Interview Tips

I had the opportunity to attend and conduct interview a number of times.  Sometimes I attend the interview just to see whether I am still marketable (hishh am I marketing item?). Of late I was appointed to become the panel of interviewer for junior and senior exec post. I know there are a lot of interview tips out there but I am sharing these tips from my personal experience

Prior to interview

•  Get the exact address where the interview will be held
• If you have time, it’s best to check out the interview location, where to park and if it is more convenient to reach there using LRT/Monorail
• Get the contact number of person in charge or the HR personnel who’s the contact person for the interview
• Get the detail of the post you are applying
• Study about the company that you are applying with, what are their core services, the departments or the services that is related to the post that you are applying

During the interview

• Wear appropriate clothing in accordance to the post. Best bet would be formal attire. Men must wear neck tie and ladies please dress appropriately. Not too revealing unless if you are interviewing for GRO post. Hehehe.  It doesn’t matter if you wanna wear baju kurung but must be ironed with matching tudung and neat.
• Arrive early. Punctuality is always good impression. Sometimes the company requires you to do essays, fill in forms, personality quiz so it is good that you arrive early and relax enough to do all that
• Sort your certificates and put your latest meaningful achievement at the front.  If you have professional certificates which is relevant to the industry, this cert must be put in front. Remember first impression counts
• Try to appear at ease and calm but not too relax. You must look like you are alert and concentrating to the question. Don't look too nervous the interviewer is human too, just like you
• When the interviewer, interview you in English, please respond in English. If they use Bahasa Melayu please respon in BM. Try your level best not to mix the language. English or BM Rojak is not that acceptable during interview.
• If you do not know the answer to something, please don’t say “ I don’t know,”. Seasoned people who attended interview normally use “ I am sorry, I am not aware of that technology,” “ I haven’t had the opportunity to explore that methodology before,”  or a simple “ Sorry. I am not familiar with  …..”
•  For fresh grad, bringing all your extra-curricular cert may be ok, but for senior post leave them at home. No one wants to know that you are the President of Badminton Club ages ago while you are in uni, or even worse while you in secondary school. Yikes
• When the interviewer give you a chance to ask question, please, please,please  ask, especially about the work, such as what's the size of the team? who will I be reporting too? Does the post requires numerous traveling? What's the career progression for the post? etc
• If you want to ask about the salary, ask about benefits and remuneration instead, sometimes HR rep will negotiate this separately from the interview session

Okay it's quite extensive already. I hope you ace that interview. I think if you use the tips above, if you don't get the job, maybe because you are not best fit for the post, based on your qualification and experience because impression-wise you have nail it.