Do you know the logic behind this? Pls share......

You sure this won't impact the impression on the interviewer??

Would like to share my experience.....

I went to one interview for a fabless semiconductor company in Penang, for the position of IC Mask Design engineer.

The interview started with a little bit of standard questions like my current job functions and nothing much. Then, they conducted some sorts of written tests.
They gave me one paper with some engineering problems, and asked me to answer all of them and at the same time they kept staring at me while I was struggling to solve the problems. This indeed exerted certain pressure on me that time.

I did manage to solve most of the problems, but I admit to them certain details that I really did not know.

After the tests, the interview ended. And I did not get any offer.

In retrospect, I think the most likely reason is my current job function and skills is too far from the post I was applying. One of the interviewers did mention this on the phone interview prior to the face to face interview.

I answered the questions in the test all by my memory of final year syllabus, although with a bit of struggle after one and half year working (at the time this interview took place).

Then an interesting event occurred, after the interview, their HR sent an email to me saying that my application failed but my resume is being rettained for future reference. I thought, bah.....same bullsh** to all failed applicants. After one month, another manager called me, but from different department, asked me whether I am interested in other specific post or not. The post is like software support kind of nature. I responded with NO INTEREST.

Huh...I apply job A they gave me job B.

Hmm.....I doubt it.

You see post A is Mask Design, which requires engineering knowledge in VLSI, semiconductor and wafer cross-section knowledge, which I believe I displayed my knowledge during the test, though may be a fresh graduate level, since my current position is of different nature.

Post B is more to software, I recall the post is something CAD support and something like that, the caller did not tell in much details. I presume it requires a lot of programming skills and thus far more strayed from my skills sets.

I felt not right about it and did not want to regret second time, thus REJECTED.

This post has been edited by TYK: Jun 11 2005, 12:13 AM

Looking back now, sometimes I wonder whether I made a right decision....

Even bothering me now is will I be happier if I accepted their offer last time......

Wow...not much people can get this lucky. Congrats!

I think maybe you have shown your consistency and perseverance and that already stamp a good impression on the interviewer.

Hmm...if they act so unprofessional during recruitment process, it's not worth it to work for them.

Recruitment/interview is very serious and formal to a company, it should not be taken lightly.

Electrical and Electronic Engineering filed is very diversed, the questions to be asked during interview very depends what kind of skillsets and knowledge the position needs.

For example, if go to Intel/Altera or any company doing digital products, they will ask VLSI CMOS circuit design, VHDL, logic gates like flip-flops.

If go to companies doing RF/communication, questions will be RF/MW theory, analogue circuits like BJT and FET, and communication theory for analoue and digital.

If for fresh graduate, your final year project will be the focus of the interview.

So, in short, just study the job responsibilities and requirements and study the theory based on that.

This post has been edited by TYK: Jul 14 2005, 09:03 PM

I was really asked this question in one of my recent interviews, as you told me, my answer to them is "There is such a rumour, but I don't know much about it".

I was also asked this question, my response was "I have been involved in a lot of engineering activities, like performing some RF measurements, test bench setup, data analysis and generating reports. These skills can be applied in this position."

Not sure it sounds persuasive enough.

Normally, when we come across job advertisements, there are job responsibilities and requirements listed. With these information we can know what kind of tasks are to be handled by this position and what kind of knowledge and skill sets are needed.

So, during interview for that particular position, we emphasize our achievements or activities that are directly related to the job responsibilities and requirements.

This post has been edited by TYK: Jul 21 2005, 05:59 PM

Acknowledged, thanks a lot for the advice.

I would think when they want to offer you the position. And from there, negotiation starts. Around 10% to 20% increment of current salary is reasonably acceptable.

I think jsm just used PM as an example whereby if you want to be in that position, you have to know what it will take and what the job is all about.

This is true, but then a lot of times if we never have practical experience in that job, we will never know the perils and rewards of it. Words from experience people never enough for me.

Basically it's just goes back to the true reason you are applying a job in Singapore, then you just gear that reason towards your contribution to the company you are applying.

Greater opportunity, greater awards, greater motivation, greater contribution.