Assalamualaikum,
Ahoy people of the earth! I hope you guys are doing fine, having fun and living a life full of blessing. Its the second entry for this month, thats someting to be proud of for me. I thought I could never do more than one entry per month based on what happen last year and earlier this year.. Haha..Apparently I'm better than what I thought.
Anyway, lets skip to the content now okay. Last week, I went to UTM for a clinic for Innovate Malaysia Design Competition. I was there of course to scout for potential talents and also to conduct some interview session with the students/participant of this Innovate Malaysia Design Competition. They are bright students with good CGPA and they have some really good Final Year Project. Any company that manage to hire them later on would be lucky and they would be a valuable asset to the company. Everything was fine during their interview eventhough they have not yet graduated and dont have any prior interview experience but they did okay, their technical knowledge was good and communication skill for most of them is not bad. Its just that, if there is one thing that they can improve during their interview session is how they start the interview.
Alright, for most interview, at least from my experience as a candidate and also as an interviewer, it will begin with " Tell me about yourself", or "Can you please introduce yourself" or anything that carry the same meaning lah kan.. Now as simple as this may looks it is actually carry a significant something for the interview which is, it sets the tone of the whole interview. If you start with "Ermm, what should I say arr?? Im too nervous I forgot what to say" then you can already tell where the interview is heading for the next 20 minutes. Basically what you answer for this question will steer the direction of the interview and can impact the result. I know there are many, thousands of tips on how to answer this question out there, you can just google it, you might also reach on my blog because you google that.. Haha.. There are many perspectives on this matter, I believe its all good and can be used during your interview session, just pick any of the tips.
If you ask me, my tips for you is to write it down, memorize it and practice. Doesnt matter if it might sound fake or scripted for as long as you put in good content in the speech, its compact with important information and also you deliver it well with confident. Remember to memorize it! If I am the one who interview you, at least, at least you will get a point for preparing script and for taking your time to memorize it. It is always a plus point for if you put extra effort, in whatever aspect 100% guarantee. Dont worry about being nervous and forgetting the script, you wont. Its not yet a question about how many meter square is the massive Aitken Basin measures, its you are just telling people about yourself. Trust me, you wont forget it. I went to 5 interviews before I land my current job and I used the same answer for all my "Tell me about yourself" question, I script it down first of course and thanks to all the sitcom series that I watched, I managed to act to make it look less scripted not saying that its wrong to look scripted but again, effort triumph everything. My scrip was really simple and I will share it down here.
"Good Morning, first of all, thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to come for this interview for this position. Anyway, my name is Mohamad Hakimi Bin Abdul Jamai. I'm from Sungai Petani, Kedah. I am 23 years old and I am the fifth child from 7 siblings. My father is a retired army, he is currently helping out at the Program Latihan Khidmat Negara and my mother is fulltime housewife. So thats basically about it for my family background, now my education, I did my degree in English Linguistic at Universiti Putra Malaysia for 3.5 years, I basically learn everything about English language and all the science behind the language. I did my internship at Panorama Langkawi where I was attached under Operation and Customer Relation Management Department. What I did was, I handled any customer complaints and assisted any customer in need. I learned a lot of things during the internship. I had a really great time during my Degree years and my greatest achievement would be, I went to Turkey for an intercultural mobility program that was organized by my friends and I under our club, Al-Biruni club. Thats pretty much about myself"
I know its quite long but I was lucky that I was given the chance to finish my intro without any interruption for all the interview that I went to. You might be interrupted, so have a plan B ok. Ofcoz, I didnt say exactly every single word as I wrote but at least it looks more structured and you can ensure that all that they want to hear, is heard. So, guys, write your intro, memorize and practice, if possible try to make it looks natural but if cannot, then its okay. Just do your thing!Harus diingat, this is my perspective on this subject matter so it may differ from other recruiter and from what you have read on some other sites, lets just add this in one of your list of tips for interviews ok? Haha.. Anyway, I hope this is helpful and I hope you land your dream job! Goodluck! Have a nice day you beautiful soul!
