The Road Not Taken *part three*

Hai hai semua. Assalamualaikum pembaca setia(?) < kalau adalah haha.

[Today’s song suggestion : 4MEN(포맨) - Thorn Love(가시사랑)]

Axiata Tower.

That’s the place where I went for my first interview. I guess the experience there turns out to be not normal as an interview should be. Tapi yelah. Aku pun bukanlah normal (?) sangat. Kahkah.

***

Bersambung kisah part 2.

Honestly before the call comes, I was still hesitating over the decision. Bak kata orang korea 망설이 중 (mang-seol-i-jung) – literally means being hesitant right now.

Dah macam buat keputusan nak terima orang meminang ke tak je Wani oii haha. Taktaulah kenapa ragu-ragu sangat nak pergi ke tak. That phone call comes on the day I should go to KL. Lagi sikit je rasa nak burn je tiket ets tu. But that call changes everything. Like EVERYTHING.

Lepas habis phone interview, tangan masih terketar-ketar lagi dan terus kata dekat mak, “mak esok ada interview”

Haa. Terkojut omak eden mendongarnyee. Sejak bila anak aku rajin hantar permohonan kerja ni ? Haha. Terus dari dok relaks, kemas-kemas beg. Konon-kononnya mana tahu boleh dapat kerja terus kan. Ececewahh haha. Akhirnya sampailah aku di KL petang tu.

***

My sister has a very detailed personality especially in the way she think. Thus she started doing background research on the company instead of me. Aku paling skema pun, tengok website dengan Facebook syarikat tu je lah. Tapi kakak aku google habis review by the company’s past employee dan segala kebaikan keburukan syarikat tu dari pelbagai perspektif.

That night, she messaged me at Facebook. Posted me several links. “Wani, cuba tengok ni.”

Aku pun macam okay, tengok je lah. Hmm. Not really a good impression though especially regarding the offered position given. Skrol lagi. Banyak cons dari pro. I thought to myself, my earlier instincts should be right.

***

The thing about me is I always trust on my instincts. Selalunya keputusan-keputusan besar yang aku buat dalam hidup, memang selalu buat ikut gerak hati. And once I came into conclusion, I will be persistent about it.

Kenapa tiba-tiba sebut pasal instinct ni ?

Sebab semasa phone interview tu, ada satu soalan terakhir yang masih terngiang-ngiang dalam fikiran walaupun dah letak telefon.

“What do you know about marketing?”

Haihh dah kenapa tanya macam soalan terakhir paper management in OT pulak ni. Aku dahla trauma dengan soalan 20 markah tu ohoii haha. So far as I remember, I applied the position customer service executive, not the marketing executive. Musykil. Ok takpe. Lepas tu, emel sampai.

Okay fineeee. Marketing executive offer. Takpelah aku memang nak pergi KL pun. Apa salahnya ambil pengalaman interview ? Kan ? Walaupun masa tu dah rasa macam tak sedap hati sangat.

​***

Berbalik kisah links yang diberi kakak aku kat mesej FB. Aku mula menimbang tara personaliti apa yang patut aku tunjukkan dalam interview esok. Sebab aku dah mula rasa taknak bekerja di syarikat tu. Lepas tengok segala review and job scope on marketing executive.

Then the next day come.

Aku dengan pakai blazer konon ala eksekutif memulakan langkah. Kemain kau pakai blazer haha. Well, I got an interview at an international telemarketing company. So I think I should present myself like one. Ewah kemain perasan ekau Wani haha.

Here comes the funny part.

Kau mengatur langkah bergaya ala eksekutif. Tapi bila masuk ke dalam syarikat tu, staf dia banyak pakai pakaian kasual atau semi-formal je. Yang pasti takde yang pakai blazer, melainkan bahagian pengurusan. Hahahahahahaa. Speechless. *cover muka sat* Dalam hati, lepas ni taknak pergi interview pakai blazer dah. Kahkah.

There’s a reason why they are allowed to wear casual clothes especially the marketing team in my opinion. Their work is solely routine. Like a boring telephone routine. Tau tak syarikat telemarketing ni buat apa ? Haa. Yang insan-insan dok tetiba call, then bila korang angkat, “Salam sejahtera cik Zawani. Saya dari sykt xxx. Harap cik dapat meluangkan masa….”

Haa. Yang selalu korang malas nak layan tu. Itulah lumrah kerja eksekutif pemasaran di syarikat telemarketing. Syarikat ni ada banyak klien besar, macam Google, Facebook semua. Walaupun aku tak faham apa lagi yang nak dipasarkan dengan jenama-jenama besar macam tu haha. Tapi ada jugak syarikat-syarikat lain yang tiada telemarketing team upah syarikat ni untuk buat telemarketing untuk mereka.

Well, enough about telemarketing. Let’s get back to business.

Bila dah sampai, aku dihulur kertas ujian. Ada tiga bahagian. Dua untuk BI dan satu lagi aptitude math test. Ala soalan olimpiad math gitu. Then comes the long-awating part. The interview.

Or should I say The Debate ? Haha.

Seriously the interview went such a mess. Since I am the one that lead and control the flow of interview, not the human resources officer. Haha. I really can’t stand towards misunderstanding. So I wanted to clear myself out.

“Tell me about yourself.”

“Okay. My name is Zawani. I am a 23-year-old currently waiting for final result next week. … but before I continue, may I ask ? Why did you offer me the position of marketing executive instead of customer service executive? I thought I apply the customer service position though. Honestly I am not the one that prefer to do telemarketing since I hate to force people especially strangers over the phone.”

“But that’s the vacancies left here. The customer service position had just recently filled. Can you tell me why you prefer customer service position instead of marketing executive? The job is all the same. Both are still using telephone.”

“Before I answer, may I ask? Are the marketing executive’s work here is literally, come to work-sit-call people-email people-went back home, and repeating all over again?”

“Yes. But that’s normal.”

“As for me, marketing executive is like a front line for potential customers. The main part. Where the company income mainly comes out. Thus life can get rough there. We need to push the sales and end up forced to find customers. Increase the individual KPI. Customer service comes after the sales. Where I don’t need to push or force the customers. I just need to assist them …..”

And there’s a lot of debate going on until I reached a conclusion with her. I rejected the not-yet-job-offer and prefer to be kept as candidate for customer service if there is any vacancy. Yang mana aku tak rasa dia nak jumpa aku dah lepas hari tu. Haha.

Sebenarnya aku tak kisah pun buat marketing. Tapi aku tak suka telemarketing. Haha. Well comes that *tetap pendirian* side of me again. I am really clear on what I want, and what I hate. If I were to defend myself, I think telemarketing is only suitable to do as part-time job. By means, it is definitely not to do as a full-time employee. My emotions gonna break down in pieces if I want to hold on to this job as future career pathway.

Tapi aku boleh puji siapa yang kerja telemarketing ni. Hebat. They had to handle rejections too many times every day. Memang lepas interview tu, terus berubah perspektif tentang panggilan macam tu. I guess I need to honour their job too, by listening to the end, even though I may not interested to buy anything. I had read somewhere that those poor execs may face problems if they were to be cut halfway during the explanations. I hope that’s not true though.

Then I went to GLC Open Day on next day. With a heavy mind and fatigued body.

*continue part 4*

P/s: I did not expect that the GLC Open Day story will not appear here. Please bear with me and Insyaallah I promise that in part 4, the GLC Open Day fairytale(?) will come out! Hihi.