Interview Marathon for InternSHIT

Hey all finally have done with all the interview for internship!! :D
Am super exhausted now, i'm not going to be choosy anymore by waiting for any reply from better companies.
Because even if i got shortlisted for interview, i'll be doing bad, and each time getting worse.
I can say that my best interview performance would be the first one.
And slowly became worst, probably due to tired-ness.
I learnt my lesson, shouldn't be so greedy apply to whatsoever positions.
Not worth it especially when you should be performing well in a better company for better position but it doesn't turn out that way in the end bcoz you're worn out and so tired of interview already!


Whenever people asked me, "why you apply for so many positions especially when some of them you dont even give a damn?!!"
My answer will be "Because i kiasu mah.."
Sadly speaking, thats the truth.
Seniors/Counselors/Everyone been saying that its super DIFFICULT for a year one to get an internship coz you need to compete with fellow seniors.
And i really trusted them so that time my thought was "i want ANY JOBS, even office girl i also wouldn't mind"
So thats how i came out with 20 plus of applications to different companies.
However things turned out quite different (which i also don't know why) that until today, I have attended 5 interviews, got 4 offers, and i believe some of them are still under processing.
Its tiring thou, but i've gained so much experience by attending these interviews, really.
And its not totally the same as how companies in KL conduct interviews.


So just a summary for the interviews that I've attended.
And just wanna highlight some extraordinary questions so that I can do "revision" in the future when i attend to any interview :)


1. Tyco Electronics Singapore Pte Ltd
Date: 6/4/11, 4pm
Location: Ang Mo Kio
Position: HR Intern
Questions:
- Whats your long-term goal?
- What you hope to achieve in your university?
- Use one word to describe yourself.
- What you know about our company?


My overall impression to the company is that, very dynamic. Unlike those conservative one. Working environment is okay, space not too big not too small. For the position wise, need to do everything, from payroll, recruitment, til trainings and events, but thats okayy, coz its intern position what, expected it already. But then i wasn't interested in HR at all (coz i simply applied ma), so i've to turn down their generous offer.


2. Emerson Process Management Asia Pacific Pte Ltd
Date: 7/4/11, 10am
Location: Pandan Crescent
Position: Material Assistant
Questions:
-Very general questions


They have been very kind, but then the bad-me couldn't accept their offer. Procurement is not what i looking for.


3. Borneo Motors Singapore
Date: 8/4/11, 4pm
Location: Queenstown
Position: Marketing Intern
Questions:
- How long have you been in singapore?
- Whats your other skills?
- Are you proficient in computer skills?
- What are your strengths and weaknesses?
- What do you hope to achieve by taking up this position in marketing area?


I have a good impression to the position, at least thats what i've been longing for. But then later when they described the job scopes to me, i felt cheated. Coz what they said are TOTALLY DIFFERENT from what was written in the job scopes of the advertisement posted. From the advert, it says that intern will be more exposed to marketing research, analyzing data and recommending the appropriate pricing for their products. However the truth is, except for recommendation of pricing, its actually more on tedious tasks: issue invoice, data management and maintenance, sales, a bit of advertising (classified section on newspaper) and other ADMIN TASKS. I was quite shocked when its totally 2 different things, of course i never say out in their faces. I was depress coz i've prepared those very detailed info before going for interview but in the end none of them being asked. So, i didn't take up the job.


Basically I started to ask myself that whether i have over-applied and i was quite lost at this point of time coz i didn't get any news from my preferred job or company at all.
Luckily, the day had arrived and two very good companies shortlisted me :D Til then, the downheartedness had been replaced by hope-ness!! :)


4. Singapore Business Federation (SBF)
Date: 13/4/11, 10am
Location: Tanjong Pagar
Position: Global Mid-Sized Companies Intern
Questions:
- Can you tell me more what kinda business that SBF is doing and what kinda company that we normally deal with?
- Whats the difference between sales and marketing?
- What do you hope to achieve by taking up this job?
- Whats your expected allowance? *i didn't know whats my price!! i dunno how to answer*
- Will you accept immediately if i offer you the job now?
*how to answer this question whereas i have another interview after this. if say "yes", i can't consider the next interview with Robert Bosch anymore. if say "let me think of it first", then they might have this impression, "this candidate damn fussy, offers her job some more wants to consider first, hmm!*


It kinda stunned me when the 2 interviewers actually asked me quite a lot of unexpected questions. I only slept for 4 hours the day before furthermore that time was morning, so i tried so hard to squeeze all the brain juice and bullshitted. But luckily, despite my non-structured answers, they still accepted them. I feel so grateful and lucky that they're quite forgiving :)


5. Robert Bosch (SEA) Pte Ltd

Date: 13/4/11, 3pm
Location: Bishan
Position: Corporate Communication Intern
Questions: 
- Why do you choose this position whereas your interest is in marketing?
- How do you see yourself in 10 years time?
- Do you have any experience in organizing events before? How many attendees?
- Are you able to adapt to a MNC culture?
- Can you handle stress? Show me example.
- How would you rank your writing skills, from 1 to 10?


I gotta say, this is THE HARDEST INTERVIEW i'd ever been thru. They really asked challenging questions. If your answers not as good as what they expected, they wouldn't even bother to see you at all. Two of the interviewers even passing notes while i was talking. My confidence just dropped all of a sudden. At the end of the interview, they even had this writing assessment test for me. They gave the relevant info and i gotta squeezed out 500 words in 20 minutes time. That time i was like , "OMG my weakness is in writing..." When they stopped me from writing, i still haven't reached the ending. So i reluctantly left the building. Moreover, its a six-month-internship which is more than my 3 months vacation. That means i have to delay my graduation for one sem if i work for them. Plus, i think hiring possibility is like damn low, coz i can't write a business article well. 


So without being risky, I've decided to take up the offer by SBF and gave up waiting for the reply from Robert Bosch. Another reason is that there'll be a second round interview for RB after this and by that time if i don't secure any job, i'll kill myself coz i've wasted so much time already! LOLL.


Never try, never know.
Your market values are determined by how you sell it thru your cover letter and resume.
To me, i don't mind bragging in my resume (not cheating kayy) on how GOOD i am thou the truth isn't.
As long as you passed the first stage and they shortlisted you, its up to you how you perform during interview.
Very realistic, but thats the world :)


After all these interviews, I realized that i seriously have to improve my English like A LOT. Coz i still have problems in terms of grammar and fluency.
So my friend, pls feel free to correct me whenever i use the wrong grammars or vocabs! 
I'll be very very thankful and grateful :))


Okayy i shall start mugging after the long long day!