A few months ago I was asked to attend an interview with a local Islamic bank. I was kinda excited at the prospect of going into the Islamic banking space, so I decided to give it my best shot.
So there I was, dressed to the nines with my swanky cufflinks, tailored shirt and matching tie, tailored pants (no pleats, of course) and all the works. I was trying to make a decent first impression, you know.
As I was filling up the forms in the HR waiting area, I started to notice that the other folks who were there for interviews (I know so because they were all filling up the same forms) did not exactly put much thought into what they were wearing. Imagine lots of 'shiny' shirts (kain berkilat, is it rayon? polyester?), ties that clashes with the shirt colour, khaki pants and loafers. I thought hey, I'm gonna be a standout!
That was before I observed the bank's staff as they passed though the waiting area. They were dressed like these guys! I thought oh heck, if the clothes are not gonna help me I'll just impress them with my BS, I mean my CV and my oratory skills instead.
I was called into the room and was met with 3 middle-aged ladies who looked so motherly and a man wearing a jubah and kopiah. Huh? Turned out, he's the hiring manager, and an ustaz at that! My mind starts recalling all the do'a and surah just in case he asked, you never know right?
Well I think I did quite well since one of the moms (she's the Head of Something apparently) said I'm very eloquent and she's quite impressed with the CV too. Then the ustaz just had to come up with a trick question, would I choose a horse or a woman. That's it, no explanation. No prizes for guessing which one did I chose.
At the end, the HR manager said they really liked my personality but was not sure about me fitting in with their bank because I was too confident and smooth and all that jazz. That's the first time I heard anyone said that I'm much too good for something, ever! It's a weird feeling, disappointed yet disgustingly happy too =P And I guess my choosing the sexy blonde over the strong thoroughbred did not help sway the votes either, hehe.
So yeah, I didn't get that job, but they did offered something else which I was not interested in. Come to think of it, it was the best for both parties. I'm guessing we're operating on different frequencies, and I still need my daily dose of lengluis of course.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Interview With The Banker
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9 comments:
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A horse or a woman?! Honestly?
That said, it's a sad thing that Islamic banks feel they need to portray the image of religion a certain way - who says you can't have a smooth, sincere, well dressed Islamic banker?
aida: no kidding. i tried to justify my choice by saying that with a human being i'll be able to have a conversation. they said said they are worried by my choice because i seemed to choose the more attractive option. i fail to see how that is wrong *shrugs*
oh well, i can't generalise. perhaps the others are not so 'narrow', i don't know.
they should have given 3 options! you know it's a trick question and quite obviously if you want to score, need to pick the horse...just a matter of justifying why?
"My mind starts recalling all the do'a and surah just in case he asked, you never know right?"
hahaha.. serious aku gelak..
ade hati nk gi intrvw kt islamic bank? kau tk terbakar pn dh cukup syukur.. hahaha..
idya
i: i know the obvious answer was of course the horse, but i wanted to be different and tried to justify my answer. if i chose the horse, i wouldnt know to justify it pulak.
idya: ciss.
i guess i would choose a man too. *pfft*
cacah: that's the obvious answer sin't it, but you know it's gonna be a trick question and the 'right' answer would be the horse
kadang-kadang malas melayan trick. mahu jadi diri sendiri kononnya. tapi i believe, once we play along with the trick, we'll be trapped. nanti susah juga.
apa apa pun, hang memang terbaik.dah lama nak comment..teringat kat hang masa makan popia berbuka ni.
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