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| Woolies, my first employer? |
We waited at the foyer of Woolworths' office at Kewdale. The actual address was 135 Kewdale but the email sent to me told me it was 123 Kewdale. Somehow I landed at the right place on time.
On the way there was a slight traffic jam. I looked at the time all the time and thought, "I may be late. Well it's ok. Maybe I should look for another job."
Deep inside, I wished I didn't have to attend the interview - no, it's not the interview I was frightened about but the group assessment.
I did a little bit of reading up on the Internet to get a glimpse of what I should expect. Didn't like the sound of it. Indeed, it came out the same way as described.
Joanna told me that she heard Woolworths hires in a way similar to our BTO HDB flats. There was some kind of an ethnic quota. According to hearsay they would try to hire a little mix of everything from the group who came for group assessment. They would pick a few veterans, a few young chaps, females, males, Caucasians, Asians, Africans.. you get the idea. Not sure how true it was. Like the BTO ethnic quota, sometimes it could be give the minority advantage. If you are the only Eurasian couple applying for a BTO flat, you are almost certain to get a flat even if the scheme is 50 times over subscribed. That's the theory.
There were 20 of us. Saw 2 other Asians. Waited 15 uncomfortable minutes where no one was talking. Basically everyone was just staring into space. I took a long look at the whole foyer. 1 young chick. 1 really really young chap. Was he like.. 12 years old or something?! 2 Asians, 1 guy in his late 20s, another girl probably in her early 20s. There were about 8-10 Caucasians of both genders in their 20s. The remainder were veterans. I briefly thought of what Joanna said.
Then things happened, we were ushered to a rather large meeting room with 4 rows of tables. It reminds me of a class room more than a meeting room. The lights were bright, too bright for my liking. Each table was labelled with a candidate's name. I found my name in the middle of the first row, spelt 'Eng Chin'. That wasn't right but it should be me, I took a seat.
The chick was on my right, on my left was an absentee. We spent the next 15 minutes listening to the HR manager introduce Woolworths the company. It was more than a supermarket. A strong company with stake in many industries.
Then we needed to do a self introduction. When it was my turn I felt uncomfortable with it. I admitted I was new to Australia, 1 week's old in fact and that was the first job I applied for. The lady acknowledged. I would imagined the rest of the people in the room thinking 'Bloody FT, get out.' but it could be just the typical narrow-mindedness of a Singaporean.
After that, we were divided into groups. There were 4 in my group. The chick, a young Aussie chap, a senior lady and myself. We were supposed to draw a card and act as if we were Woolworths employees and react according to the scenarios given the way we thought was the best. I knew about this. We were all going to be observed during the discussion. If I really wanted the job, I had to do something instead of looking stunned all the time.
Our scenario went this way:
1) A customer came in to collect her cake ordered a week's ago for her kid's birthday and you discovered the order was misplaced and no cake was baked.
2) Another customer then walked in and showed a brochure of a Sultana cake on offer but the cakes had run out.
3) A large delivery of bread came in to the store.
4) Before you could react to any of these, an apprentice was burnt and hurt in the bakery.
Question: What actions will you take to address this scenario?
The discussion went for a few minutes. I only spoke a sentence, giving a suggestion. My team mates didn't really pay much attention to me. Time was running out. I knew my performance suck. I should had participated harder so I didn't have to do the last resort.
I volunteered to read out of discussion.
This may seem easy for most people but not for me. I was the withdrawn kind of person and I would never do it.
Not in primary school.
Not in secondary school.
Not in the polytechnic.
Not in the army and the university either.
But not this time. I did it and I was surprised my group were more than happy to let me do it. Guess nobody really likes doing such things. I read the stuff, adding a little more things which I thought was appropriate. I could not remember when was the last time I felt so awkward. Obviously I stood out, because I couldn't speak as fluently as the locals but the ordeal did end.
These were just mental barriers. I knew I didn't do well and I used to think it matters because everyone was looking at me. In reality probably no one really cared as they were more worried about if they could get a job.
Survival skill no.1 unlocked - Thick Skin.
Indeed. Guessed I finally understand a little what they meant by 'unsinkified'. I needed time.
After the test, they started going round to talk to the candidates. As I was in the front row, they got pretty much fast to me. I was told to attend the 2nd interview in Belmont. I didn't know why I was selected but I didn't care. It was progress to me..
******
I met Peter in the Belmont Woolworths the next day, the giant mart I applied to work at. He was a big man but seemed quite friendly. He asked me to follow him into his office. It was a quick one. He asked me I did in Singapore. I told him and he raised his eyebrows. He didn't ask me more questions but instead outlined a lot about the job, told me it was actually a simple job, too simple for an engineer and asked me if that was the kind of job I was interested in. I replied I was and asked him a few questions like the working hours and the number of hours I could get each week.
With that, Peter ended the 2nd interview and told me he was inform me if I got the job latest by next Tuesday.
I went back and sent the routine thank you email to Natasha, the HR lady as I didn't have the Store Manager's contacts.
I was happy that I went for both interviews. If I were to fail this interview due to my unfamiliarity with the country, I couldn't do much about it. I had given my best shot.
