Job Interviews

Interviews

Still want to give thanks to God for all the interviews so far despite being disappointed for my honours.

Few weeks ago, I was still complaining to a sister, “Why was I not shortlisted for any interview?” One of the brothers had already got a job and this posed a lot of pressure on me (yeah the bad habit of comparing with others is taking effect!).

But thank God my first interview came two weeks ago from ST Microelectronics. (Think I am not shortlisted for second round of interview). After that my second interview came when my professor forwarded my resume to Cal-Comp, a Taiwan-based electronics company. It was quite a coincidence. They were having campus interviews and a lot of graduates sent in their resumes to be interviewed. But I was called up by them to go for interview the next day. After their call, I received call from my IA company, asking me to go for interview the next day as well, and the timing clashed with Cal-Comp’s interview. I actually missed the call from my IA company, so I was not given a choice to choose the time. Oh no, both companies gave me one day notice, what the heck!

The next day morning, I went to Nanyang Executive Center to attend campus interview. Upon seeing the large crowd, I simply wasn’t feeling good. “So many people fighting for jobs with me, sigh…” I went straight to the Cal-Comp’s booth to ask if I could change my appointment time with them, handed in my resume and application form. Surprisingly, they asked me to wait for a while and separated my resume from the rest of the thick pile of resumes. After 10 minutes waiting, I was called in by a lady for interview. Later I found out that she was not assigned to interview those walk-in applicants, but because I was recommended by professor and applying specifically to a position, that was why my resume was separated and I got my turn so fast. She started with the standard question “Tell me about yourself.” When answering this question, I always highlight 3 strongest qualities of myself. However, during that interview, I talked about my interest in research. Then she followed on to talk about the responsibilities of that particular position in details, and asked me how I would deal with the problems. “This job is basically to research into some of the process problems that we are currently facing. How can you solve the moisture contamination problem in electronic devices. Do you have any experience?” I answered with my experience in projects and assignments and showed her my reports. Those reports were meant for my IA company’s interview and I really did not expect I would use them during the earlier interview. So lucky I had prepared them! The interviewer was excited and asked if she could have those copies of my reports. Of course I gladly gave to her. Even some figures in my final year project, such as the powder size of 193nm became important to her as I saw her writing down the details of my project, figures and key words. At that time, I felt so encouraged when the interviewer was so interested in me. The interviewer gave feedback to my professor that she found me good and able to apply what I had learnt in school. That was really an encouraging feedback.

After attending the Cal-Comp’s interview in the morning, I went for my IA company’s interview in the afternoon on the same day. There was nothing much to talk about it. However, I do want to give thanks to God, initially, two interviews clashed together but I managed to go for both and the interviews turned out well.

That night, to my surprise, I received an email informing to attend an interview from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). Upon seeing that email, I jumped in joy. I applied to this company before the school exams, and it had been more than a month since then. I thought I was not selected for interview. I even consulted one of my professor if he found anything wrong with my resume. He replied me that TSMC was mainly looking for postgraduate students. Thank God so much I was the very few graduates selected!

Only one thing I wasn’t feeling good during the interview. I did not really answer truthfully to the following question.

Interviewer: I am sure that you did apply to other companies. Let’s say if you are offered a job from TSMC and another company at the same time, which one would you prioritize? Is TSMC your first priority?
Me: If I got any offer, I would discuss with my parents first.
Interviewer: But would you first prioritize TSMC?
Me: Can I clarify with you? The condition is that I got offer from two companies at the same time?
Interviewer: Yes, would you put TSMC as your first priority?
Me: ……Yes, TSMC is my first priority.

You could probably sense that I am quite reluctant to say yes to the interviewer’s question. I even felt that I was lying to that question. As a Christian, I try to hold on God’s teachings and apply them in real life. I expect myself to uphold my integrity and answer truthfully, not necessarily so honest that I don’t know how to use my words wisely. In the past, during my final year project, I was having such a hard time in dealing with the data and statistics I have collected from my experiments. Because of those statistics, I was bombarded by my supervisor with tough questions I could not answer. I felt so tempted to alter the figures, change the data to please my supervisor. But eventually I didn’t do that, for I know if I gave in to cheat this time, I would cheat in the future and slowly cheating would become an addiction that poisoned my character. So I did more experiments to confirm the data, or to get a new set of data, or to find evidence why the data were showing that certain trend. And thank God, I found theories to explain and convince both my supervisor and examiner.

Oops, think I was just diverted away to talk about my fyp. If I were to answer that question again, how would I answer it better and truthfully? I would probably answer,
“The job opportunity with TSMC is important to me, yes, it is my first priority, because of TSMC’s leading position in wafer fabrication, high-end technology in semiconductor. I think I can learn a lot of high-tech stuff from TSMC.” It is true that TSMC is leading in semiconductor industry. And the reasons I have stated, make TSMC the first priority. But when considering whether to accept or reject a job offer, will I consider those reasons? No! If those reasons are not to be considered, will I accept TSMC’s job offer above others? No! Wohahahaha!! What kind of logic is this? Let’s think the other way, if my consideration to accept job offer is whether the company is leading in the industry, whether they have high-tech, whether I can learn their high-tech stuff, then yes TSMC is my first priority. So I am stating the reasons that have the potential of making TSMC my first priority, but whether I prioritize those reasons in my consideration to take a job offer, that’s a different story.

So why is TSMC not my first priority? This job requires me to work in Taiwan. I have 3 years bond with Singapore government lah! There are of course other reasons, but I am not sharing here.

The final interview came from Singapore Technologies Kinetics. It was another blessing by God. I went to campus interview, and hoping to go for ST’s interview. But again, too many people were fighting for limited places. Not only materials engineering graduates, but also mechanical, and EE graduates. It was such a coincidence that I met one of the person-in-charge. We just talked for a few minutes and he found out that I am a materials engineer. Then he informed me that ST Kinetics had put advertisement on newspaper looking for materials engineer to do a study in polyurethane sandwich panel for food storage refrigerating system in transport trucks. He asked me for my name, email, phone number and later that day in the afternoon, he sent me the advertisement of the job position through email. Wow!! I can’t thank God enough. Why? So far as I searched for jobs, I searched through online, materials obtained from career fair and career talk (plenty of them and I have yet to read them one by one) but I simply missed out newspaper advertisements! Thank God that He arranged such a coincidental occasion to make the job opportunity known to me. I have a very strong feeling from this encounter – God made what I had missed to come back to me. I can be assured that He is in control. I don’t know if I will ultimately get a job offer from any of the companies above but I really want to thank Him for opening up all these opportunities for me.

He has certainly opened doors of opportunities for me. But that does not mean that I should stop relying on Him and go on my own way. I still need Him to do amazing things to open up doors for second interviews for me. As I am wondering, what it means to rely on Him, to trust Him? I mean, how exactly or what I have to do so that I am trusting Him and relying on Him? As I ponder, I contrasted my attitude in writing this article with the previous one. It was a big difference in attitude. I thank Him gratefully, amazed by His timing that things fell into the right place at the right time. However, in the previous article, I blamed Him for not answering to my heart’s desire. Thanking Him at a point of time, yet angry with Him at another. What an irony! How contradicting! I realized it was self-centeredness that had taken hold of me, I like Him when I get benefits from Him, angry with Him when I did not. This is not loving Him wholeheartedly, neither it is trusting and relying on Him. My entire focus is – getting what I want.

So perhaps the first thing I can do is to correct my attitude. I always ask, how exactly can I trust and rely on Him? I can certainly adjust my attitude by writing all these down as a reminder, not just something that slipped past my mind and disappeared the next minute.
I really wonder if I had been wasting time this 1 year and 9 months being a Christian, not learning His ways but fighting for my own interests. Or is it simply that I had forgotten, ignored Him at times when uncertainties seem overwhelming? If I had been wasting time, let me waste no more. If I had forgotten, let me be reminded. All it matters, is to correct my heart, my attitude, and come back to God if I had been straying away. I am confident, I will know how to follow His leadership.

I guess it’s time to reflect the past 9 months after my first anniversary, how I have grown spiritually. It would be a spiritual health check-up to see if I have grown fruitfully or lost in the wilderness.

As I wrote this article, the grudging attitude over my honours was replaced by gratitude. Have I not written this, I think I would still be angry and bitter. Indeed reminding myself of His goodness and focus on the great things He had done, my heart would not be completely occupied by anger and bitterness. Make room for his love and joy to fill me again. I do hope I can be consistent in my attitude towards Him, not just praising Him at good times and complaining Him at bad times. Focus less on my achievements, blessings but focus more on how to trust Him, depend on Him, then, I think, I would be more consistent.