Job Application

Start of the weekend now. Been much away from formulating any blog entries of late. This entry covers pretty much something I haven't done for a while since I returned to the Philippines. It tackles much on the long-drawn ritual of job application.

This week was about the job application. Basically done in two phases, preparation and execution. Monday to Wednesday was preparation time. Thursday and Friday basically the application period itself.

Preparation basically covers the intelligence gathering matter of knowing what to expect in the interview and other details in the screening procedure. Armed with this knowledge, it provided me with a slight edge as to how to go about the application.

Besides the intel gathering, I also had to prepare my attire and purchase whatever's needed to round up said attire. Luckily, majority of my attire was taken cared of back in Seattle and I get to use it for this occasion. Just a purchase of an undershirt rounded the entire set. Clothes and application inside info, check. All set to go.

My Dad picked up my cousin, Chester, since he's the one who provided us the inside scoop on the application process in the company he's working in and the one I'm applying to. Dad drove me over to the RCBC Plaza Building in Makati. Impressive s looking building on first seeing it meself.

Me and my cousin trooped inside and took an elevator ride to the 18th floor and go through the waiting game. Of course, the usual writing in of forms done in lieu with the waiting. The preliminary interview and screening started around 11:00 or so. The interview was done by one interviewer and seven of us applicants. A rather different method in my opinion. The interview went through fine and since it was a prescreen interview, it felt to me like something out of a reality show like American Idol or America's Next Top Model. The prescreen interviewer, Princess, mentioned me and three others passed while the other three had to be let go. I was briefed way earlier that the interview was actually a test on how good one's English speaking skills the potential applicant has. I have no problem with that along with the diction and accent for it. Survived the 1st round.

Second round was to follow a little later after lunch for the phone simulation test. Lunch would be in order. My cousin gave me the brief tour towards the eating places inside the RCBC Plaza Building. I'm rather impressed that it has a decent foodcourt. Quite a place for me. Lunch done, back to the waiting game till my turn to take the simulation test came up. It was a rather straightforward test involving two readings. One reading involves a set of tongue twisters, which I felt I stumbled at the start but the others were more manageable to pronounce through. The second reading involves reading out the names of the US states in correct form. No biggee on that part.

After the tongue-twisting and state naming, another round of waiting follows for Round Three: the IQ test. The IQ test was rather different since it was conducted on a PC. The drill for it goes about answering X number of questions in a very small time frame of say, Y minutes. It wasn't exactly a big thing I was told by my cousin. So the final interview schedules was set up for us for the following day.

I arrived on time for the following day's schedule though an unexpected twist came about as to my seeming non-appearance when my interviewer, John, was trying to page me in. I decided to play it patient throughout the proceeding in spite my initial projected plans for that day was wrap up the application here and head over to Vinnie's shop in Megamall for some kibbitzing. Of course, given the situation, the second part of the day's activity was rather pushed far back. After around past 2:00PM decided to accost an HR person as to my status for the final interview. Also repeated that around 3:00PM. Luckily it was Princess I inquired as to the final interview. She located John and my interview proceeded in earnest. It was bit of a miscommunication and partly I guess on my preoccupation in reading Peter Hamilton's Fallen Dragon and listening to my CD player I brought to make the long waiting bearable to be the culprit I reasoned. Regardless all the waiting paid off.

I'll not bore you with the details in the final interview. I did well enough in my response to his questions that he endorsed my application to one more HR person, Nico. It was fortunate that Nico mentioned that he is straight-forward person in these interviews and I responded promptly enough since it would be more comfortable and honest enough to go through it without any ambiguity with the interview. Nico was slightly surprised as to my patience as opposed to other applicant who show irritability and impatient in light of things.

I would like to note that when you get interviewed by those who were geeks or have an inner geek inside them, it helps a bit when they mention something of a geeky topic noted in your resume or response like keyword comics, computer games or PS2, then some talk or response on said keyword helps in the interview process as far as the positive reaction modifier calls for. Never thought encountering younger geeks than myself would be of help in the employment process.

All in all, I passed the final interview and now on my way to joining the ranks of the employed, which I've been away for a quite a while. At least a steady flow of economic units into my holding would be nice and moreso of restoring my ability to do the occasional impulse purchasing at Vinnie's shop and other places. It was a busy week indeed.