Reflection About Job Interview (yahya) 625a3g

5/24/2015

MARKET YOURSELF GSP 5203

ASSIGNMENT 1, PART 2 – REFLECTION TUTOR: LAURA LOBATO

By: Yahya Isa Saif | Ya7ya04

On Thursday 21st May 2015, I attended a simulated interview for BAPCO Assistant Manager Graduate Training Programme. In this interview, I gave the interviewer a hard copy of my CV and letter of application; it was a very valuable experience for me for many reasons. First of all, I learned that the letter of application and CV should sell my ability to perform the job and explain why I am the best candidate for the job; also I learned that the letter of application and CV should show the specific skills and experiences related to the job with evidences. When I read the job ment, I found that the job requires some skills such as, communication skills, practical skills, and work experience. So, I mentioned the relevant skills in the letter where I explained each skill separately with showing how I gained it; for example I mentioned that I gained the communication skills through working with different student and tutors. Since, I focused in the CV on the related practical skills and work experience where I listed the industrial companies that I work in, and I explained the nature of each job. I learned from the tutor that the layout of the CV and letter is very essential because it could affect the job opportunities negatively if they were not well prepared; so I added a professional picture to the CV, and I chose an appropriate space alignment and the font size for CV and letter; now I have a professional CV and letter that I can use them in the future. I learned that the interviews require applying some techniques and practicing. Also, to enhance occupational opportunities I should read the job ment and research about the job to figure out the job duties, the required skills and qualifications, the company mission and vision because the interviewer may ask me about these information. Also, I learned that I should practice the most common interview questions to answer them correctly, and prepare good answers for hard questions like “what is your greatest weakness”. When I completed the interview I ed two events in my life. The first event was a poster presentation for Material Science course (presentation about Carbon Fiber). The tutor invited seven engineering tutors to attend the presentation in order to ask me and classmates about the posters. During the presentation, the tutors asked me several theoretical questions about Carbon Fiber and some related topics about Material Science; I answered the entire questions in detail for example l explained the microstructure and mechanical properties of the material where I demonstrated my knowledge about Carbon Fiber and Material Science. The same thing happened in the interview where I demonstrated my knowledge of the company and the job requirements such as I explained the nature of works in mechanical section in Bapco. This happened because I always prepare myself for any event that I will participate in it because I am hard-worker and good learner, and doing several presentations at Bahrain Polytechnic developed my communication skills. The second event happened in the university as well, the tutor asked from me to speak in front of classmates to explain an engineering lesson (it was a kind of oral test). Actually, I did not feel good about it because I was very nervous. Also, at the beginning of the interview I was under pressure because it was the first interview for me and the second question was unexpected so I looked a little bit nervous during the interview. This happens occasionally because of my nature (sometimes I cannot control pressure); in the future I will put a lot of time into preparation to overcome nervous. In order to learn the interviewing techniques I have read two articles “10 Interviewing Rules” by Carole Martin and “Interviewing Techniques and Tips” by Randall S. Hansen; these articles helped me in preparing for the interview through demonstrating the type of the questions that I may asked during the Page 1 of 2

interview (common type of the questions), the techniques that I should follow them to answer the interviewer questions correctly such as, how to answer the questions in a positive way, what to wear and how to manage stress. I followed most of the mentioned advices in the articles for example the articles suggest conducting a research about the company and nature of job; I did a research about Bapco and I memorized the Bapco aims, mission, vision and values, also I asked an engineer in Bapco about the nature of works in mechanical section; this helped me answering the interviewer question (what is the nature of job in Bapco?) correctly during interview. Beside the practice questions that were provided by the tutor I followed the advice “prepare responses through practice on answering the most common interview questions”, and I practiced more questions like (Why should we hire you?). The most important advice that I followed was “give a specific example through preparing the stories before the interview”. When the interviewer asked about my skills I mentioned each skill with a real life example such as I explained in detail a problem that I solved it after mentioning problem-solving skill; I think this s the information and makes them more realistic. I followed the articles suggestion where I asked some insightful questions during interview because asking questions indicates to my interest about job and company. For future interviews I will apply a strategy before and during the interview. First I will read the job ment to know the required skills and experience for the job. Then I will research and ask about the company and job including company mission and vision, average salary in Bahrain to discuss the salary and nature of job. Based on the research and the information from ment I will prepare a specific letter and CV that would sell my skills and qualifications for the job. Also, I will practice answering the most common interview questions, and prepare some insightful questions related to the job. During the interview day; I will wear appropriate cloths (suit for private companies or traditional cloths for government jobs “habit in Bahrain”). I will attend the interview before half an hour, and I will ask all the questions. From the simulated interview; I faced a problem about confidence and hesitating where I was a little bit nervous, to overcome this issue I will practice interviewing more through doing online video interviews using http://www.hirestream.me/graduate.

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