Interview with Schlumberger (Slb) - Part 1

Assalamualaikum! Hai!

Before all of you think that I am some sort of Field Engineer/Trainee in Schlumberger, the answer is sadly deeply NO. But, I have experienced being interviewed by Schlumberger TWICE. Satu untuk internship, satu untuk kerja. Tapi dua- dua tak dapat. Kahkah. So here is the story Part 1.

First Interview (Internship)

Untuk first interview, aku apply untuk jadi Field Engineer Trainee sebab masa tu tengah pulun cari tempat internship. Pada yang nak apply internship Schlumberger, please visit https://careers.slb.com/. Masa tu apply je, dapat ke tidak kemudian baru fikir. Yang penting usaha itu ada. 

Tiba- tiba after 2 months , I got a call from Mr.Kuga, Schlumberger saying it was a phone interview. Masa ni, sesiapa yang suka silent phone macam aku sangatlah rasa macam nak bagi penampar kat diri sendiri. Because we never know when the companies would call. So make sure to always stick to your phone and alert. Nasib baik masa tu tak silent. At that time, Mr.Kuga tanya 3 soalan;

1. What am I currently doing? 

Maksudnya dia nak tahu whether kita dah kerja atau belum. Tengah study atau dah habis. So aku jawab still studying at UiTM blablabla Chemical Engineering blablabla 6th Semester blablabla. 

2. Position apa yang u apply kat website Slb?

Untuk orang yang macam aku dan Dory dalam cerita nemo, which is ada Short Term Memory Lost (STML), memang kau tak akan ingat punya apa yang kau apply 2 bulan lepas. So bila dia tanya soalan ni, aku jawab general, Trainee Engineer. Better than clarifying that u did not remember. 

3. What do you know about Schlumberger?

Hamek kau soalan dia, mana lah kau nak ingat dengan detail apa yang Schlumberger  buat. So, aku jawab tergagap gagap secara general jugak. Aku jawab Schlumberger is a multi-national oil and gas company. Tu je. Very general. Kahkah. Lantak lah asal aku jawab.

Lepas tanya soalan-soalan tu, baru dia cakap nak panggil interview pada hari sekian sekian. Then he will shoot an email to me about the details of  the interview.

Nerves tak yah kira lah. Kalau kira, tak terhitung nilai dia. Aku dapat interview invitation on 7th March 2014... Interview pulak 13th March. So I have about 5 days to prepare for the interview. Dalam email tu, dia ade include the agenda of interview.

Aku nasihatkan bila dah dapat interview invitation macam ni, wajibul ghunnah untuk korang bukak website Slb dan study pasal Slb sedalam- dalamnya. Study macam kau masa SPM dulu. So bila kau baca, baru kau tahu, Slb punya interview ada 4 stages. Hamek kau! This screening session that I got was the first stage. Company besar gedabak kot, of course bukan senang dapat masuk. 

On that day of the interview, aku dan kawan baik aku (Afif) which also got the same opportunity as me sampai lambat 15 minit but we are still on time. Sebabnya? Waze buat problem dan jammed. T.T. So we grabbed a taxi instead to go there. Masa tu, aku dan Afif bertolak pukul 6 pagi kalau tak silap. Still lambat. Jalan Key-El tak boleh nak expect. 

Anyways, sampai je kat situ ada ramai lagi candidates about 15 people lah kot. Tak ingat. Haha. I told ya I have STML = =". Nasib baik dorang tak start lagi interview. Candidates yang lain seriously nampak berkaliber gila, ada yang study kat overseas, fluent gila tahap gaban english. Insecure hakak kat situ.*menangis dalam hati

Then kami kena panggil masuk dalam meeting room. 

Jeng Jeng Jeng. This is it. The nerve-wrecking moment!

After a while, masuklah En. Shahrizal Ismail which is our recruiter. Nasib baik En.Shahrizal sangatlah sempoi sembang macam kita lepak dekat kedai mamak. Hilang semua nerves.

As being written in the agenda;

1. Introduction to Slb

En. Shahrizal pun explain to us about Schlumberger through slides. Actually masa ni, make sure kau dah buat research pasal Slb. Kiranya apa yang En. Shahrizal terang masa tu kau paham dan dah tahu pun. So, muka kau dia tengok paling acah konfiden lah!  Paling baik kalau sambil dia terang, kau prepare soalan nak tanya at the end of the session. This is just to make yourself shine than others and to be remembered. Bear in mind, recruiter Slb bukan kerja HR je. Dorang memang mostly ada background engineering dan pernah kerja offshore.

2. Self Introduction by Candidates (3 mins max)

Masa ni make sure kau dah hafal script and practice depan cermin supaya tak exceed 3 min. Lebih dari 3 minit memang dia akan suruh kau STOP. So memang betul betul kena practice. The speech should include self-introduction, 3 major strength and weaknesses and why do u want to work with Schlumberger. Aku dan Afif memang dah praktis. So Alhamdulillah masa tu kami punya presentation lancar dan tak exceed 3 minutes. Yeay for us!

Masa self-presentation ni, baru kau tahu background candidates lain and to our surprise... SEMUA DAH KERJA. Krik Krik Krik.Yeap, semua dah kerja and currently working. Aku dan Afif macam pelik sebab ktorang apply untuk internship. Lepas tanya, rupanya Slb sengaja buat interview internship dengan job sekaligus. Yang mintak intern masa tu aku dengan Afif je. So kena lawan Afif la ni Hahaha.

3. Group Activity

For the group activity, kami semua dibahagikan ke beberapa kumpulan. Kumpulan ni dorang dah tetapkan awal-awal lagi. So aku dapat Group 5 tak silap. Satu group aku ada 3 orang. The rest of the group ada 4-5 people. Group aku je 3 orang.  Then, En Shahrizal gave a task.

Dia bagi setiap kumpulan;
Lidi
Seletep
Kertas A4

Then dia pun explain yang kitorang kene build a bridge using all the items and kalau kita pakai the items in a huge amount, mark will be deducted. The objective of the bridge is that it should be able to make a toy car with certain amount of weight to cross the bridge successfully without collapsing. So we have to really design the bridge using limited items for the bridge to withstand the weight of the car. Dia bagi masa 30 minutes je.

10 minutes to discuss and sketch the designed bridge. 20 minutes to design the bridge. There is of course a trick behind the game. Kalau design korang ade beza dari design sketch, markah akan ditolak. Dia ada bagi jugak certain measurements that we have to follow. So 20 minutes lah group aku ni pulun buat jambatan supaya tak falling down macam london bridge. Eh.

Masa discuss and build the bridge, make sure korang tunjukkan contribution korang dalam group tu and to be really participate. Kalau boleh, kau control situation and also the group. Act like a leader. Tapi jangan pulak kau sorang nak take over , gila kuasa. Hehe. Sebab masa tu En Shahrizal akan perhati je sorang sorang and judge. Dalam group aku, teruslah masing-masing nak jadi leader. Kene step up hokay, kalau tak kau tenggelam tak timbul timbul. Sadis.

Lepas cukup 20 minutes, semua kena stop. Then dia akan datang bawak kereta mainan lepas tu uji jambatan korang group by group. Alhamdulillah, group aku menyerlah sebab ktorang pakai 2 lidi je untuk buat base jambatan. Ehem. Idea aku. *flip tudung. Walaupun pakai 2 lidi je, nasib baik jambatan ktorang tak runtuh siap kereta tu boleh pergi balik. :D Group lain ada yang lepas , ada jugak yang runtuh. Hehehe

Ingatkan dah selesai dah azab, rupa-rupanya;

"Next, I will call every group to do a presentation about your bridge. So,Group No.1 first. The rest of the group please wait outside"

Group by group dia panggil, and muka sorang2 lepas keluar presentation semua pucat. Nervous oi! Untuk presentation, ktorang sepakat agih-agihkan tugas nak explain. Aku explain pasal structural of the bridge, yang lain amek design and safety. Turn group aku, bawak model jambatan dan kami pun pot pet pot pet explain pasal bridge. Lepas tu, En. Shahrizal tanya dua soalan;

1. If you have the chance, which part of the bridge that you want to change?

Sorang sorang jawab. Aku cakap bridge dah okay tapi kalau untuk penambahbaikan, I suggest that the base should be wider sebab nak lagi stabil. Then dia pun cakap, actually in Schlumberger, as long as you nailed all the requirements that your client asked, it should be good. Tak payah ubah BUT we can suggest few things to the Client. In this case, Petronas is one their clients. 

2. Pick one candidate to be fired. It can be yourself or anyone in your group.

Actually ni soalan perangkap. Kalau kau pilih diri kau to be fired instead of others,automatically kau tak terpilih for the next round. So, bear in your mind to answer anyone else than yourself. I did chose another group member at that time just because I feel like she is the weakest. Honestly, memang lah rasa tak sampai hati. But you have to stand up for yourself. Be strong and be mean sometimes for your own good. 

4. Wrap-Up & Announcement of Shortlisted Candidates

Lepas dah presentation, dorang panggil balik semua group then make announcement siapa yang shortlisted to the next round. Next round would be a one to one interview with En.Shahrizal. Lepas dah umumkan ada 7 orang yang shortlisted including me and Afif. We are really happy! Tapi since kitorang assigned for internship, next round kitorang tak payah join. He said that Slb will put our names in the list for interns and call us afterwards. 

So, kitorang pun balik dengan gembiranya dengan sengeh tak lekang macam orang gila. Tiba-tiba dah sebulan. Tiba-tiba dah 2 bulan. Still takde khabar berita. So call Mr.Kuga about the internship, dia kata Slb tengah busy sekarang, nanti dia akan tanya En.Shahrizal semula. Tup tup after 3months dapat email cakap yang internship dah closed for 2014 punya. 

Sedih but I tried to look at it on the bright side. Atleast dapat experience interview Slb. Hehe

Hence Part 2, dapat interview untuk job position pulak. Muehehe. Nampak tak? Nampak tak yang percaturan Allah itu terbaik? Ada hikmah semuanya. 

"Maka nikmat Tuhanmu yang manakah yang kamu dustakan?" (Surah Ar.Rahman)