Schlumberger

It has been a long time since the feeling of emotional surge, heart pumping fast and impatience overwhelm my whole self. Today was 3 initial stages out of a total of 7, though it's still far from grasping the job, it was quite an accomplishment by ousting some of the best minds in University Malaya.

There were around 30 odd candidates from University Malaya, were shortlisted for the first stage of interview, 20 got through the second interview and the last 10 person were the only candidates left to be labeled KIV and pending further elimination. These 10 person will join another 20 odd candidates from UTP and UTM as well. So giving rise to a competition of 30 odd graduates (bachelor's degree and masters - mostly mechanical, chemical, geo scientists, petroleum engineers) for only a few positions in Schlumberger.

Tough competition it may seem, this blog is written for another purpose.

First stage of interview, I was given only 2 minutes to describe myself. I took the liberty to describe my RM 1,750 deal, WWW's signature, and Lifebuoy sales event. Until she stopped me and asked about What do i understand about geomechanics. Initially, I didn't quite understand what geomechanics was until she gave me the hint that Lau (my coursemate) could explain very well. That immediately gave me the idea to what it is, it is actually soil mechanics. That hint saved me and got me to the second stage.

Second stage of interview, it was a group dynamic session where 2 candidates were eliminated for not listening to instructions ( they did not write their name on the papers). A group of 3 with each having 6 members were tasked to solve a hotel scenario. The hotel is clouded with 7 matters that requires urgent solution. Our task is to solve the 7 matters in sequence and to justify our selection. Reading through the 7 matters, it immediately struck me that it can be divided into 2 broad categories, the technical matter and the services matter. We then divided ourselves into 2 teams with each team having a group of 3 person, to be in charged of our respective teams. This idea immediately gave our team the edge of being able to put all 7 solution in sequence within the fastest time, we had the time to do presentation rehearsal and we had the time to critique our members. With what we came out with, we presented them on stage and explained our solution. Our main idea into splitting the 7 matters into 2 categories was because both can be run in parallel and it saves cost and time. This idea immediately gave me the full support of my team members and they elected me as a team leader. They fully backed me up during the presentation and I was given most of the credits for coming out with this idea. It was out of my expectation that all 5 was praising that I'm a good leader. All in all, we synchronized very well and our team was the only team that has 4 members shortlisted for the third interview.

Third stage of interview was a 1 on 1 interview where I stated my preferences on where I want to work and what kind of position I would like to apply for. However there was a flaw, I could not explain what field engineers in Schlumberger do. I tried to convince the interviewer that our task was to manage team A and team B in the field and to choose whichever equipment was best used in certain conditions. She refuted by saying that it is a manager's role not a field engineer's role. I should have come out with an idea to counter that statement, but it was too late. She further asked on whether I could swim, how long can I work on the rig, anyone that I know working in with Schlumberger etc. All in all, I did not think this went well as my idea for the position was not clear enough.

Now all I can do is post these 3 stages here and wait for a phone call to confirm that I am clear for the 4th, which is a painstaking process. Crossing fingers that I hope I get through.
(p/s: I was the only male chinese with bachelor's degree who got to the 3rd stage, there are 3 other chinese, 1 male with masters, 2 female with masters. The rest are 3 malays with degree from mechanical UM, 1 malay with Mechanical degree from UK - Kuok Scholar, the rest are unknown.)