JPA Interview Experience and Tips 1

Ok, so after my search for the most information on the previous years JPA interviews, only a handful had useful information. So I have decided to write down what it's like and how to conduct yourself when faced with the reality that you are to attend an interview with JPA, so those searching for information, may find what I am about to write as helpful as they need it to be.

This is a REALLY long post. So I'm breaking it down into two parts. JPA Interview Experience and Tips 1 and JPA Interview Experience and Tips 2. Still, both of them are long, so I apologize!

First of all, Congratulations on getting the interview. You're one step closer :)

So here's the deal-io. The moment you find out whether you got called for the interview, make sure you read the letter. The one that you have to download as proof you got called for the interview. READ IT carefully. And please take my advice on this, from that moment on, do the following:

1. Get all the necessary documents ready. Who cares if it's still early. Prepare and be calm. If they say they want documents of your Ibu/Bapa/Penjaga, I advise you to not follow their instructions and print and copy either ONE. I advise you to print and copy ALL. My father go back to Shah Alam from Putrajaya to photostat his IC and birth certificate and then back to Putrajaya again because I had followed the instructions on my letter and photocopied only my mother's IC and birth certificate. So yes, please photostat ALL. Better safe than sorry. Make sure ALL copied documents are certified or "DISAHKAN". A lawyer, your mother/father's head of department. Just so they know that it's not forged :)

2. Read the newspapers. DO NOT take the of-little-importance-to-you news lightly. Chances are if it's related to your field of choice, they'll ask about it. Even if it's the smallest thing, read up on it. You spend too much time reading about the government, you're going to die. Do some research about the field you're interested in, you have to know some advances and breakthroughs. Have some good answers to questions that are expected of them to ask, i.e "Why do you want to be a doctor/engineer/accountant/veterinarian?" or "Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?". Prepare the answers to those questions in BM and English.

3. Take the online test. USE INTERNET EXPLORER. Not Mozilla. It'll freeze and tell you you didn't complete the test in the allocated minutes. Don't worry, it's just a personality test. You'll face some trick questions like whether you'd take an offer to work overseas and so on.

4. Start talking to people again. It's been almost 4 months you haven't been conversing in BM and or English properly. If you have/had a job, then fine, you have been conversing with customers. If not, brush up a little bit because chances are you're a little bit rusty with the vocabulary. I'm not saying you have to read a dictionary day and night. Just make sure you can speak with an uninterrupted-by-stammer flow. I didn't do this. Resulted in a me almost having a gelabah moment in the interview room.

So before I get to the next number on the list, I'll tell you about my experience on the 5th of April, the day of my JPA interview.

I got up at around 5.50am. I left the house at 6.30 am (I live in Shah Alam). My interview was stated on the letter to start at 8 am. So I got to Putrajaya International Convention Center at 7.10 am. 50 minutes early. So I went in, looked for my name that was listed in one of 15 papers each with 25 names on them.

There were 15 panels. 25 people per panel. All panels start at the same time. 5 interviewees per session. So, 5 sessions per panel.

Capiche? :)

I was panel 7. Number 12. But anyway, so we started moving into the sitting area. Each interview lasted about 45 minutes, give or take 10 minutes. So I went in at about 11.20 or so because the interviewers went out for a break at about 10.50 and I came out at 12.15.

5. Okay, so when you're there waiting your turn, make sure you can hear the secretary who's in charge of your panel. Because chances are you won't be able to hear when he/she calls you unless they come to the corridor and shout your name (which one secretary did do). Also, while you're waiting, get to know others around you, it'll calm your nerves if you are encountering those pesky stomach butterflies.

So I was instructed to knock and go in. I greeted the interviewers "Good afternoon" when it was only 11.20. Felt a complete fool, but oh well. Haha. Sat down when we were told to.

6. The first thing they asked us was to introduce ourselves in. She spoke to us in BM, so having read all the pointers I could about the interview beforehand, I answered in BM. But the next guy asked permission to introduce himself in English and the interviewers said they had no problem with it. Might have been a way to test us, but the fact is, they only wanted us to speak in BM when they said " Okay, now answer me in Malay." So that is something to bear in mind.

*CONTINUED IN JPA Interview Experience and Tips 1.