INTERVIEWS!

During the third week of the WOW program, I was fortunate enough to be called to two interviews in one week. Before joining this program my boyfriend (who is a qualified IT Technician) and I would meet every Wednesdays at our local internet café to go and apply to the relevant posts advertised in the Star newspaper of that week.
So it happened that one week I was not able to meet him at the café due to other reasons, and it so happened that on that same week in January there was an advertised post from TCTA (Trans Caledon, Tunnel Authority), which is a company based in Pretoria and its main product is to supply raw bulk water infrastructure. This company was looking for an HR & OD Intern, and because my boyfriend knows my qualifications and my career objectives he sent through my CV. He forgot to tell me about this application until I got a phone call from TCTA’s HR assistant in the last week of February, informing me to check my email as they had sent me a couple of instructions.
I was nervous at first to receive a call from a company that I did not remember applying to, but because I was desperate at that time and trusted my boyfriend, I went to the internet café alone to go and read my mails. They had instructed me to write them a motivational letter, explaining why I wanted TCTA to employ me; secondly they wanted me to tell them what my expectations were for the 24month- contract that they were offering. Lastly, they instructed me this motivational letter should only be a one page letter with 1.5 line spacing and the font size had to be 12, Times New Roman.
Well this was simple enough, I first did my research about the company before writing my letter and I also made sure that I complied with the instructions. Lastly, I took my complete letter to my boyfriend so he could edit it for me. After spending some time on the letter I went and faxed it to their office. The following day they asked me to send my ID copy, and copies of all my qualifications. Two weeks after that they asked me for my academic record for my degrees.
However, I did not have the academic record, so I went to campus to apply for my transcript which I discovered will take two working days to have, so I immediately phoned TCTA and explained that I would fax the academic record as soon as I had received it. Well indeed after two days I got the record and I faxed it. It was during this time when I was applying for the academic record that I heard about the WOW Internship program and so I decided to apply as I thought it sounded nice and was curious about what the program would result in.
That was the last time I heard from TCTA until in the second week of the WOW program when they called me on Thursday asking me to come for an interview the following Monday at 2:00pm. I must admit I was nervous and excited about this as I had forgotten about TCTA and honestly I thought they also had forgotten about me.
Anyway I eventually went to the interview on that Monday, which was a panel interview. I can say that the interview was fair until they asked me about the core functions of HR. This was a bit uncomfortable for me as I had never worked before even though I had done my research, I had no clue of what these functions were. So yes I must admit that at this point I was feeling uncomfortable and incompetent, so I had to think on my toes. I could say this was the ‘low’ of my interview with TCTA. Well the interviewers were skilled as they did not show their emotions and I can say up until now I’m not sure where I stand with TCTA. Well all I was told was that if I’m successful they will call me for a psychometrics assessment and should I pass that they would call me for the last interview with the head of the HR department.
Luckily for me I was invited for another interview at DeBeers and I must say when I told my parents about this invite, they immediately forgot about TCTA. The interview at DeBeers was beautiful and very relaxed. I was not fully prepared as this was a short notice arranged interview, so I just visited their website to find out their purpose and their vision. Likewise when I got to DeBeers I read the pamphlets that were at their front desk and I must say this helped a lot.
The interview was informal and I was very relaxed and I’m sure I answered the questions to the best of my abilities. The gentlemen seemed impressed and told me they would get back to me the following week about their outcome.
I guess the whole point of me writing my experiences of these two interviews is to help someone who is maybe in the process of going for an interview, I hope by reading this they will have an idea of what it feels like to go for an interview. I’m hoping that someone will read this and learn one or two things from my experiences.
Furthermore, I’ve learned that we have to change our approaches and perceptions of interviews, interviews need to be taken as they come and we need to give ourselves a chance to learn from each interview. One important thing is to research and research before going to the interview, if possible find out about the core functions of the position you are applying for. Secondly, it helps to know something about the company you are going to. My personal advice, always speak slow and clearly and very important try to be calm, force it, fake it whatever but the point is when you are calm you are aware of your self in the interview session. Last but not least, try to enjoy each interview!