Interview: USM Communication 2015
So, this post is officially my first post after my last update, which was in 2012. I know, that was two years ago, but I have been quite busy with my STPM last year to even care about anything else (by anything else, I meant except for boy groups' comeback LOL).
And now I am back to tell you guys about my experience going to my very first interview in my whole 20 years of living in this planet. .
Okay, now back to the story; I woke up at 5 A.M. on a freaking Monday since we need to head to KL early since...well, you know, it's KUALA LUMPUR. I can not think of a day when KL is not in a traffic jam, maklumlah pusat bandar. Besides, I have to be at the venue at 8.15 A.M. for registration.
We (my dad and I) head to KL at 6 A.M. and let me tell you, we did NOT made it before 8.15 A.M. since the traffic jam was so gila sampai I cried in the car when one of my friends who got the same interview course Whatsapp-ed me saying that the written test will begin at 8.30 A.M. when I was still stuck at the traffic jam in Jalan Duta highway on 8.20 A.M. like can you feel how stressed I was back then.
After a few tears shed and calls coming from my mom, we finally arrived at the interview venue at 9.10 A.M. (I forgot the building name, sorry). Me, who is always such a gelabah person quickly went inside the building and followed two Chinese girls who were wearing formal clothes and one of the was holding a file, so I assumed they were there for the interview as well. However, when I asked them, they were actually office workers LOL but lucky enough, they kindly gave me directions to where the interview is actually held at. Hahahaha me and my gelabah-ness though.
Then I walked with my dad to the direction they gave me and there was a registration table just in front of the building's main door and after I hugged my dad and he said good luck to me, I went to the table and she asked for my name and said that I have to take the elevator and the interview place is on the 7th Floor of the building.
When I reached the 7th Floor, I got out and walked to the left room, where the receptionist told me to go to and there was this one guy (I think he's a USM worker or maybe a lecturer, I don't know) asked me "lewat ye?" to which I answered with an embarrassed "Yes" along with a smile, before he told me to sit at one of the cubicles there to wait to which I complied to.
After a few minutes, he asked me to go inside one of the rooms there to take the written test. The room was filled with the candidates waiting for their turn to be interviewed and my nervousness began to come back again, but I tried to calm myself by assuring that everything is gonna be alright.
The worker asked us to sit at the table at the most front and take the test.
The questions was in two languages, which was in Malay and English.
The Malay question was;
"Namakan satu iklan yang memberi impak kepada anda."
and the English one was;
"Does media help in promoting a healthy lifestyle?" (I don't really remember but it's about promoting a healthy lifestyle through mass medias.)
We have to write the essay in 250 words for each of the question, and there was another questions where they gave two pictures and we have to create headlines for each of the pictures in less than 10 words. It was also in Malay and English. We were given 45 minutes for the test.
The 45 minutes was a torture to me because heck, I lost my ability to write an essay after a longggg break. The last time I wrote something worth calling an essay was during my STPM exam which was a few months ago LOL. But I struggled more in the Malay essay because I can't think of a commercial that gave me an impact, I was this close to write about KFC commercial because it gave a major impact to my chicken-loving self, but nah, I'm not going to do that. At least not there.
After the test was finished, I immediately looked around to find my friend and I saw her sitting close to the table where I was at and she gestured me to go sit with her; which I was about to do. When I reached the table where she was sitting at, I have to get pass this one Chinese girl to sit beside my friend and I said "Excuse me" in a nice way, but she was muttering something under her breath which sounds so rude to me like girl, you're lucky I have other things to worry about or I will be nagging the hell out of you.
Okay that aside, my friend and I discussed about the questions and we shared the infos that we got to prepare ourselves for the interview, and we opened back PA textbook (she brought it) to find out about ASEAN and Malaysia's main export LOL. We even took two selfies haha we seemed so relaxed compared to other candidates.
While we were talking about our other classmates, the guy from before called out a list of names, and guess what? My name is included! Oh my god, I was immediately in a nerve wreck because I expected my name would be called a little late because I arrived later than my friend. I took my file and handbag with me and walked outside the room after me and my friend cheered each other.
They called 3 people at once for one interview, so I was really afraid if I would be out shined if the other two were very good and had lots of experiences regarding communication, but I decided that I would just go for it and not to worry about anything.
Two Malay girls were my partners for the interview; we introduced ourselves and even took a selfie together. I was less talkative though, because the other two were really outgoing and I am kind of introverted hahaha. It turned out, both of them were a year older than me, one of them was a diploma student majoring in Mass Communication and another one was an STPM leaver a year before me. We even followed each other's Instagram before entering the interview room LOL.
The worker asked us to enter the room after a few minutes, and I entered the room with a smile (like what one of my online friends asked me to do during interviews) and we sat down when they asked us to. I sat fully in manner; back straight and feet tucked in because you know, I was trying to make a good impression to the interviewers.
I actually thought my seat was for the third candidate (which was why I chose that seat), but it turned out I was the first candidate hahahaha T T.
The first question that they asked us were; "Have you all had breakfast this morning? You are not hungry right?".
Generally, the questions that they asked are:
1. What do you know about USM? (from the website, not from other people)
2. Which course are you interested in? And why?
3. What are the current issues that you know about?
4. Why should we take you to be our student? (you basically have to brag about your talents to convince them)
5. Who is the Ketua Negara?
That was the questions generally, but they would ask you something that was related to what you answered to those questions, so be sure to talk about something you really know about, or you will be in big trouble.
For example, my answer for question no. 3 was the 26th ASEAN Conference that happened in April, and man, they grilled me with questions like "How many countries are in ASEAN? List the countries" and if I can't answer, they will passed the questions to the other two. All of a sudden, they asked who is the Brunei's Sultan and what the main export of Brunei LOL I totally felt sorry to myself for bringing up the ASEAN topic. But I could not think of anything else at that time.
The interview had two sections; first half you have to talk in English (since they will ask you in English) and the second half you have to talk in Malay. Basically, you just have to follow the language the interviewer is asking you in. If they asked in Malay, you talk in Malay, and vice versa.
Towards the end of the interview, one of the interviewer suddenly asked about my mom. She was flipping through my file (and my useless sijils) and came across my birth certificate and asked, "I saw here that your mom is Kadazan, how did she adjust living in here?" like WOAH MAN, I did not expected that question.
But being me, I goreng lah about how my mom tried to adapt to live in Semenanjung based on what she told me before, I could not possibly know in detail; I'm not my mom. After menggoreng the answer, I expected that the question about my mom would finished, but she asked another question, "Apa yang awak suka setiap kali pulang ke Sabah?" and I was like, man, this is easy. I answered it was because of the high tolerance between the citizens there and gave an example. She replied with, "Saya setuju, mereka mempunyai toleransi yang sangat tinggi."
Before I knew it, the interview was finished and the STPM leaver was heading towards the door and I followed her; before we saw the diploma student was having a 'sesi bersalam' with the interviewers and we joined her.
I was the last one to leave, and before I walked out, one of the interviewer said, "Kirim salam kat mak awak." And gave me a thumbs up, to which I only nodded and smiled to.
I told my dad about that and he was very sure that it was a positive sign that I will be accepted. Well, if I really get accepted, I would be happy because I chose to major in Journalism; which is something that I have been wanting to do since I was in Form 5.
Overall, it was a very pleasant interview; it felt more like a group discussion than an interview because they would ask each of us for the same question if one of us can not answer it, and the questions were more headed towards the ones that you or other candidates have answered to one of the main questions.
Until then, goodbye!
XOXO,
fiqa
And now I am back to tell you guys about my experience going to my very first interview in my whole 20 years of living in this planet. .
Okay, now back to the story; I woke up at 5 A.M. on a freaking Monday since we need to head to KL early since...well, you know, it's KUALA LUMPUR. I can not think of a day when KL is not in a traffic jam, maklumlah pusat bandar. Besides, I have to be at the venue at 8.15 A.M. for registration.
We (my dad and I) head to KL at 6 A.M. and let me tell you, we did NOT made it before 8.15 A.M. since the traffic jam was so gila sampai I cried in the car when one of my friends who got the same interview course Whatsapp-ed me saying that the written test will begin at 8.30 A.M. when I was still stuck at the traffic jam in Jalan Duta highway on 8.20 A.M. like can you feel how stressed I was back then.
After a few tears shed and calls coming from my mom, we finally arrived at the interview venue at 9.10 A.M. (I forgot the building name, sorry). Me, who is always such a gelabah person quickly went inside the building and followed two Chinese girls who were wearing formal clothes and one of the was holding a file, so I assumed they were there for the interview as well. However, when I asked them, they were actually office workers LOL but lucky enough, they kindly gave me directions to where the interview is actually held at. Hahahaha me and my gelabah-ness though.
Then I walked with my dad to the direction they gave me and there was a registration table just in front of the building's main door and after I hugged my dad and he said good luck to me, I went to the table and she asked for my name and said that I have to take the elevator and the interview place is on the 7th Floor of the building.
When I reached the 7th Floor, I got out and walked to the left room, where the receptionist told me to go to and there was this one guy (I think he's a USM worker or maybe a lecturer, I don't know) asked me "lewat ye?" to which I answered with an embarrassed "Yes" along with a smile, before he told me to sit at one of the cubicles there to wait to which I complied to.
After a few minutes, he asked me to go inside one of the rooms there to take the written test. The room was filled with the candidates waiting for their turn to be interviewed and my nervousness began to come back again, but I tried to calm myself by assuring that everything is gonna be alright.
The worker asked us to sit at the table at the most front and take the test.
The questions was in two languages, which was in Malay and English.
The Malay question was;
"Namakan satu iklan yang memberi impak kepada anda."
and the English one was;
"Does media help in promoting a healthy lifestyle?" (I don't really remember but it's about promoting a healthy lifestyle through mass medias.)
We have to write the essay in 250 words for each of the question, and there was another questions where they gave two pictures and we have to create headlines for each of the pictures in less than 10 words. It was also in Malay and English. We were given 45 minutes for the test.
The 45 minutes was a torture to me because heck, I lost my ability to write an essay after a longggg break. The last time I wrote something worth calling an essay was during my STPM exam which was a few months ago LOL. But I struggled more in the Malay essay because I can't think of a commercial that gave me an impact, I was this close to write about KFC commercial because it gave a major impact to my chicken-loving self, but nah, I'm not going to do that. At least not there.
After the test was finished, I immediately looked around to find my friend and I saw her sitting close to the table where I was at and she gestured me to go sit with her; which I was about to do. When I reached the table where she was sitting at, I have to get pass this one Chinese girl to sit beside my friend and I said "Excuse me" in a nice way, but she was muttering something under her breath which sounds so rude to me like girl, you're lucky I have other things to worry about or I will be nagging the hell out of you.
Okay that aside, my friend and I discussed about the questions and we shared the infos that we got to prepare ourselves for the interview, and we opened back PA textbook (she brought it) to find out about ASEAN and Malaysia's main export LOL. We even took two selfies haha we seemed so relaxed compared to other candidates.
While we were talking about our other classmates, the guy from before called out a list of names, and guess what? My name is included! Oh my god, I was immediately in a nerve wreck because I expected my name would be called a little late because I arrived later than my friend. I took my file and handbag with me and walked outside the room after me and my friend cheered each other.
They called 3 people at once for one interview, so I was really afraid if I would be out shined if the other two were very good and had lots of experiences regarding communication, but I decided that I would just go for it and not to worry about anything.
Two Malay girls were my partners for the interview; we introduced ourselves and even took a selfie together. I was less talkative though, because the other two were really outgoing and I am kind of introverted hahaha. It turned out, both of them were a year older than me, one of them was a diploma student majoring in Mass Communication and another one was an STPM leaver a year before me. We even followed each other's Instagram before entering the interview room LOL.
The worker asked us to enter the room after a few minutes, and I entered the room with a smile (like what one of my online friends asked me to do during interviews) and we sat down when they asked us to. I sat fully in manner; back straight and feet tucked in because you know, I was trying to make a good impression to the interviewers.
I actually thought my seat was for the third candidate (which was why I chose that seat), but it turned out I was the first candidate hahahaha T T.
The first question that they asked us were; "Have you all had breakfast this morning? You are not hungry right?".
Generally, the questions that they asked are:
1. What do you know about USM? (from the website, not from other people)
2. Which course are you interested in? And why?
3. What are the current issues that you know about?
4. Why should we take you to be our student? (you basically have to brag about your talents to convince them)
5. Who is the Ketua Negara?
That was the questions generally, but they would ask you something that was related to what you answered to those questions, so be sure to talk about something you really know about, or you will be in big trouble.
For example, my answer for question no. 3 was the 26th ASEAN Conference that happened in April, and man, they grilled me with questions like "How many countries are in ASEAN? List the countries" and if I can't answer, they will passed the questions to the other two. All of a sudden, they asked who is the Brunei's Sultan and what the main export of Brunei LOL I totally felt sorry to myself for bringing up the ASEAN topic. But I could not think of anything else at that time.
The interview had two sections; first half you have to talk in English (since they will ask you in English) and the second half you have to talk in Malay. Basically, you just have to follow the language the interviewer is asking you in. If they asked in Malay, you talk in Malay, and vice versa.
Towards the end of the interview, one of the interviewer suddenly asked about my mom. She was flipping through my file (and my useless sijils) and came across my birth certificate and asked, "I saw here that your mom is Kadazan, how did she adjust living in here?" like WOAH MAN, I did not expected that question.
But being me, I goreng lah about how my mom tried to adapt to live in Semenanjung based on what she told me before, I could not possibly know in detail; I'm not my mom. After menggoreng the answer, I expected that the question about my mom would finished, but she asked another question, "Apa yang awak suka setiap kali pulang ke Sabah?" and I was like, man, this is easy. I answered it was because of the high tolerance between the citizens there and gave an example. She replied with, "Saya setuju, mereka mempunyai toleransi yang sangat tinggi."
Before I knew it, the interview was finished and the STPM leaver was heading towards the door and I followed her; before we saw the diploma student was having a 'sesi bersalam' with the interviewers and we joined her.
I was the last one to leave, and before I walked out, one of the interviewer said, "Kirim salam kat mak awak." And gave me a thumbs up, to which I only nodded and smiled to.
I told my dad about that and he was very sure that it was a positive sign that I will be accepted. Well, if I really get accepted, I would be happy because I chose to major in Journalism; which is something that I have been wanting to do since I was in Form 5.
Overall, it was a very pleasant interview; it felt more like a group discussion than an interview because they would ask each of us for the same question if one of us can not answer it, and the questions were more headed towards the ones that you or other candidates have answered to one of the main questions.
Until then, goodbye!
XOXO,
fiqa
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