First after some time Part 2 (and interview shenanigans)

Okay. The other day I wanted to post something on Farah’s concert. Of course now that I know I cannot post videos, I will only post photographs. Which I have only one. It’s a dance performance for heaven’s sake. Why would I only take still photographs of a dance performance?

So here goes:

The group photo at the end of the concert. Farah is the little girl with the ponytail in a white t-shirt and black pants at the front.

Zucca Studio conducts music i.e. piano, violin, guitar etc as well as dance classes. Farah has this strong affliction for dancing so I enrolled her in the freestyle dance class. Her performance during the concert was as a result of three months of hard work. Which I’m very proud of. Now that the concert is over she’s learning steps to a new song which I can’t wait to see.

Okay enough of that. Just yesterday while washing my car (yes, I’ve been washing my car myself for the past few weeks) I thought of all the interviews I’ve attended in my professional life. Needless to say, some have been pleasant with my fair share of ones that have been less than good. I go to interviews having the conviction that I’ll ace them all the time. Which obviously is not the case. I’m not a serial job hunter by a long way. Once I’m settled at a place I tend to stay for the long term. Being a serial job hunter at 44 is never a good thing. So I strive to find a “home” away from home and I should be all set. To be honest I feel I’m at home at the place I’m at presently so that’s that.

Back to interviews. Of course I won’t write about those that went well. Where’s the fun in that?

A few years into my career at PTP I yearned to return to KL so I was job hunting quite aggressively. I remember going for an interview at a company owned by a person who was very politically connected (emphasis on “was”). The Corporate Services Division was headed by a lady who had a reputation for being strict and doesn’t mince her words. Which is fine. Went to the interview with an open mind, expecting to sell my qualities. I find myself facing a panel of three interviewers. The lady, another lady from HR and another guy (couldn’t recall his designation or role). I felt hot under the collar when the Corporate Services lady questioned my role in PTP. Probably she was testing me. And I didn’t like it.

You see, I’m at the stage in my life where I pretty much think/say what I want. Within reasonable boundaries of course. Obviously I don’t go around shooting my mouth off without good reason. But this lady had it coming and I braced for impact. During my research on the company it turned out that they just made a fortune selling their concession based subsidiary to the state government and felt a hankering to enter the oil and gas business. So they acquired two oil and gas companies. Which tanked. At about the same time with my interview, they were trying to dispose these two companies.

I weathered the storm first and quickly lost interest in the prospect of working for the company. As you know, the panel would always allow a few questions from the candidate at the end of the interview. Usually I would always try and ask those smart questions like, “Err how do you think the market situation post-Brexit would affect your company’s business in the EU?” or something like that. For this particular interview, my question was, “What do you think was the cause for your venture into the oil and gas industry to fail so miserably you had to dispose companies you bought merely two years ago?”. Obviously the question riled her to no end. Which to be honest I got some satisfaction of. A good deed deserves another doesn’t it?

There’s this other interview I went to with an incumbent who’s leaving the position. In my mind for some strange reason he was intent to show that he was still the best person for the job. Probably indispensability was his thing. So he did his best to espouse his own skills (and at the same time trying to show how unskilled I was). I’ll hold my hands up and say this was not my best interview performance but the attitude was more than I could keep up with. At this particular time I was already in KL so I wasn’t under any pressure to change jobs. So I did the best I could in the circumstances and left the interview. No confrontations necessary. I’ve already learnt to pick my battles and this was one battle I wasn’t going to fight. It would have brought me no small amount of grief. So it wasn’t worth it.

There have been a few more experiences although most have been pleasant. For now I’m settled where I am so there’s absolutely no reason to move. To be honest this is the next best place I could be at now with the exception of PTP. Although it does come real close. On another note I don’t feel like I’ve warmed up to the idea of writing blog posts just yet. So please bear with me if these early posts lack the flair (confidence much?)

And on a last note, I’m open should anyone be interested in interview tips. Never know who you’ll meet do you?