Irritating Interviews I

If resumés are static photographs of one's abilities and skills, interviews are like windows from which an interviewer can peer into. Likewise, an interviewee can catch a glimpse of the workings of a company during this time too.

Of course, interviews are by no means an accurate gauge, and largely depend on one's ability to cast an effective and credible smokebomb of delusion.

With light finally visible at the end of this smoky tunnel, I've decided to release all details chronicling this long and arduous journey.

Interview #1
February 2009
Company: Recruit Express Pte Ltd
Category: Recruitment Agency
Position: Recruitment Consultant

What's Hot:
• My maiden job interview!
What's Not:
• Not in my field of study.
• Long working hours.
• Involves cold calling.

Bing Factor
(On a scale of 1-5; 1 being a crappy job & 5 means BINGo!):



I recalled that I was still having an early lunch at Megabites, when my phone rang.

My heart skipped a beat as I realized I would be having my first job interview. In a matter of hours, I had bought a copy of Fearless Interviewing by Markey Stein from the NUS Career Centre.

But my apprehension was unfounded as the interview turned out to be an informal chit-chat session. At the end of it, I was asked to complete a Harrison InnerView Questionnaire, to assess whether my personality profile would be a good fit to the job.

Days later, I received a phone call and email from the interviewer, informing me that I should redo the questions and resend it back.

As per spoken, please redo the Harrison Inner View Questionaire. There is nothing really wrong in the first test you did, but perhaps you may want to recall what I have mentioned to you in the interview about what we are looking for our consultant. For eg., we need someone who can work in a fast-paced environment. Or we need someone who has no fears in overcoming obstacles. Please redo, and return to me via email once you have completed. Thank you.

Of course, after doing the second round schizophrenically, I "passed".

One day before the second interview with the CEO, I backed out of it altogether... ...
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as I was busy preparing for my Physiology II test.

It was only much later that I found out a typical recruitment consultant was paid $2200 with incentives. And subjected to pay cuts if minimum targets are not met.

Final Bing Factor for Recruit Express:





Interview #2
April 8th, 2009
Company: Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology
Category: A*STAR Research Institute
Position: Research Officer

What's Hot:
• Dr Edwin Chow's pet project
• Non-laboratory aspects such as coordinating clinical trials with doctors and researchers in NUH
• High commercialization prospect
• Fresh hot lemon tea at 3PM, from Mondays to Thursday
What's Not:
• Laboratory work
• Biopolis... AGAIN?!

Bing Factor:




During the interview, I made the fatal error of positioning myself as an overenthusiastic undergraduate keen on furthering my studies (yeah rite...) and publishing papers. Only to realize that the job post requires the exact opposite.


Interview #3
May 4th, 2009
Company: BES Technology Pte Ltd
Category: Biomedical Engineering Services and Distributor
Position: Sales/Project Engineer

What's Hot:
• LOCATION
Just located under a kilometre away at Lichfield Road, I literally walked to the company!
What's Not:
• Tiny company constituting of single-digit staff count, in a single shophouse.
• Doing sales isn't exactly my cup of tea.
• Name of the company is a sheer turnoff.
What kind of name is "BES Technology"? Surely, they're not trying to convince others with their name... What they really lack is a company cheer:

North South East West
Who's the Best?
BESTech BESTech is the BEST!

Bing Factor:





Interview #4
May 7th, 2009
Company: Achema Pte Ltd
Category: Life science and hospital equipment distributor
Position: Sales Engineer

What's Hot:
• Location? Jalan Pemimpin was a single bus service away.
• Bigger than BES Tech, though not much
• Less engineering and more life science
What's Not:
• Industrial warehouse environment, with the office thrown at a corner
• Thus, toilets weren't exactly the cleanest.
• Lush pantry was not in sight.
• Sales... again.

Bing Factor:





Interview #5
May 22nd, 2009
Company: Sanofi-Aventis Pharma Manufacturing
Category: Pharmaceuticals and chemical manufacturing
Position: Process Chemist

What's Hot:
• Multinational Company (MNC)
• Pharmaceutical MNC
What's Not:
• LOCATION: Gul Circle, AKA bloody TUAS.
• Ridiculous mismatched in terms of job scope

Bing Factor:



If you're thinking how the heck a Bioengineer like me is able to snitch an interview for a Process Chemist post, it was actually courtesy of my father pulling strings.

Unfortunately, those strings nearly strangled me to death.

Because the job post demanded a person with Chemistry educational background, I had to convince the interviewer that I was incredibly versatile and immensely gifted, even with my lack of relevant qualification.

Oh... How much I winced and cringed in my seat during the whole time.

And did I mention, I was given a chemistry test too? Not surprisingly, I failed with flying colours. :p

Busily Attached

I have no idea why or how I can be kept perpetually busy even after my examinations has ended. While I know I'm pretty notorious for not using MSN, it's preposterous that Windows XP is attesting to that fact.

For no reason, I miss the deep fried calamari Aglio Olio in Science canteen.

The few reasons why studying for Government and Politics of Singapore can be emotional...

Fine. I've digressed.

Anyway, I have finally completed two weeks of internship at Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, under the umbrella of A-Star.
During the one-day orientation, I met up with the fresh batch of 20 students under the Youth Research Programme. For some strange reason, there were only 2 guys (including me) and 2 from NTU. The gender and institution ratio was more balanced in the research labs though.

IBN is located in Nanos building at the still spanking new Biopolis.

This is the Level 6 labs which I'm working in. While it looks seemingly cluttered, I think the ones in NUS look disastrously messy in comparison.

For each drawer, there is a systematic labeling system.

Even if it is UNKNOWN.

My Permanent Workplace: (Biohazard!) Cell Culture Room

*cues in eerie music*

Serious, I actually find it quite cosy (read: small).

I turned on the lights to take these photos. Usually, they're off when there are light sensitive experiments taking place.
Because my supervisor is hardly around, this hood is almost exclusively mine mine MINE!
Ha. Not only do I have a personal hood, I have one CO2 incubator all to myself!

Check out my name on it!

While I was initially whining (in the first week) that I was the only one not doing cell culture in a cell culture room, my other lab mate recently taught me how to subculture.

He described likened the cells as "Neopets". Always in need of a constant supply of food in the form of a cell culture medium. But unlike Neopets, they really do die when not fed.

These were my fresh baby Neopets!

Awww... Don't they look cute? I haven't decided on all their names yet since I suspect there are thousands of them.

Of course, cultivating these Neopets come at a heavy cost to the environment. Look at how many serological pipettes I've wasted in less than an hour... All in the name of sterility.
Of course, after some serious lab work, there must always be time for tea break at the pantry.

Ah. The pantry with a bird's eye view...

I could literally sit here for hours, musing about life.

At 3PM from Monday to Thursday, there would be this auntie who would make hot lemon tea.
A brilliant creation I say!

So far, I think this attachment has been surprisingly interesting and a real eye-opener in more ways than one. I even had the privilege of tio-ing the annual safety inspection check.

Anyway, during a meeting last week, my mentors and lab mates were discussing about hPT cells. The conversation went something like that:

Shah: After over a week, Kang Wen found out that the cells had started to clump together. Jeremy suspect that it was starting to differentiate.

*everyone started to giggle*

Shah: He said maybe if you leave it long enough, it might actually start to form tubules.

*stifled giggles gave way to bursts of laughter*

You know what?
I'm kinda worried that my sense of humour is getting really skewed, barely half a month of internship.