Day1: The Call

Tuesday (5 July 2005)
1644 hr...

Received a call from an unfamiliar number. It was a call up for an assessment test, and that the details would be forwarded to my email account. I was shocked, surprised and excited. It was my official first call up for interview. And, it is from a considerably large corporate. (I would prefer keeping the names to myself) The assessment would be at 9am the following day. The moment the conversation ended, I knew I had to made arrangements and adjustments. My current schedule has been quite messed up, and this assessment thing, and twisted it to the worse end. I am more messed up now.


Wednesday (6 July 2005)
0800 hr...

Oh, before I go on any further.. Happy Birthday Yin! (It's a day later when I write this entry.. but still.. Happy Birthday!) I sent a text message to you, did you get that? Anyways, at this hour, I was in the taxi on my way to Cyberjaya for the assesment test. Yes, the location is at Cyberjaya. Don't really like that place, it's like a modern desert! Living hell for me.. It has almost NOTHING there!


0845 hr...

Arrival at the scene. Time stated on the information given was at 9pm (sharp). So, I thought I'd better reach there earlier than later, and not screw up any impression that I have. Somehow, this whole assessment thing, still could not avoid the effect of one of the most influential 'Malaysian culture' -- candidates arriving after 9am, and even the person in charged greeted us around 0920.. That's so not cool! Half an hour wasted!


0924 hr...

Company tour: I'm totally impressed with the environment and the facilities. The place is sooo cool! Really impressive. I just can't put them in words here, and too bad I was not allowed to take any photos of it there. Just too bad. You should see it to feel it! The company policies aren't bad as well. Pretty good prospect.


minutes around 1000 hr...

Arrival at the training rooms: This is where we had our assessment tests. The moment I sat down, my head and eyes could not help turning leftwards, where a gorgeous lady was sitting. She's a white, she's just simple gorgeous. Hehe. Well, I don't know if they put this lady from HR department to distract candidates during tests. (I had my head turning several times, and my focus distracted during the listening comprehension part! Ouch!)

There were 3 parts for the test - EPT, APT and Written Test.. (sounds very much like an English paper huh?)

And it is English paper. EPT - English Language Proficiency Test, is where they test your English, reading and listening comprehension. I'll just skip this part, it was nothing much to mention about.

Here comes the APT - Aptitude Test (or some sort). This is where we were tested on Vocab, IQ, Calculation and Vocab again.. (Synnonyms). This hurt me a lot! I had been weak in Vocab all these while, and this paper had really some tough ones for me. and I was only given 4 minutes to do 12 questions. That was short! Same goes for IQ test. It took me a while to figure out the pattern, but it was a lil bit too late, only managed to answer 2 or 3 out of 12 questions. (4 minutes!!)

Calculation Part was my best bet. completed 12/18 in 5 mins and 30 secs..! 5 mins! Hell short!
Lastly, test on words again! We were required to do the exercise on Synnonyms! As usual, Tough.. and within 4 mins. I doubt anyone could complete everything in the time given..! Brain was so stressed out after that paper. Gosh...!

Writen Test - this is where you do the writing, answering what's given to you, in written form. Here, I was asked to take a Mandarin version. (I was asked if I could speak and write in Mandarin or not prior the test) And gosh, I did not prepare for this! Never I have expected that I would need to do mandarin test! Anyways.. Everything finshed off by 1pm.


1300 hr...

All candidates left the hall, heading towards lobby. We were told that results would be known within a week's time.. So, I left and waited for transport to head back to the city..


4-5 hours later...

Received a call from them...
"May I speak to Allen please?"
"Yes, speaking."
"Hi, I'm calling from the HR Department. We would like to inform you that the assessment test was a success."
"What? That was fast?""blah blah blah ( just wanna jump into the main point)... We would like to arrange a time with you for your final interview. Would it be okay for your if it's 6.30pm tomorrow?.."
And so, I had to make another arrangement and adjust ment again.. This is so unexpected! I took leave one day, and will need to take another (partial leave, not even a half day.. I'm still in office now! 2.45pm now!) Will need to head to Cyberjaya again..


Thursday (7 July 2005)
1445 hr...

Typing entry for the blog offline. My boss unplug my cable cos a customer needs it on his laptop. Hmm.. So, might not be able to post this blog on time. Will be going of around 3.30pm later..
So, more to come later..


[... to be continued]