The Interview

If I had written this on Monday, I would have said that I went for a weird interview. In fact, I wouldn't even know if that was an interview at all.

I got into the office about half an hour earlier than the scheduled time. Have to show punctuality mar! Armed with a file of documents, I introduced myself and was told to take a seat. The HR Manager approached me and handed me 2 forms. One was to fill up my personal details (education background, work history, hobbies, yada yada yada..). The other one was a personality questionnaire. I was told to answer the questionnaire within 30 minutes.

So I got to fill up the personal details and all. When I got to the questionnaire, I realized it was a Mensa test. 30 questions. Wah! Got anagrams. Got algebra (x + y = z). Got prime numbers. Got calculations. It was a good thing that I was already wide awake, but too bad, brain wasn't functioning 100% at that time. Tee hee hee.. When the time was up, the HR Manager came back and collected the papers. "I will evaluate the test. If you are successful, I will call you back for an interview", and sent me on my merry way.

Aiyo! I was suprised and stumped. From what I heard, I understand some interviewers will give tests before bombarding them with questions. This is very different. I thought it could either mean the interviewer is not available at the very last minute, or they've already gotten their man (or in this case, woman) and just waste my time la. I told my colleague about the test, and she gave me this link which is the exact set of questions I was given! I submitted the same answers and got a score of 24/30. Cheh wah, not too bad considering I was still very blur at that time. *lol* Then I wondered, what if I had earlier on did this test so many times that I could even remember the correct answers, how is it possible for the interviewer to know if I'm really qualified or not?

Anyway, they called me back yesterday and decided to interview me through the phone. At that point of time, Koala Bear was briefing me on his projects (I'm taking over a couple of them since he's leaving this Thursday). I was totally unprepared for the phonecall. I walked out of the room to speak privately but unfortunately I wasn't able to concentrate on the conversation coz my colleagues kept walking past by me (and some were really 'kaypoh'. Hehe..). But basically he asked the common questions..

"What is your current job function?"
"How do you handle a given project?"
"How do you handle as an individual/team leader/team member?"
"How do you discipline yourself while executing a project?"
"How much are you expecting?"
"Why do you want to leave your current company?"
"Are you a people person or a task person?"
"If you are to be recruited, how will you cope with your new team?"

I was so nervous!! I hope I did alright. But I made a mistake. I told him honestly that I would only be available after 4 months. I told him that I am getting married and it wouldn't be fair for the new company coz I will be taking a lot of leave days and it will surely disrupt any ongoing projects; that I'm also in a midst of a project with my current company and if I leave very soon halfway, it wouldn't be fair to them also. *Sighz* I think that does it, doesn't it? There goes my chance of knowing whether I actually fit their requirements.

Oh well.. Say, why don't you try taking the Mensa test? See how do you fare in it. And oh, memorize the correct answers kay. It could be useful for your future interviews. *Nyek nyek nyek*