Two Trips to Queenstown

Day 1: Monday

I went for an interview at Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS) UniCampus on Monday. By far, it is the furthest location that I had ever traveled for an interview… all the way to the school campus, 10 minutes walk from Queenstown MRT station.

Generally, I find the place quite pleasant, though it doesn’t really look like a campus, but more of a secondary school surrounding. And having worked before at an old office building at Tai Seng made me realize & treasure the importance of having a clean toilet with running water!

Believe me… the washing basin tap inside the toilet at my previous company doesn’t flow… it splashes… sometimes on your shirt or / & pants. That toilet cubicle is always dirty… in my nearly 6 months at that office, I had never seen the toilet clean before. Un-flushed toilet bowls… one of the three urinals spoilt… puddles of water here & there… & it is especially inconvenient when guys wear long formal pants & has to take them off before sitting on the toilet bowl.

The environment at MDIS UniCampus is nice… or should I say, rather friendly. Maybe it’s because it’s a school environment, so there are many people dressed in casual attire, as compared to a small number of staff who dress in formal… what’s more, there are very few guys working here… the bulk are females.

The lady at the reception was very polite & in fact, I find her overly smiley… coz she just keeps on smiling whenever she is talking to me. I guess its part of her job to do so, or maybe she’s really enjoying her job very, very, very much. If so, I’m happy for her. There should be more people enjoying their jobs, than going to work looking all so grouchy day after day.

I was ushered into a small meeting room, where I was told to fill up this MDIS job application form. This wasn’t new to me… I have filled up several of such typical forms before… that’s why I figured that it’s always good to come earlier than the appointed interview time, coz there is usually some job application form to fill up.

But just when I thought that this was nothing new, I turned over the first page of the job application form & saw with my eyes wide opened… that there was another 2-page customer service questionnaire, where I had to answer 6 open-ended questions! Wow! And aren’t all easy questions, though I wouldn’t say it was terribly difficult either. But it sure added onto the time spent on filling up the 4-page application by PEN (I’m used to typing, after I left university). And guess what? I took almost 30 minutes to complete everything! It’s a good thing that I arrived 25 minutes earlier than the appointed time!

Finally, after a short wait, I was ushered into another small meeting room, where I came face to face with two ladies… one probably in her 30s & the other probably in her late 30s or early 40s. I can’t remember the name of the younger lady, but I remembered the name of the older lady, coz her name is ‘Jade’ & I thought that it sounded weird coz jade is quite an old fashioned name, which nowadays most younger women do not choose to have. Anyway, both of them were rather intense in watching & questioning me, though they had asked me the typical interview questions, but I tried to lighten up the mood by occasionally smiling while answering their questions.

I really thank God that they didn’t ask me any tough & complicated questions, coz I wasn’t feeling well that day & had just recovered from sore eye the day before. Furthermore, I didn’t really get to sleep much that night. So honestly, I wasn’t in the best state for this interview. But I prayed, trusted God & went for it.

It turned out that the interview actually when quite well. Thank God! My occasional smiles actually made those two ladies smile once at me… that already is a good start. They seemed pleased at how I answered their situational questions based on hypothetical scenarios. Thankfully, I had prepared for this type of questions.

But one thing worried me – both of them looked very cautiously at the space in the job application form, where I had to state my expected salary. I had put $1,800 - $2,000, which normally isn’t a shocking figure to most people, so far at least, from those whom I have met & those whom I have heard stories from. They gave such a cautious look & asked me if that’s whether $1,800 was the lowest that I’m prepared to accept. That kind of shocked me, coz I thought that was rather reasonable, considering that I’m not a fresh graduate & already had a year of work experience & it’s related to this job scope too. So I told them, “Well… it’s just a rough guideline… maybe I’ll put my lowest as $1,600.” They nodded, wrote it down on that space on my job application form & said that HR will call me in a few days time.

I was very surprised that they didn’t even shake my hand when we first met & after the interview ended! Maybe it’s not a corporate business kind of culture, which isn’t a surprise either, coz it’s a school…

Day 2: Wednesday

I was surprised when I received a call from MDIS on Tuesday, just the day after I went for the first interview & the lady asked me to come down for the second interview the next day (i.e. Wednesday).

This time, I didn’t need to fill up any application form, which is a great relief for my right writing hand. I’m really not used to writing for long periods of time with a pen nowadays. I prefer typing coz can press ‘control’ + ‘z’ to undo changes in a single second. And typing is very much neater & can have different fonts & colors.

The HR lady named Mei Ling interviewed me & I would say that I went quite well too. But again, this lady had the same cautious look when she looked at my stated expected salary. She asked, “Is $1.6K the lowest that you are willing to accept?” I replied that I initially stated $1.8K - $2K, but $1.6K is the lowest that I’m willing to accept. Even after I said that, she still looked uneasy & cautious… which made me wonder if the starting salary is very low at MDIS.

Well, I don’t know whether HR would call me, if they finally decided to hire me… & what salary they would be offering… but I’ll still take the job first & see where I can work from there. All in all, I’m not someone who is greedy for more & more money… I’m just a guy in his mid 20s who is seeking to earn a decent income that allows him to save to get married within 2 – 3 years. Coz by then, I would be almost 30 years old. And I also want to be able to give the best to my wife & children too. That’s why I’m hoping for that reasonable salary… but I’ll trust God, coz He knows what’s best for me…