Interview Session with MOE Personnel

My phone beep continously since yesterday. I received plethora number of SMS regarding the interview session. So for the benefits of those who wanted to know how was the interview, alhamdullilah it went just fine. I shouldn't worry so much because everything is over. I just have to pray and hope for a positive outcome of the interview. I must say this interview is the longest interview I have ever experienced. It took me like 20-25 minutes before I was able to leave the interview room. The interviewers were constantly bombarding me with questions throughout the interview session. Oh ya, although I am quite nervous during the interview, I managed to calm myself down probably because I am much more confident in this field as compared to the teaching position I applied a couple of months ago.

Since Majidah wanted me to tell the story from A-Z which I don't think I am able to recall every single event of it. Nevertheless, I will just wrote what I had remembered. So here it goes. The moment I stepped into the interview centre, I approached the lady who is sitting right in front of me. She asked me for my documents after which I sat down and waited patiently for my name to be called. While waiting anxiously, I befriended 2 Malay girls who applied for the same position. One of the girls who had her interview before I reached the interview centre was telling me,

"Super scary lah! I am the type of person who gets nervous easily so for me seram gile lah."

"Eh sama lahh! Mcm la kita tak nervous."

"Dorg tanya bnyk sgt qns ah. Susah jugak. Banyak sgt scenario dorg kasi. Terdiam skejap tapi fikir2 baru jawab la"

"Eeee. Seram nyerr. Kita dah takut ni. Ish!"

blah blah blah (Fast forward..)

So to kill time and to prevent myself from getting too nervous, I constantly recite "Allahuma yassir wa laa tu'assir" - Ya Allah, permudahkan lah urusan ku dan jangan bebankan ku.

The first question they asked me: Are you currently working? When I said no they thought I didn't make any effort to find one but in actual fact I just graduated less than a month ago. After I made things clear we started the real interview.

Questions:

1) What do you know about this job?

2) Are you an IT Savvy?

3) How many labs, laboratory attendants and laboratory technicians are there in a school? Which school were you from? Who is your principal?

4) The job of the lab attendants is basically to do all the cleaning. So if you have a lab attendant who is an elderly, how will you tell him/her to do this and that?

5) Are you able to work under pressure? because during exam periods esp. you will have a lot of apparatus, equipments and reagents to prepare and how are you going to manage them?

6) Are you able to work alone?

7) Are you comfortable working in a non-air con environment? because the lab may get very stuffy.

8) Are you planning to continue your studies? Are you able to cope with work and studies at the same time?

9) What will I see you as in 3 years time? Will you still be working as a lab technician?

10) If you have gotten yourselves a degree, will you still work as a lab technician? Why?

11) Do you mind traveling and how long are you willing to travel? because vacancies for this position can be somewhere quite far.

12) If there is a teacher who came to you early in the morning telling you to prepare this and that and told you he needs it by 11am for the practical lesson, how will you respond to him? Will you go okay or? What if he come to you again next week and does the same thing to you by asking you to prepare things last min? What will you do again? What are your strategies in handling this situation?

13) If your application for this job is unsuccessful, what are you going to do?

These are all the questions I can remember so far. Most of the questions posted must be backed up with some examples. I can’t say yes or no only as they expect more from me. Most of the time I used my work experience as a back up for my answers. FYI, I don't know how to answer question 12 posted here. After thinking for quite sometimes, I just go "hmm.. i have no idea.." and they told me what to do. heh! Dah tak tahu beb takkan nak act tahu mana plak but i realise they helped me here and there when i am stucked like the first part of question 3 which i have no idea actually. haha! Anyway, after they described the job of a lab technician, it made me worry. haha! mcm stress plak. hmph! but lets just wait for the result. Whatever result I get, kene lah rehda. Mungkin ada rezeki lain yang menanti yang kita tidak nampak dan tahu. Yang penting, kita harus berusaha dan serahkan yang lain kepada Allah untuk menilainya (tawakkal). Nevertheless, thanks fellow friends and family for making du’a for me. Not forgetting my dear sis boo who helped me out with the interview questions. Thanks sweetheart. Appreciate it so much. It did help me to be mentally prepared. May all of you continue to make du’a for me. Jazakallahu khairan kathiran.