The interview was not going well.
It was after 5pm, and I was the last candidate for the day. The panel of three were nice enough but I had the feeling they were ready to write me off as too inexperienced and fresh for the job. It didn't help that the presentation I had to do as part of the assessment had not wowed them either.
Then it was Question and Answer time. "Do you have any questions for us?" asked the lady, a Director. These guys were pretty senior ranking officers. I asked one about what attributes they were particularly looking out for in candidates and the reply was something along the lines of "the one with the most passion and willingness to commit." Fairly standard.
"Anything else?"
I was tired from the long wait to be interviewed and despairing at the thought of having screwed up yet again. All of a sudden, my fighting spirit kicked in hard. I think I was simply so sick of job searching and being unemployed that I wanted to prove myself; at least leave the room not feeling like a looser.
"Yes. I have a question about the organization's mission and vision, as described in the organization website." That seized their attention, as I knew it would.
"Go on."
"Could you elaborate on what this bit ... means?" One of the men explained. I replied, "Thank you for clarifying. You see, from the way it is phrased on the website, it comes across as really contradictory because ..." I explained in detail how people could have gotten the wrong idea about a particular politically sensitive issue. "Oh no, that was not what we wanted to put across ..." The lady elaborated further. "Now that you have explained, I understand." I said, taking care not to sound confrontational. "I raised this because I simply wanted to point out that members of the public could get the wrong idea about your stance. The issue in question is a controversial, hot button topic after all."
The panel seemed to be at a lost of words at this stage. There was nothing else either the panel or myself wanted to add, so we shook hands and I left. As I walked out of the building, I wondered if I should feel brave or foolish for my last ditch attempt to make the interview a success. I decided that night that I had probably offended the panel for being so bold as to question something so fundamental to the organization as its mission and vision. Great, I thought gloomily, I can forget about working for these guys for sure.
Imagine my great surprise to hear from the organization the very next day, asking me to come down again for a second round of interview later in the week. As I had been so convinced I messed up, I had to check with them if it was indeed me they were looking for, and it really was. I quickly made plans to attend the second interview. After the second interview, I could not contain my curiosity any further and asked a HR officer who was present at the first interview what I had done right the first time round to be able to make it for round 2. She was kind enough to tell me that among other things, it was the maturity I displayed that made me stood out as a candidate.
In the end, I did not get the job I initially applied for with the organization, but was offered another one with a very recently created department. As the team was new, they were willing to hire a fresh graduate so as to diversify the department. After learning more about it, I was happy to accept, and signed the contract a few days ago. Thus, 8 months of job-hunting came to an end this week.
I begin work in mid-April.
