The Longkang Mee Guide to Interviews

Ahh, the season of scholarship interviews.  Since most scholarships are going to have their assessments/interviews in this time range, I'll try my best to give some advice on what to do in an interview.  First, I would like to clarify that I am by no means a professional interviewer and my advice may or may not be something that you would agree on.  Nonetheless, I want to share these advice as it has certainly helped me in all of my interviews.  So, take it with a pinch of salt will ya. ;)

So here's a basic guideline on what to prepare for an interview (Longkang Mee style)

1.  Prepare an outline for your interview speech.

Scholarship interviews are pretty standard and you can pretty much predict the questions the interviewers are about to ask.  The first and most fundamental question for all interviews is the "Can you tell me about yourself?" Yes it's the ultimate cliche question and many of you might or might not know how to answer this question.  I used to answer this question with some really mechanical answers like my name, where I go to school, where I live, how many siblings I have and etc.  Now that I think of it, I would like to face palm my past self.  When you're asked this question, try to focus the topic about yourself.  After all, the interview is a process to extract the most interesting facts/stories about you.  So, before your interview prepare your cheat sheet(mentally or on paper) of your "Tell me about yourself" speech.  Try to come out with interesting points about yourself, something only a few people know and something that makes you unique.  If you're having a hard time figuring about stuff to talk about, you may want to start with talking about your hobbies and go on from there.

2. Don't be nervous

Every normal human being will tend to feel a tinge of nervousness in an interview. So don't fret if you're dripping some cold sweat or have raging butterflies in your stomach right before an interview.  One of my favorite advice that I always tell people is to treat the interviewer as your relative.  Okay, turn on your imagination gears and picture this scenario.  Here's your relative, an uncle/aunty that you're really fond of.  He or she lives out of town and you happen to not see him/her for quite some time now.  You finally met him/her and you're bursting with stuff to tell him/her.  And when you start talking to your beloved uncle/aunty, you just can't stop talking and your eyes light up with enthusiasm.  In an interview, you might get an urge or feeling to tell the interviewer your biggest achievements, listing down your achievements one by one so that you appear as the creme de la creme, the top pile of the competition.  But this kind of interview speech only bores the interviewer and shows that you're just someone like the rest. When you're giving your speech, do it  more to express rather than to impress.  When you're talking to your relative, do you really want to impress him/her or do you just want to share out your thoughts and experience and express yourself?  Once you have got rid of that psychological barrier of "trying to impress", you will find that you can articulate yourself better and your enthusiasm will take over.

3.  Always and always tell the truth.

Though this might seem like the natural thing to do,  I find that most people(including myself) try to exaggerate our achievements to put ourselves on top of the interviewer's selection list.  Truth is, once you're not telling something entirely true, it greatly affects your flow of speech and you're forced to keep track of what you have said(lied) earlier.  This can vastly affect your speech(stutter), body language and pupil movement.  All these signs can easily be interpreted by the interviewer that you're not telling the truth and your previous good impressions instantly goes down the drain.  Unless you're the ultimate con artist, don't try to lie in an interview to place yourself higher on the podium.  For example, if you placed second in a competition don't say that you placed first, instead, try to explain why you got second and how you learned from that experience.  Remember that the interviewers are humans too and that they might relate to you on a deeper level if you actually are speaking sincerely.

4.  Keep eye contact and give a firm handshake.

When meeting the interviewer, just give him/her a firm handshake followed by a short greeting of "good morning/afternoon".  You don't need to be like super polite and ask "May I take a seat here?" if there's obviously only one seat.  I mean, if I were the interviewer, I would be like "you don't say?" and might think you're being superficial and someone you're not.  When talking to the interviewer, always try to look into the interviewer's eye.  Don't go looking into the ceiling or at your hands/table/whatever when you're talking to the interviewer.  If looking into an interviewer's eye gives you the butterflies, try making some small finger movement with your thumbs or tapping your toes to help ease the nervousness.

5.  Always ask questions after an interview.

Usually after an interview, the interviewer will promptly ask you if you have any questions for him/her.  Here's your opportunity to ask anything you want to know about the interviewer and your chance to exchange the role of interviewee and interviewer for a brief moment.  You can now be the interviewer and be the boss, you can ask anything about the interviewer, the company or anything in general. Do not let this chance slip away by just replying "no".  By asking questions, it shows your confidence and your interest in the specific company.

Here are a few questions that I have asked in an interview(my own curiosity about the interviewers):

1.  What do you(interviewer) do in your daily job? And how do you like working in ___ company? (Axiata)
2.  Which do you think is more important? Academic grades or communication and networking skills? (The Star)
3.  Why should I accept this scholarship if I were selected? (Lion-parkson)
4.  How many hours do you sleep at night and do you think you are getting enough sleep? (Khazanah 2nd stage)
5.  I used to think that I am unique, that when I sit in a car, I pretend that there's an imaginary runner beside me jumping over lamp poles and trees.  I later found out that there were many people just like me.  Is there a characteristic that you think you have that is so unique that no one in this world share? (Khazanah 3rd stage)
6.  What is your motivation to become the board of directors of Khazanah? (Khazanah 4th stage)


Last but not least, I will try to publish a sample outline of the interview speech that I used in all of my scholarship interviews.  After preparing an outline, try to practice it with a friend/teacher/lecturer.  Also, by applying for more scholarships, you will eventually go to so many interviews that it would feel like second nature to talk about yourself.

If you're too lazy to read my whole post, here's a summary of it.

1. Prepare your speech.
2. Pretend the interviewer is your relative.
3. Tell the truth.
4. Keep eye contact.
5. Ask questions.

Scholarships for SPM 2012 leavers

Here's a list of scholarships that are opened to SPM (2012) leavers, mark your calendars and don't miss the deadlines to apply for these scholarships.  If you need any help or guidance for any scholarship, google it, go on recom(forum) or ask someone who has experience.  Without further ado, here's the list of current SPM(2012) scholarships with the deadlines in a chronological order.  I hope you find this compilation helpful =)  Go get them scholarships!

Overseas Scholarship

1.  Bank Negara Scholarship (Deadline 27th March 2013)
Read about it here (Click Pre-University)  and click here to apply.

2.  Petronas Sponsorship (Deadline 27th March 2013)  *offers both local and overseas scholarship
Read about it here and click here to apply.

3.  Yayasan TNB scholarship (Deadline 28th March 2013)
Read about it here, instructions to apply are here and click here to apply.

4.  Mara Scholarship (Only to bumiputras) (Deadline 28th March 2013)
Read about it here and click here to apply.

5. ASEAN Scholarship (Deadline 28th March 2013)
Read about it here and apply online here.

6.  JPA scholarship (Program Khas Jepun, Perancis, Jerman dan Korea)  (Deadline 29th March 2013)
Iklan Program, syarat and webpage to keep an eye on.

7.  Yayasan Telekom Scholarship (Deadline 30th March 2013) *offers both local and overseas scholarship
Read about it here, general guidelines here and apply online here.

8.  Maybank Scholarships (Deadline 30th March 2013) *offers both local and overseas scholarship
Read about it here and download the form here and either mail it to them or email to them.

9.  Sime Darby Scholarship
Sime Darby has two scholarships for SPM leavers this year.  One scholarship is where you will sent to do a pre-u course to prepare you for a university in China and the other one is a pre-u course where you will prepare to go to UK/US/Overseas universities

a.  Sime Darby Pre-U Scholarship(China) (Deadline 31st March 2013)
Read about it here and click here to apply.

b.  Sime Darby Pre-U Scholarship (Overseas) (Only opens in October 2013)
Read about it here and click here to apply.

10.  Security Commission Scholarship (Deadline 3rd April 2013)
Read about it here and click here to apply.

11.  UEM Scholarship (Deadline 7th April 2013)
Read about it here and click here to apply.

12.  Felda Global Scholarship (Deadline 7th April 2013)
Read about it here and click here to apply.

13.  Khazanah Global Scholarship (Deadline 8th April 2013)
Official homepage http://yayasankhazanah.com.my/?p=main&c=global
Read about it here and click here to apply.

14.  Japanese Government MEXT scholarship (Deadline 17th May 2013)
Read about it here.  General guidelines here. (You have to mail it in/ send it to the embassy in person)

Local Scholarship 

1.  Sin Chew Education Fund (Deadline 3rd April 2013)
List of participating universities/colleges here.  General guidelines here.  Apply online here or send in by mail with this application form here.  Sin Chew's scholarship is similar to the Star Education Fund, once again make sure you can enroll (with SPM) to the course you are applying for.

2.  The Star Education Fund (Deadline 5th April 2013)
Read about it here.  Application form here.
The Star Education Fund sponsors a variety of courses, make sure you can enroll (with SPM) to the course you are applying for.


PS:  This list of scholarships is targeted to SPM 2012 leavers.  It is by no means a complete list of all the scholarships out there, it is just a compilation of the big ones out there to bring convenience to students.

Khazanah Scholarship Guide

It's that time of the year again when the SPM and STPM results are released and scholarships are all opening one by one.  For you lucky people out there, I'll be writing a series of scholarship guide to aid everyone who is going through the selection process so that you may have a better understanding of what to expect.

Khazanah's scholarship is opened every year and they have quite a few scholarship programs for different students.  You can check them out yourself with this link right here http://yayasankhazanah.com.my/?p=main&c=global

Though khazanah have different scholarship programs, the selection process is almost the same for all their scholarships.  It's just that some have less stages than the other. (They either have 3 stages or 4 stages and the first 2 stages would most likely be the same)

So, I went through the whole Khazanah Global scholarship selection process about a year ago and I'll lay out my experience here one by one.  Khazanah's scholarship assessments are known to be grueling and intense,  they have a total of 4 stages of scholarship assessments for the Khzanah Global scholarship.

Here are the 4 stages:

1. So after you applied online(submitting your essays, resume and whatnot) , khazanah will select people from the applicant pool to do a psychometric/reasoning test at Menara UEM (near KL sentral).  The test is to eliminate more people to roughly about 200 applicants to enter stage 2.  You can do some sample psychometric test from this website here.

2. After about 2 weeks, khazanah will start informing the selected students about the next stage.  If you got this far, congratulations!  If you haven't gotten any news, fear not and try other scholarships.  There are plenty of scholarships out there if you're willing to find them.  (Also, do not hesitate to ring khazanah up if you have any questions regarding the scholarship)  So you're at stage 2 now,  if tradition follows, khazanah will most probably conduct this stage at PNB Darby Park Executive Suites.  Stage 2 is the most intense part of the scholarship assessment as it will last for one full day.  Assessments include group presentation, group interviews, critical reasoning, decision making and individual interviews.  Be prepared to have conflicts with your group mates and sort out your discussion so that your group works hand in hand.  Interviewers also have this favorite question of "If you were to eliminate someone from your group, who will it be?"  Yes, they want to create tension among your group and see how you handle it.  Just be creative with your answer and back it up by sound reasoning, one of the cliche answers would be "I choose to eliminate myself, because of blablabla".  Oh, you'll also get a chance to enjoy a rooftop buffet lunch at stage 2.  The food and the view should ease the stress of this stage.  Read an elaborate breakdown of stage 2 here.  Good luck and enjoy =)

3.  Woah! you've reached stage 3 now, breathe of relieve.  Stage 3 would be an interview with khazanah's senior executive.  It's just a short and simple one-to-one interview (roughly 7-10 minutes).  Here, you will meet your competitors and all of you will wait patiently for your turn in a meeting room.  Stage 3 is held at the khazanah's office at KLCC.  The questions asked in the interview are very generic and they just want to know more about you.  Example questions are, "Please introduce yourself" , "Name your proudest achievement and how you overcame it", "Who inspires you and why" and etc.

4.  After about a week, Khazanah will inform those who made it to the last stage.  If you reached this stage, congratulations, you are just one more step in securing a scholarship from Khazanah.  The 4th stage would be held at menara UEM(like the first stage) and this time the board of directors will be interviewing you!  For the past years, the last stage interviewers rotate from the board of directors of Khazanah to the board of directors of UEM.  But it was UEM's board of director (Tan Sri Dr Ahmad Tajuddin Ali) that interviewed me last year.  The questions are again generic and they just want to know more about you.  Prepare a few unique points about yourself that you want the world to know and speak them out confidently during the interview.

After all these stages, you will know the final verdict roughly 2 weeks after the final stage.  If you made it, congratulations for you are now a scholar of the most prestigious scholarship in the country.  If you did not,  don't be discouraged, take it as a life lesson and move on to pursue greater things. =)

Peace out, before I forget! The scholarships are once again open this year! Hurry up and apply =)
Apply now!

PS: The location and interviewers for each stage can vary each year,  this is just a guide during my year(2012).