A man reassures himself by looking at the mirror that everything is fine; everything, as in, his attire. He drags the cuff of his left sleeve to reveal the time- 12 noon exactly. At the door before leaving he tells a prayer and locks the door behind him. A double-check of all necessary items reassures that nothing is missing. As he makes his way out of the building, a reel of moving images of the day before starts to play. There was a call from a lady who called him for an interview; an interview made possible by his father's friend who had contacts in this particular company. The idea of beginning a new phase in his life seemed appealing, while also inferring countless challenges to be faced and how to manage them.
The bus ride took 10 min along with another 30 min for the commute in the train. When he exited the train station at Kampung Baru there was an hour to spare before the interview. With an attitude 'better be early than late' he set about searching for a taxi to reach his destination. However, at 1pm there were hardly any taxi's around, thus making him walk a long stretch of road from the railway station in the midday sweltering sun. It dawned on him, the road he was taking would not lead to main road, instead was a dead-end. He cut across a street which in the end lead him to a road with little traffic. Waiting for over 15 min on the pavement with streams of sweat dripping from his forehead, time was running out. Then he hailed a taxi and directed the driver "take me to Jalan Daud." The driver in return posed another question "where is that?" For this man the misery was only beginning.
Even the taxi driver couldn't find the place, leaving the man to question the driver's competency at his occupation. A sad state indeed!! In the end, with the help of an English speaking local he managed to find the place. While nearing the destination, it occurred to him of how badly the numbering had been initiated in the area. 'Appalling' is too nice of a word. The good news- clock had 15 min to spare.
The interview panel consisted of 3 people (2 males and a female) and held in the company conference room. Starting the interview with a few ominous vibes certainly was not expected. There was the obvious "so, you're a foreigner", followed by "we are instructed to recruit locals", then "are you fluent in Malay?", one more being "all of our communication is done in Malay!!" He soon came to understand that things would not go in his favour. Not knowing labour law too had a negative impact, but it couldn't be directly attributed to him. To conclude, the job in human resource would not be a good fit. But it gets better!!
At the latter stages of the interview, having re-entered the room after leaving it so the interviewers could talk privately, they ask "can you work in accounting??" The man was perplexed beyond his wildest dreams. Either these people cant read the university manuscript stating 'Bachelor of Business Administration', or they had brains the size of peanuts. On his way out of the office he started to ponder why private companies don't use English more?? One thing that came to his mind was insecurity coupled with reluctance to venture beyond once safety zone.
Tsk.....tsk.....a pity indeed!!
The bus ride took 10 min along with another 30 min for the commute in the train. When he exited the train station at Kampung Baru there was an hour to spare before the interview. With an attitude 'better be early than late' he set about searching for a taxi to reach his destination. However, at 1pm there were hardly any taxi's around, thus making him walk a long stretch of road from the railway station in the midday sweltering sun. It dawned on him, the road he was taking would not lead to main road, instead was a dead-end. He cut across a street which in the end lead him to a road with little traffic. Waiting for over 15 min on the pavement with streams of sweat dripping from his forehead, time was running out. Then he hailed a taxi and directed the driver "take me to Jalan Daud." The driver in return posed another question "where is that?" For this man the misery was only beginning.
Even the taxi driver couldn't find the place, leaving the man to question the driver's competency at his occupation. A sad state indeed!! In the end, with the help of an English speaking local he managed to find the place. While nearing the destination, it occurred to him of how badly the numbering had been initiated in the area. 'Appalling' is too nice of a word. The good news- clock had 15 min to spare.
The interview panel consisted of 3 people (2 males and a female) and held in the company conference room. Starting the interview with a few ominous vibes certainly was not expected. There was the obvious "so, you're a foreigner", followed by "we are instructed to recruit locals", then "are you fluent in Malay?", one more being "all of our communication is done in Malay!!" He soon came to understand that things would not go in his favour. Not knowing labour law too had a negative impact, but it couldn't be directly attributed to him. To conclude, the job in human resource would not be a good fit. But it gets better!!
At the latter stages of the interview, having re-entered the room after leaving it so the interviewers could talk privately, they ask "can you work in accounting??" The man was perplexed beyond his wildest dreams. Either these people cant read the university manuscript stating 'Bachelor of Business Administration', or they had brains the size of peanuts. On his way out of the office he started to ponder why private companies don't use English more?? One thing that came to his mind was insecurity coupled with reluctance to venture beyond once safety zone.
Tsk.....tsk.....a pity indeed!!
2 comments:
Man the interview sounds dreadful.
How stupid can they get?
In your words "dreadful" sounds about right. I don't know what they were thinking really!!
Well, back to the drawing board :O
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