV. Not only I was correct, he did something else...

KRIEEKKK! ZAP! ZAP! SREEEK!!

The sound of my resume TEARED APART by him, shred into lil' pieces...(sorry, I didn't know the actual written sound effect for this)

"Ape resume camnih? Memalukan STARian betullar!!" katenye secara seloroh...aiseeyyyy memang malu sungguh aku...an established, successful STARian take on an unstable, unbalanced yet fragile STARian like me...mmg terase sangat maaa tgk resume dikoyakkan didepan mate...tak expect langsung..huuuuu sedey..I apologized to him later on, telling that "I will always try to uphold the name of STAR all the time" and never print that kind of CV again..

When we went out, I asked Jamal if he knew who he was.."aku rase yang niler Dr Wahid"..emm, come to think about it, Dr N has a son in INSEP named Umair bin Wahid...which means, Dr Wahid is Dr N's husband! (which answer the picture and the room thing)...haha how I didn't know this earlier..lagiler maluuussseesss...

Still, we were proud of our achievements..even it was just a mock.