When I was in 4th semester of diploma, I came to realize that life's getting tough - very fast - even as a student. So it hit me, how am I supposed to find a job once I graduated? (Because numbers of fresh graduates increases and there's a lack of vacancies out there). And who's going to fund my life later? I pity my parents who are still struggling to finance our family. I'm not gonna let them pay for my tuition fees throughout my degree years.
So, during my semester break, I went on internet and searched for any available scholarships in Malaysia (specifically for engineering students). It turned out there were a lot of them. Some even from companies I've never heard before. I waited another two semesters to be able to apply for the scholarships - most scholarship applications opened in March/April and some in September. I even found some companies which offer their scholarships twice a year. You just gotta keep updated with all of these regularly.
Hah, what scholarships did I apply? Astro, Maxis, IJM, Shell, and Gamuda scholarship. I stopped applying once I got the good news from IJM lol. But please, keep applying ALL OF THE SUITABLE SCHOLARSHIPS AND DON'T BE LAZY TO FILL WHATEVER FORM THERE IS. And don't worry if they asked you to hand them a copy of university offer letter if you don't have one because when I applied for both IJM and Gamuda, I didn't have it yet. Sometimes, it's just luck.
I received an email from Shell in early February asking me to do an IQ test online. Believe me, it was fucking hard (it was time limited - of course). Didn't manage to proceed to the next stage though. And then in May, an email from IJM came in stated that my application is successful and I was asked to attend the assessment/interview 3 weeks after that and so I did. Not long after that, I received a call from Gamuda. A Chinese woman with very soft but firm voice telling me I'm one of the successful applicants and I have to attend the scholarship workshop in June (not yet the interview fyi). The workshop was okay and fun actually. I thought I couldn't proceed to another stage but eventually I did make it to the final stage (interview session).
I actually made a list of the scholarships I can apply. Believe me, it helps you to keep on track of everything you wanted to do next and keeping eye on everything related to the scholarships - required minimum CGPA and application deadline, just to name a few. But it's weird though looking back at the list, I did not jot down the IJM Scholarship and I don't know why. Lol
So there was it - the process of selecting and filling scholarship application forms. I admit that this whole thing was tiring. It was such a boring thing to do for so many times but just do it. If you really want what you want, you'll have no excuse at all. In fact, who knows all the difficulties you face today will ease you in the future.
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PLEASE READ MORE. LOL.Okay so, I was pretty delighted (and quite nervous as well) after receiving the email from IJM. I also found out that a couple of my friends received the same email. They decided to come over to my house a day before the assessment and we would go together to the interview session. Yes, so I prep myself - searching for any interview tips, how to persuade people (it's very essential to convince people of what you're capable of. Otherwise why would they want to hire/choose you?), how to be confident, how to write an essay and last but not least, what is IJM itself - or any other scholarships you're applying for.
This is my first ever interview, note that. (Okaylah, pernah aje temuduga pengawas masa sekolah dulu, but this is different, this is real life, you get me?)
The assessment day finally came and I was nervous as hell. I have low self-esteem at that moment because everyone looked so clean, so matured, so smart and looked so well-prepared while I looked like a potato and my voice sounded like a 5-year-old. So, I went straight to registration counter, handed in my passport photos, signed my attendance and went into some kind of press conference hall with some tables organized as such I was in the kindergarten classroom - at the back of the room. We were given a brief of what are our activities for the whole day.
Our first activity was a group activity. I was in a group of five, and there were two evaluators for each group. Eventually, these two evaluators will be interviewing each one of the group members. In the group, we were told to build a kind of monument - as I would call it - to represent the whole group as well as representing us as an individual. As we were discussing and working AS A GROUP, we were evaluated individually (each one of us was given a tag with number on it so it's easier for them to keep track on us). Oh yes, we had to explain to everyone in the room about our workshit (lol).End of group activity. Before we could eat the food that was prepared for us, they gave us each a mahjong paper to write about our education background, our aspirations and why we chose our course (all of these acted as "tell me about yourself" question later in the interview room). And of course I ate everything that was provided. My interview session was at 12 p.m., so I had another 30 minutes spare at that time. I used it to pee. My bladder was weak.
It's time! I went into the interview room and brought along the mahjong paper. I greeted them, shook their hands and started to present what's on the mahjong paper. I was given 5 minutes on that. When it's done, they asked me to have a seat and started the interview. Questions were flooding in and I was about to explode. I saw my résumé, and several papers that were stapled together consist of questions that were meant for me.
So basically, nothing related to academic were asked. It's all about your leadership, your warm presence, how you bring yourself in a crowd/group, your worst experience, your best day in your life, your sport activities and such. Examples of questions - "Think of one event in your real life, we don't want you to make it up, that brings you down and how you overcome it?", "What's the best thing happened to you?", "How do you study? Do you prefer to study alone or in a group?", "If we were to assess you working at a site, would you like it?".
But be careful with your answers, it might be a trap. From your answers, they will generate new questions for you. If they ask you to ask them something, JUST ASK SOMETHING. It shows that how much you want the scholarship or how much passion you want to work with them in the future. If you don't, they'll just think you're not interested in them at all and you're just wasting their time. Btw my interview lasted for 1 hour 10 minutes. But because the interviewers were not as uptight as I thought they'd be, I was quite okay with them. In the end, we just chit-chat a lot. And I think they were looking for any unique personalities as well.
I waited another 30 minutes to do an essay question. When my name was called, I walked into the hall where we were briefed previously. I forgot what the exact question was, but it was about socio-economic something like that. I was lucky enough to answer the essay question because the night before, I came across an article regarding socio-economic on internet. It did help me A LOT. So there you go, they gave us only half an hour to finish the 250 words essay.
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| One of my interviewers. She remembers my name, shockingly. |
And that was about it. I went home after that. Few weeks after a failed interview session with Gamuda (Gamuda was one tough cookie and it was unfortunate for me to attend the interview while I was sick), I received the extremely good news from IJM. Definitely couldn't ask for more. It was a great experience after all. Now that I am attached to IJM for 5 years from now on, I need to keep my studies on track - steadily - so that my agreement will not be terminated for not performing my degree years. Mampus kalau kena bayar balik biasiswa tu. Haha.
So, just be yourself. Answer questions as confident as you can. Be very well-prepared. Don't mumble a lot. Jangan terus jawab soalan, just take a few seconds before answering any questions to take a deep breath and gain your confidence. Look into their eyes and smile.
That's it.
Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah.
Trivia: Both Gamuda and IJM asked about my brother who is currently studying in Auckland through MARA sponsorship. They wanted to know if my brother is self-funding.
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