Second interview - lessons from the past

I am going for an interview this coming wednesday. Thanks to one of my friends Edwin Lee, who has so kindly helped to set up a meeting with the development manager for the a position in his company. This is only my second interview after I graduate. My first with Philips medical was a disaster, 'you have to build a rapport with your interviewer', I did that alright, so much so I ended up trying to interview the person instead. Wrong move Ben.

Hopefully this time around, I will give the person a good impression me. I feel more pressure this time around. I do not want to embarrass Edwin who has kindly recommended me. 'Why did you introduce such a fruit cake to our company!' yells the development manager. Fingers crossed.

Things I will try not to do this time around:

1. Try to take control of the situation by interviewing my interviewer
2. Be too aggressive by asking questions like 'why do you think I should work here'
3. Be overly pro-active, empty vessels makes the most noise

One consolation, despite committing these sins, I was still short-listed for the next around of interview, unfortunately, I was never called up again. Sigh. Hopefully, with many prayers, I can finally put 'employed' in my credit card application.

An introduction to a depressing job hunt!!!

The original ideal for this blog is to create an online profile, or rather to act as an online personal name card so that my prospective employer can type ‘Benjamin Cheong’ in google and voilà, you can see my profile online. Being a poor student, I thought it would be a good idea to utilize all the free service available to help me achieve this. Of course there is a progressive plan, this blog will also include some of the my personal views, involvement and highlight some of my achievements I have done so far.

I have been trying to look for a job for the past two months and it has slowly taken a toll on me. Nevertheless, I choose to remain positive and hope for the best. The last time I took my IQ (intelligence quotient), it was 140; I believe I am within the top 1% of everyone that has taken the same test at least that is what the test results showed. Is there a correlation between IQ and career achievements? Some researchers claim that "in economic terms it appears that the IQ score measures something with decreasing marginal value. It is important to have enough of it, but having lots and lots does not buy you that much." Wherever that means, but it definitely takes more then IQ to get a high paying job. That means there are a lot of skills needed to be successful. I have been actively trying to be as all-rounded as possible, and hopefully, my talents will be discovered one day.