WE CAN BE GOOD ENOUGH OR EVEN BETTER...

Remember a very interesting experience early this year...

In February, suddenly I received a call from a recruitment agency. They said they came across my profile in http://www.linkedin.com/pub/zaini-abdul-wahab/31/239/882 and wanted to propose for me to be interviewed by an international consulting firm based in Singapore. The post was for a Senior Manager in the Sustainability Business Arm of the firm and to be based in Singapore too. I was also told that the post was vacant for some time and my name was selected from applications received from the Asia Pacific Region.

Thinking of  when there was no harm done to give a try,  I said yes. Then she requested me to send my detailed CV for the firm to review my credentials. The interview will be held at their country office at Mid Valley KL using video conference facilities over there.

Face them and don't fear them! Be well prepared

1. The first interview was by the Dutch MD of the firm who is heading the sustainability business of the firm and based in Singapore too. The interview was on general Q&A of my background and working experiences. He also asked me to explain in more detailed on what I did base on my CV and also my knowledge on sustainability business in the region. I asked him based on my experiences and knowledge, where would I be best fit in the firm and he answered, definitely with his business unit to with possibly mixed roles in business development and management consultancy.  It lasted for about 1 ½ hour.In short, he said he wanted me to be interviewed for the next stage.

2. The second interview held about a week later, A BEHAVIORAL INTERVIEW. It was between me and an American senior manager from the HR dept.  Due to facilities at their KL office were all fully used, we had it through Skype using my Ipad. The interview was about my answers and responses on few given scenarios and how would I handle each of them. Other than that, she was tried to reaffirm some matters that I had already shared in the previous interview. The interview went quite well and at the end the day said the will be informed in 2 weeks.

In between, the person-in charge from the recruitment agency called me and asked about:

• How much roughly the salary that I was expecting
• Would I mind if they want be to be based in KL instead of Singapore due to some strategic reasons by the firm.

She was quite positive that I might be able to land the job if I manage to get through the 3^rd stage of the interview based on their previous experiences dealing with the firm for other candidates for different positions and locations.

3.  Exactly 2 weeks after that, I received a call that I am qualified to go to the next stage. The next one was a BUSINESS CASE interview. This time another MD and he is a German interviewed me through another video conference at their KL office. I was given a set of case studies in 30 minutes before the session started.

The interview, I was challenged to propose solutions for the case studies given with highlights on key data such market potentials, financial status  and forecast. The explanation made me used the whiteboard in the video conference room to explain to him steps in my proposed solutions.

He also asked me about what are needed for sustainable business growth in Malaysia and the region.

The session ended well too and he said he was happy with my answers and explanation in the business case session and others too.

I felt good with all the sessions and I was told that the decision will be made within two weeks after the 3^rd stage interview. A big relief for me since finally I managed to go through all the 3 stages smoothly. Despite with no certainty that I may consider the possible offer or not, the recruitment consultant contacted me after that and told me my chance looks pretty good. She also told me, normally the 3^rd stage is the final stage and I just need to wait for the decision.

I waited and  for the first time, they delayed in contacting me compare to the previous sessions. I knew it did not look good but I took it easy and finally after almost a month, they called me and told me that I need to have another session with the MD who interviewed me in the first session. I did ask why did not they just inform me over the phone or an email about the result but they claimed the MD personally wanted to talk to me. From that moment, I knew that my chance already gone but eager to hear what the MD really wanted to say to me. When I checked with recruitment agency, the lady said it was quite strange since normally results from interview will be notified via email notification.

We finally had a telephone conversation arranged by the firm’s office in Singapore directly. He was very polite in appreciating my commitment to go through all steps in the process. He summarized it to me that after a long and thorough deliberation with other panelists who interviewed me based on my credentials and performances interviews, their existing and near future business volume in Asean and Asia Pacific regions is not big enough for me with my credentials to come on board.

They are not able to find the right fit for me in the firm that will bring me to the next level of my career considering the position that I am already in at my existing company. When I asked him on why they considered me in the first place and his answer was, at that stage they thought the vacant post as a senior manager may be fit for me but when they realized that my knowledge and experiences on the industry is beyond that which already as the MD in the ranks of the firm.

In short, he said I am overqualified for the post and he personally wanted to convey their decision to me to avoid my possible bad impression about their firm since I have successfully gone through all the required stages of interview in their normal recruitment process for the vacant post. At the end he thanked me for my time spent and I did the same and added that I also appreciate his efforts to personally talked to me when he do not have to. We wished each other well to end the conversation. Good to know and feel  that you did not get it because you are overqualified.

Speak up convincingly to let them really listen...

Despite I did not manage to join the firm and becoming an international  consultant with the top three management consulting firm in the world, the experience was very much more interesting to me. Priceless! and I have more belief now that Malaysians can be as good as others  from any part of the world too and we are able to compete with anyone at global level. Positively, at least I have got the attention from one of the global players in my field of work just only from my online profile.

I also learned a lot in polishing and refreshing my knowledge through some personal researches on the firm, what is BEHAVIORAL AND BUSINESS CASE interviews and communication skills to prepare myself to be interviewed by totally foreign interviewers with zero knowledge about me other than based what written in my CV.

Interested to know or share the TIPS on all the sessions? No problem...drop your enquiries at zainiabdulwahab@yahoo.com