Job Interviews - Accenture & CIMB (The Complete Banker Programme)

Hi there! It's been a while. Some updates on what I'm busy doing right now. I've got released from employment obligation with PETRONAS on 3rd July. Upset, disappointed? Yes, of course. But I've got to move on somehow :)

I went to T.E.C. at UTP and Graduan Career Fair at KL Convec. Managed to drop some of my resumes to the companies. Alhamdulillah, berkat bulan Ramadhan, dengan rezeki yang Allah kurniakan, I got few offer for job interviews. Here are some of interview experiences I would like to share with you.

First one was from Accenture, a technology consulting company. The offer I got was under Technology Solutions - Graduate Trainee Program. The training duration is 3 months. If Accenture satisfied with your performance, after that 3 months of training they will accept you as the permanent staff. It was one to one interview at Accenture office, The Gardens North Tower, Midvalley. Under Technology Solutions, you should be able to develop applications, do software maintenance and execute system administration works. 

The interviewer was a very nice lady. Mine was scheduled on Tuesday, 31st July, 0900H. All that she wants to know:

• projects that you have done (academic, internship)
• experience on particular skills for a project management (mine was asked did I know anything about user requirement gathering)
• your major strength (if you are very good in any programming language, you should be able to impress her) 
• why you want to work with Accenture
• what do you know about Accenture (do some readings in the internet, ask the seniors about their work culture)
• anyone you know working in Accenture (they will ask for his/her fullname)

The interview was just for half and hour. I confessed to the interviewer I didn't like programming so much, and she didn't really get which area is my interest. On Friday (the same week) I got call from them. I'm not so sure why they didn't just tell me that I failed the interview instead of beating around the bush, asking if I'm still interested to work with them (not sure how the process will be if I say I am still interested. they will re-interview me, maybe). They are giving me another opportunity actually. I said that I am no longer interested. I rest my case.

CIMB offered me The Complete Banker (TCB) Programme, intensive classroom and on-the-job training and job rotations in all fields of banking to help you become a universal banker. A 12 months programme. If you are well performed, then, a year for confirmation. If you suddenly wants to quit in the middle of the training, you have to pay back all the expenses of the training that you have used. The interview will be conducted in four stages (gila kan). As for now, alhamdulillah, I passed the first stage, which is the interview with the HR. 

You need to arrive an hour before the interview, just to fill the application form, do a simple personality test and also an essay (ahaaa. essay! crap.)

One to one interview, the interview last for an hour (huahua). The funny part is that I was so nervous, and the interviewer noticed this. She asked me to walk out of the interview room/ she will walk out from the interview room so that I can get relaxed. I said it's okay, I will be fine and asked her to proceed with the interview (that was a pressure for me to do well in the interview):

• How do you know about the TCB Programme
• Tell me about yourself (who are you, what you do, what can you offer to the company)
• From there, as for me, I said that I have a strong leadership skills. So, the interviewer will then ask for your experience, skills that shows that you have a strong leadership skills.
• She will also give her point of view about the situation
• If you not in the finance background: Why do you choose to enter banking rather than staying with your current degree career?
• As for a pet-scholar: Why didn't PETRONAS hire you?
• Are you able to work long hours? (banks work for very, very long hours)

She will tell you more about the programme, on how the pain and endurance that you have to go through. That evening, I got call from them (pantas kan diorang buat kerja? hahah) scheduling my Thomas Test for Training and Selection (TST) at Damansara Uptown 1, Delloite (second stage), on the next day!

It was tough, very challenging. Time is very limited. You cannot use any calculator, working papers (kertas nak conteng untuk kira-kira tak boleh ye), fingers to count or to indicate you are counting, cannot make any indications/ marks/ dots/ any form of indicators on the paper, twist the paper, twist your pen. haaa first time aku attend test yang ada syarat-syarat macam ni. Masak kau! Before the test, the invigilator will ask if the temperature, lighting of the room is okay, if you are in a perfect health for the test, if you have taken this kind of test before (you have to declare if you have taken it before), and some others terms and conditions you have to agree prior in taking the test.

Know your numbers 1 - 35, know your alphabet A - Z. I wasn't able to answer all of the questions anyway. Hahah. TST was divided into 5 parts (not so sure about the timing, but the idea is, that is how it goes, so limited time, so many questions! 60/50 questions for each part):

1. Feature Detection (3 minutes)
2. Reasoning (4 minutes)
3. Number speed and accuracy (4 minutes)
4. Working memory (4 minutes)
5. Orientation (5 minutes)

That was some of the interview experiences I have gone through. Kadang-kadang aku tak faham apa yang Allah cuba susun untuk aku, tapi aku percaya dengan apa pun yang Allah beri tu aku mampu untuk harung, mampu untuk aku hadapinya. Bersangka baik.

Terima kasih untuk semua semangat yang diberikan. I promise that I will be the strong one when everything else is breaking :)

p/s: Selamat berpuasa.