The Interview.

It was not the way I had envisioned spending my last day in MIU before leaving for internship, after which I would be graduating.

On the day before the last paper of my final exam, I received a call at about 6 in the afternoon from one of the companies I had applied at for an internship position. They wanted me to come to their office for an interview the next day at about 3, which wasn't exactly ideal because I had planned to spend the afternoon packing my stuff and maybe even saying goodbye to a few people after finishing my exam that morning. I tried asking if I could come in next week, but it wasn't to be.

I then had to rush to prepare all the materials I'd need to bring along to the interview, namely a couple of forms and copies of my transcripts and certificates. After all that, dinner, and some other stuff, I was finally able to get back to studying for the exam at about 10.30 pm. Considering I was tired and still had half the material left to memorize, let's just say it wasn't as good a study session as I had hoped it would be. It was my own fault, I suppose, for not making better use of my time.

I did what I could for the paper the next morning and left the exam hall an hour early. I managed to say goodbye to a few people, including my dear classmate, who had left the hall at the same time I did. I've really grown attached to her after being partners in crime for the past three years, and I'm sure I'll miss her a lot. The goodbye was brief, mostly because both of us would be interning in KL (albeit at different companies) and we might still be able to hang out at some point (though I highly doubt it, for a multitude of reasons), and also the fact that I had to rush back to KL for my interview.

I managed to make it back home for Friday prayers and change into appropriate attire. I then proceeded to stubbornly not use a GPS and subsequently got lost driving around looking for the office. I eventually gave up and decided to turn on my GPS anyway, because it wasn't exactly the best time to be exploring the mazy streets of Malaysia's capital.

The time for the interview was set at 3.30, though that wasn't exactly fixed because the lady who had called me for the interview said they were willing to wait for me - we had arranged the interview on the assumption that I'd finish my exam on time at 12.30 and go for Friday prayers in Nilai right after, and would thereby be rushing to make it in time after finishing. I showed up at the company's HR Department sometime between 3.45 to 4.00, so I guess you could say I made it on time.

Before the interview, I was asked to write a couple of essays. The first one was on my future career aspirations in no less than 200 words, while the second was on the topic of social media and how it had made the world a more dangerous and unstable place in no less than 500 words. The whole point of the exercise was just so they could evaluate my writing skills and thought processes, so I just put out whatever came to mind at the time.

After that was time for the main event: the actual interview. I had made almost no preparations, as I only had time to merely skim through the company website after reaching home from Nilai and before going for Friday prayers. I hadn't looked up how to answer common interview questions; I have read a few articles in the past, but I never really put what I'd read into practice. This was the first face-to-face interview of my life, and I was just going to wing it. And wing it I did.

I'm not going to go too much into the questions asked, mostly because I don't really remember much of what was asked and what I answered anymore at this point. What I do remember is that the interview was in fact sort of enjoyable; it's not every day that people take an interest in you and ask you questions about yourself. I think I did alright enough, considering it was my first time being interviewed, and I'm almost certain that I'll be offered the position. It is only internship anyway, and I doubt you have to be truly exceptional to land such a job.

Right now, I'm just biding my time while waiting for confirmation on where I'll be interning; I've also been contacted by another company besides the one I went to for the interview, and on the off-chance that neither company takes me on, I'll be interning at the company that provides insurance for my university along with my aforementioned classmate, who hadn't bothered to apply anywhere else. I'm not just sleeping around, surfing the internet and playing FIFA all day though, mind you, though I'll admit that that comprises a large chunk of my time. I've also been carrying out familial responsibilities and, starting tomorrow, I'm getting back to work on some data collection work for a research paper I'm helping a lecturer out with.

Internship will be my first foray into working life, and it promises to be tough. I'll just have to keep up a positive outlook and take life's challenges as they come. Until next time, folks.