the longest interview in my life

i got a call the other day from a company that i applied a job for. it took me a few minutes to realize who they really were since i have been sending out so many resumes, i honestly have lost track as to who's who. i finally figured out who they were. funny though, i also ended up declining to go to their interview. i was already involved with a project and simple-minded me, figured that i don't want to be bothered by having too many choices.

needless to say, the stupidity of my decision was made very clear to me when my manager of a brother got wind of it. after hearing his 2 cents about what i have just done, i could not help but feel like the smallest and definitely the dumbest person in the world! all of this just because i wanted my life a bit more simple. so after picking up the pieces of what was left of my ego, i licked my wounds and decided to call up the company again, and hopefully, salvage the opportunity. thankfully so, they scheduled me for the next day.

i arrived in ortigas at around 8am. i was to go to their partner's office to take a CAD exam so that they could assess my proficiency. from what i perceived, i though that i was just going to some test center, like those CAD instructing schools, but instead, i found myself in a sprawling corporate office. HUGE! people were running to and fro, all busy doing something. the atmosphere was quite cold, not much noise and very serious. all you hear are the incessant sounds of computers and mouse buttons clicking. the receptionist attended to me and i was made to wait at the lobby for the interview. a couple more applicants later joined me, 7 of us all in all.

we finally started with the interview process. they first had as copy a floorplan in the pc, and provide a section/elevation of the plan in a design of our choosing. we had two hours to finish. i was actually quite nervous at first since i was never confident of my CAD skills and here i am, taking a test, surrounded my CAD geniuses no doubt, based on how frantic their clickings sounded. to hell with it, i thought to myself, if it's not for me, what can i do? right? so off i went.. hoping i can at least learn something. FIVE HOURS later, we were handed the second part of the interview. since i was applying as an interior designer, i was given a different set. when they handed me the plan, my jaw almost dropped, and the facilitator could not help but notice my shock. i was again tasked to copy a plan and give a section with elevation. as i looked at my plan, i saw that it was of a majlis, a muslim formal living room. working in dubai had made me more than familiar with this term, more so of its often outrageous and eccentric designs. then i looked at the title bar of the plan, KCA interiors..... KUAN CHEW AND ASSOCIATES? OM freaking G!!!!! i then realized what was the business of the company i was applying for, CAD outsourcing.


my two hours passed pretty quickly. after struggling with the very poor printout of the majlis, i was finally able to finish. i was then ushered to another room where i filled out a questionnaire with questions that almost feels like i was competing in a beauty pageant. i guess they were pretty standard, now that i know what kind of people the company is looking for, what are your strengths, how do you deal with other employees, how is you time management, yada, yada, yada. honestly, i was so tired from the grueling day, my back was hurting, i was hungry and i felt a bit disoriented, that i was no longer paying attention to what i was writing, for all i know, i could have thought i was writing on my blog! all i know is as i answered the questions, i heard myself say, i working in a call center.

after a few more minutes of waiting. i was finally called in for the actual interview. they got a printout of my work, took a quick look at it and gave me an OK. i was then asked what i used to do, where i worked, and what kind of responsibilities i had. then they told me that i need not have had taken the exam since it was for CAD applicants. all in all, the oral interview was done in 15 mins. 15 minutes compared to the 10 hours i was there.... UGH!!!!

needless to say, they want me. they want me so much, they will wait for me to be available, which will be on june. i'm actually having a slight dilemma. though i really would like the stable income and working in a team setup, it concerns me that i wont be able to do designing. why call myself an interior designer when i don't do just that?