Thank you...This is really helpful...hahaha....I got this question asked frequently...

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Normally i'll tell them about my plans and I make sure my plans wun venture away from the job I am applying or makes them sound like I'll juz be working with them in short term....

Is this the proper way?

Actually I think b4 an interview, it is important to do some homework on the job I am applying to... I think the most important part of interview is to show the employer we hv done some homework b4.. Am i right?

Anyways, another question I frequently came across here is... What kind of person you can't actually get along with??

I always tell them I can't work with irresponsible kind of ppl.. but after some thoughts... I figured, should we tell them I can't work with xxx and yyy type of ppl.. Or should we tell them, I hv no problem working with anyone... Unless they really dislike me...

Another thing I wanna ask is, should we remain serious during the interview or should we smile often? Even when answering question??

Cuz I hv a tendency of smiling all the time...

Oh... thanks... Its juz that,I really smile alot... I am someone who can smile even being scolded at.. so I got complaints from ppl b4, saying I dun take my job seriously and etc.... Actually I did take my job seriously... Juz that I smile alot.... Tat's y...aahha...

Will be going for my internship interview this week... Hopefully it 'll go well...

Erm, I dun hv much senior frens here in UK... most of them is my frens.. However, I do believe u're right, having contacts in the company makes life ezier...

Regardless, the system here is that, you hv to do everything yourself for looking for an intern... haha....

Hmm, actually I think, the only thing I can do now for an undergrad applying a placement is through CV, cuz those companies I believe, the first thing they do to skim down the numbers of applicants is through reviewing their CV and Cover Letter...

UK or American its ok.. We must welcome various kind of opinion ma, right? Tat way its the best way to improve...

Yes... After hearing ur statement, I have been cracking my head prepraring for the interview tomolo.. I wish to stand out in the crowd and not just give common answer. So far, for everything I will be saying in the interview, I will give an example to back up my statements.

Such as if I say I am good in xx area, I will give example wut I hv done in this area and etc.... (thanks to joblisted and dreamer reminding me of how bad my cover letter is...)

Besides, I hv also dug up the company's history,revenue, objective, main customer, current CEO and etc and memorize all of them...

Dug out information regarding the branch I'll be working at...

Read all the technical things which they might be asking me...

However, I am still thinking how does I stand out and get myself notice.. I am not an extremely smart student or someone who is very very good in something.... hmmm.... Because I believe most of the people would be preparing for those things above....

Yea, juz got back from the interview.. TO my suprise, the lady told us out of so many applications, only 5 were selected for the interview.... And I am still quick surprised how I got the interview in the first place...

Anyways, the interview went pretty well for the 2nd half, as for the first half, due to all those formalities, I was quite nervous despite I have been practising in front of the mirror yesterday... And some questions, i can answer them better but I didn't.. well, we learn from experience...

Hmm, they are all very friendly people and they told me they are surprise d by me that I did so much research on HP.. (their previous CEO which is Fiorina, current CEO, revenue for the past few years, the business partner, they core business, how many branch they have and etc... ) They told me I done quite a good job for doing some "homework" (They really told me "well, u did ur homework huh...")

I didn't answer that well for some of the question because I still feel alittle bit nervous.. On the 2nd half of the interview which is the technical part, another 2 person interviewed me and they only asked me some basic question.... However, some of the question I didn't answer that correct...haiks....But then again, in my CV I included some of the other curricular activities such as I am learning on my own some simple japanese and I told them something about the cultures in japan such as japs are very loyal and they wan to be treated with respect.. (then to another surprise, they told me I am right as one of the main business partner is japs....)

THe interview went pretty well and its not that serious, they did joke around with me and I did joke around abit with them (I dunno its appropriate or not when thinking back now.....I smile alot too ..)

And I think its very important to be honest cuz I directly tell them I am not good in ee stuff and they also didn't make any fuss out of that...

Generally, I think this interview really is very helpful, I learnt alot of things from them.. Regardless of I get the interview or not, I really learnt alot ... Hopefully the information i shared out will help some one not to make the same mistake..

And dreamer, joblisted, thanks for ur help

If u find anything I can improve above, juz tell me, I'll be having another interview with another company soon....

Actually I was taking a bath juz now and a question strikes my head...

*sorry arr, me really is a problem child...

Anyways, from an employer POV, I have told them that beside I noe the things in my studies, I have also written some program and done some extra reading and even taken the step to learn some simple japanese language... And they didn't ask for any prove regarding the things I mentioned above...

Why izzit like that? They juz trust wut a person say like that?? I am curious why isn't it required for me to prove to them I actually noe the things mentioned above? I can juz lie that I noe xxx and yyy (of course not lying overly la...)

Ic, thanks for the info..

Actually I think those items are relevant and in fact, there were quite impresssed that I would spend time learning japanese and programming... I hit right on both spot because I told them something about jap culture which the company has close relationship to, and when I mentioned programming, they told me they are actually looking for someone who has some programming knowledge and appreciate programming (its not written in the job requirement though)...

I guess they way I answer their question when they ask me regarding these above matter are quite ensuring for them...

I do not dare to put high hopes in the HP job application but truthfully, I do hope they will give me a chance to work with them... I tried my best in my interview edi by doing all the preparations I can...

Thanks for the site, will look it up now...

I think they expect u to talk... Something useful, constructive and not nonsense... So if I hv nothing else to say, I'll juz smile and say, "yea, tat's all"... hahahahahha.........

Juz my opinion though...

Haih.. sad story, juz got my reply for my inter from HP... haih.. why dun they reject me directly? haih....

This is the content of the letter .. haih...
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Unfortunately at present, HP's cost restraints cannot support the hiring of any new employees which includes new interns. We cannot currently make any offers to students, the best we can do is review the situation in a months time.

Please do not take this as a rejection as we felt you were a very strong candidate, but if in the mean time you find another position, please do take the opportunity as we are not sure what the financial status will be after the review.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for you interest in HP and for attending the interview. It was a pleasure to meet you, good luck in your exams and in finding a suitable intern position.
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Haih.. sad sad sad.... but wut to do..hehe.. life goes on ~~

Haha... Thanks for the support....

Went on looking and a company promise to give me an interview after my exam....hahahahahahaha... happy...

Yea, HP is being nice, they could hv juz kept quiet about it....

Actually, I talk alot more than the interviewer....damn..... haha....

Hm... they always ask me a question....

"How do you troubleshoot a problem, lets say something goes wrong in the manufacturing line, how do u troubleshoot it? "

haih.. tough answers.. the answers I gave are logical, but cost wise, its not acceptable cuz my method cost quite a lot...hahaha.. plan to ask my lecturer this question later.. cuz I bet I'll be asked this question again by another company...hahaha

erm, I was browsing through a magazine that day...

for question like "where do u see urself in 10 years time from now"?

the magazine mentioned that we should tell our real plans and not be afraid of sounding more ambitious...

is this true??

thanks dreamer...

I'll be completing my studies by next year so right now I'm searching for potential companies which I am interested to work at....

One of the company is Apple ... My question now is, Apple is a "Creative" company and of course, they do get alot of applications ... How do I actually make my CV creative (to stand out from the crowd) without backfiring the whole thing as there's no clear guideline to how "creative" can I be... Or should I just go all out?? Is there any unwritten guideline and etc??

This is because most MNC nowadays wants employees that are dare to be different (IMHO) ... Is there any interesting book related to these issues I can read so that I can improve my self?

Great, I'll pay MPH a visit tomorrow and I think the first book I'll get is "The Creative Attitude" first because I think not only Apple, but most companies nowadays demand creativity

And your 5th statement just made me realized where for each different company, I should focus and relate my skills to the directions they are going just like video/music editing on Apple, tape drive storage/backup/imaging on HP and etc... thanks again...

I have a question here...

I'd always wanted to ask something about the job which something regarding promotion and etc... Normally it is not stated in the job description ... These are the things I wanted to ask...

1) How long before I can expect/ask for a promotion?
2) Is there any restrictions on how far can I go based on my current degree? Do I need to do any extra courses to get promoted?

Is the questions above proper to ask to the interviewer ?

ic.. thanks dreamer, jsm and providence ...

Yes, I didn't ask these questions b4 in any interviews as I myself also thinks that if I didn't convey the msg properly, I'll sound like an arrogant fool who knows nothing ..

It's great everytime I post a question here I learn something in return...

I'll always keep in mind that I MUST be more professional during interview and ask my questions in a more professional way ... Thanks

This post has been edited by Geminist: Aug 16 2005, 10:34 AM

erm.. I guess this is the same as in japanese..

U'll never express ur self as I am xxx san... u only say I am xxx...

Yes, it's really funny hearing someone calling up to u and say, "hello, this is ms yyy here..."

erm, I dunno which culture.. But in Japan, when introducing urself to anyone, putting a san infront of u is plain disrespecting for japanese...
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I read this up from a book

ooo.. great... I'll keep that in mind.. thanks

Hi,

I have a question...

I am a competitive person, not in everything, but particularly in both financial, career and personal developement...

I was afraid to mention this last time during my interview, however, I came across a journal that says some employer prefers ppl to be competitive...

Right now my sense of competition is doing me more good than bad as it motivates me to move faster compared to the rest of the crowd..

Is it worth mentioning in a job interview?

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PS, dreamer, I was in MPH today reading "The Millionaire Next Door" book.. It is really very interesting.. Too bad I didn't buy that book as the book seems used and worn out (definitely not worth the price).. Then I bought another book I have been reading there too, "The Warren Buffet Way".. Since u're a book enthusiasts, I believe this book is worth the read (Or maybe you have already read it )