What is your Weakness

Interviewer wants to know how much you understand yourself. To answer it differently, top up by saying what had been done or steps you are taking to improve.
Eg:
·Being organized wasn't my strongest point, but I implemented a time management schedule that really helped improve my organization skills.
·I used to wait until the last minute to set appointments for the coming week, but I realized that scheduling in advance makes me on track.
·I am a more reserved person, however I am engaging more with my colleagues during lunch & participate more in gatherings. I am more open to share my thoughts & opinions now.
·I always have some fear in public speaking & lacking in presentation skills where I tend to get nervous. However, I am trying to improve by rehearsing more & volunteer myself to present if there is opportunity be it in meeting / sharing.
·I have a problem to prioritize my work when there are loads of things to get done, however now, I am improving myself by making a list of what is important & consider time constraints. Now I understand that everything may be important eventually, but some things are more important now.

Question and Answer session

At the end of every interview, interviewer may ask “Do you have any questions for us?”
Avoid keeping quiet, ask questions but don’t ask too much. Limit to below 5 questions. Also do not ask about salary & benefits unless it is HR/final interview.
I am sure you will be curious to know the following:

· What would be type of person that is suitable for this job
· What is the key challenge for this role
· What is the key performance indicator
· What are the prospects for growth and advancement?
· How does one advance in the company?
· How would you describe a typical week/day in this position
· May I know when can I hear from you on the outcome of this interview

What To and Not To Write

There is no right or wrong in resume writing, only ways that will or won’t work.
Some of us have 2 version of resumes.
Version (1) a standard resume
Version (2) where we may want to add on details / make some modifications according to the job that we applied

1) Personal Info
Don’t miss out : Contact & email
Optional : Height/Weight (for jobs e.g air-stewardess, model)
Advisable not to : Hobbies/Personal Interest / Outside activities

2) Education Info
Don’t miss out : Grade
Optional : Part time/Full time

3) Work History / Internship (fresh graduate)
Don’t miss out : Project / Accomplishment
Optional : Brief description about company, Reason of Leaving
Advisable not to : Use the word “I”. Eg I am responsible for 3 executives. I carry out quality check on finished products. Change to “Manage 3 executives. Responsible to carry out quality check on finished products

4A) Trainings (for experience)
Don’t miss out : Start listing trainings which are more relevant to the job
Optional : Month & Year of training
Advisable not to : Mention whether it is internal / external training & training center

4B) Final Year Project (fresh graduate)
Don’t miss out : Project title, duration, role, challenges, project summary
Optional : Grade, Team Size

5) Skills
Don’t miss out : Start listing skills which are more relevant to the job
Optional : Proficiency
Advisable not to : Do not write elaborate on soft skills e.g Good Communication skills, Good Time Management skills as these would be under Strength

6) Language
Don’t miss out : State whether the language you know is spoken/written or both
Optional : Level of proficiency in numbers
Depends : Dialects (unless it is required in the job)

7) Co-curricular activities (fresh graduate)
Don’t miss out : Your role in the activity
Optional : Activities details

8) Preference
Must have : Notice period / Availability, Strength, Career Summary, Career Objective
Optional : Current salary & expected salary, References
Depends : Willing to travel, Willing to relocate, Posses Own Transport (if the job requirements states that extensive travelling is needed / job requires relocation, you might then want to write down that you are open for the options)

Note: Use line divider for different sections for a tidier look.

What is OEM, ODM, CM, EMS?

You have heard the terms (OEM, ODM, CM, EMS) but haven’t any idea what it is. Here are simple definitions from internet resources that you need to know.

Industry
An industry is generally any grouping of businesses that share a common method of generating profits, such as the "electronics industry", the "automobile industry".

OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer)
The original manufacturer of a hardware component or sub-component. A company that sells products (including software) under its own label.

ODM (Original Design Manufacturer)
Company which manufactures a product which ultimately will be branded by another firm for sale. ODMs have grown in size in recent years and many are now sufficient in size to handle production for multiple clients, often providing a large portion of overall production.

CM (Contract Manufacturing)
Firm that manufactures components or products for another hiring firm. The way the business model of CM works is the hiring firm approaches the contract manufacturer with a design. For an agreed upon price, the CM then acts as the hiring firm's factory, producing and shipping units of the design on behalf of the hiring firm.

EMS (Electronic Manufacturing Services)
Companies that design, test, manufacture, distribute and provide return/repair services for electronic component and assembles for OEMs. EMS players focus their production in a lower-cost geographies; stretching from design and ODM through system assembly, test,delivery and logistics, warranty and repair, network services,software, design & customer service.EMS have also started to provide design services used in conceptual product development advice and design assistance.

List of Recruitment Firms

These are the list of job / recruitment agencies which has office either in Penang / KL or both. You may want to engage with the recruiters or send your CVs for job opportunities.


Adecco www.adecco-asia.com
Allstaff www.allstaff.com.my/iresume/home.php
Bon Sdn Bhd http://www.bonrecruitment.com/
Career Medi (M) Sdn Bhd www.careermedi.com.my
Career Search Sdn Bhd http://www.careersearch.com.my/
Career Telstar www.careertelstar.com
City Recruit www.cityrecruit.com.my
EPS Consultant www.epscs.com
GMP Recruit www.gmprecruit.com.my
Instant Manpower Search (Agensi Pekerjaan ICON Sdn Bhd) http://imsjobs.com
Intelek Sdn Bhd www.intelek.com.my
JAC Recruitment Malaysia www.jac-recruitment.my
Jobsworld Sdn Bhd www.jobsworld.com.my
Career Wise www.careerwise.com.my
Kapient (M) Sdn Bhd www.kapient.com
KASK Careers www.kask.com.my
Kelly Services www.kellyservices.com.my
MRI Network www.mri.com.my
NCS Solutions www.ncsis.com.my/ncssolution/about-ncs.html
People Source http://www.people-source.com.my/
Prima Creation Consultants http://intelekmuda.org/primacc
Recruit Express www.recruitexpress.com.my/index.aspx
Select Appointment www.selectappointments.com.my
The ASPAC Group www.aspacgroup.com
Virtue Associates www.virtueassociates.com

How to Answer "Why are you looking for job opportunity?"

It wouldn’t be a good asnwer if you just say “I am open for better opportunity.” There must be some pushing factors either in your current work place / work related / personal reasons that you are seeking around. Here are some sample asnwers. Pls note that the below is for reference only.
·I am looking for more challenges. My current work is limited to only testing. I would like to move myself more into validation
·There isn't room for growth with my current employment and I'm ready to move on to a new challenge by having a wider job scope.
·I'm looking for a bigger challenge and to grow my career
·I was laid-off from my last position when our company relocate to another town
·I'm moving to this area due to family circumstances and planning to find something nearby.
·I've decided that is not the direction I want to go in my career and my current employer has no opportunities in the direction I'd like to head.
·I recently received my degree and I want to utilize my educational background in my next position.
·I left my last position in order to spend more time with my family & now I'm ready for full-time employment again.
·I am seeking a position with a stable company & job security where I am looking fwd to long term employment & career growth
·I would prefer to be closer to home.
·I wasn't considering a move, but, I saw this job posting and was intrigued by the position. It sounds like an exciting opportunity and it matches my qualification & experience.

How interviewers identify Soft skills?

You have all technical & job skills required for the job. You did well in the interview. You are able to asnwer all the questions in the paper test. However the feedback you received from employer / recruiter is that you are not fit / suitable for the environment.

What happened? Your soft skills showed you aren’t the right person. If you carefully review any job advert, notice that the last few requirements are behavioural requirements. Majority job seekers focus only on the first few requirements & ignore the last part of it.

These are the few that are commonly seen in job advertisement

• Excellent communication skills and ability to successfully interact with people at all levels.


• Able to work independently and at various levels of abstraction


• Strong analytical, coordination skill, ability to work independently and drive for result


• Strong leadership with the ability to interact well with all level of people.


• Demonstrates strategic thinking, detailed execution and have high team enthusiasm.

The traits that you can pull out would be "Energetic, Independent, Able to work in a team, Aggresive, Motivated, Good analytical skills, Sense of responsibility, Time Management."

Now how does the interviewer access these traits in any interview? There isn't / not frequent to come across questions which specifically ask you to to tell the person you are. Eg 1) Are you someone who is able to work independently? If there is such questions asked, everyone will be asnwering "yes". But "yes" is not sufficient. You need to elaborate with good examples to support your statement.

Interviewers access the personality traits when they ask questions eg

a) How will you handle a situation that requires you to do a number of things at the same time? (Independent, Aggresive, Time Management)

b) Tell me about a time when you worked effectively under pressure. (Energy, Motivation, Time Management)

c) Tell me an example of how you solve a difficult SMT problem. (Analytical skills, Team work)

Therefore show your consistency when asnwering such questions. Be the person you are. Most importantly support your asnwer with examples.

You can start by listing the personality traits & going through one by one by recalling examples of projects that you lead or participated rather than going through hundreds of possible interview questions.

Knowing the objective of why the questions is being asked will eventually help you to understand what is important for the job.

Having the right qualifications & experience is not enough in the current employment world. Having the right attitude coupled with right qualification & experience will take the person further.

Accelerate Your Learning Curve

Enfagrow is having 4x DHA, does this means that our child will be 4x smarter than us? Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is essential for the growth and functional development of the brain in infants. DHA is also required for maintenance of normal brain function in adults. The inclusion of plentiful DHA in the diet improves learning ability, whereas deficiencies of DHA are associated with deficits in learning.

Besides consuming food with DHA, we too can fully utilize our learning ability & speed up the learning curve if we have the recipe ie right attitude & resources.

Learning need to be treated as a life-long lesson. There are many ways to do so.
1) Getting rid of fear
People tend to stop / slow down due to fear. Look at how a child learn in taking their first steps & falling down & start the process again & again.

2) Know Which Method Work Best For You
Each individual learn best in different ways. Therefore knowing what works for you will enhance & maximize the curve. The factors below make up our learning style.

(A) Make full use of your senses. Identify which works best for you.
Auditory – do you prefer verbal instructions rather than written
Visual –do you prefer to read manual/formulas/map
Kinesthetic – do you prefer hands-on experience, lab classes, writing notes, drawing diagrams

(B) Deductive or Inductive Reasoning
Deductive reasoning works from the more general to the more specific. This is called a "top-down" approach. We begin with thinking up a theory about our topic of interest. We then narrow that down into more specific hypotheses that we can test then collect observations to address the hypotheses. Eg you prefer to know all the rules before playing a game? You prefer to go through formula before coming to know the application of the formula

Inductive reasoning is learning through experience, moving from specific observations to broader generalizations and theories. We sometimes call this a "bottom up" approach. Eg you prefer to go along the new game to learn the rules, You go through examples to develop an overview of new topic

(C) Intrapersonal or Interpersonal
Intrapersonal - you prefer to work alone when solving problems
Interpersonal – you prefer to discuss with others before making a decision. You like to do homework with friends

3) Read & read
We know good books are expensive, however no harm to treat yourself if it’s a good one, moreover there are libraries around
4) Ask questions
Ask a lot when you are a fresh graduate, continue to ask when you are a senior, ask & ask even when you grow old. Mindset yourself that I can’t be knowing everything else I am a walking encylopedia
5) Go online to channels like wikepedia, how stuff works are useful
6) Get yourself a mentor
7) Share by initiate sharing session with colleagues, friends get together, through blogs as there are useful & interesting blogs which shared by experts in certain field
8) Say “yes” to things you have never explore, widen your horizon & you will be surprise on the things you can do
9) Attend forums/talk

Introduce yourself in Structured Manner

The first question with the highest possibility to pop out in an interview will be "Pls describe/introduce/share about yourself.”

Most candidate will go straight to the point of their study & work, while some struggle even to start. Therefore preparation is important before interview, again to stress. There are many things to share in an interview or otherwise.

To be successful is to know what you want to share & how to convey this message to the interviewer in a structured way without too lengthy / short.

For experienced job seeker,
Part 1A: education
Part 2A: work history
Part 3A:expertise / skills / knowledge / experience - an important item where you need to prepare up front so that you can sell & position yourself to the hiring company. Eg a process engineer applying for process relevant position, do share & stress on transferable skills like FMEA, process troubleshooting knowledge which would be essential if the industry/product is not relevant. Before that you need to identify which are transferable skills.

Unless you are applying to a direct matching job, else do prepare to asnwer “Why are you looking for job change? / Why are you suitable for the job?”. When you apply for such positions, focus to talk more on transferable skills & what you can offer rather than product / industry knowledge.

Eg:
Having graduated from ABC University in Electronics Engineering degree & being a 2nd class upper student,

Currently I am attached to ABC company as a Design Engineer. I have a total of 6years of working experience with 2years in circuit design for microprocessor & 4years in board design for tester interface unit / TIU previously in XYZ company.

Therefore, my expertise & skills would be in circuit & board design with total of 6years experience. To add on, I do have hands on experience in layout which I would say as intermediate level, troubleshooting knowledge would be advanced level for IC & board level as a part of my responsibility is to ensure to verify the sample units after design.

For fresh graduate,
Part 1B: education
Part 2B: career path / objective
Part 3B: personal strength / final year project / internship (you may choose 1 or 2 to share if it is relevant to the job applied)

Eg:
Having graduated from ABC University in Electronics Engineering degree & being a 2nd class upper student, I am interested to be in process engineering job which is why I applied to this job. (next potential question: why do you pick process engineering?” to answer: do your homework, know the job scope & nature of job for a process engineer. It will be added advantage if you have done any final year project / internship related to design or due to your personality that suits you to be in the job)

I would like to go through about my internship where I was attached to ABC Company for 3 months timeframe involve in SMT process. I had the opportunity to work with engineers to find pro-active solutions to SMT problems & to be able to run & troubleshoot equipment & process really interest me. I had hands-on experience on the given task to troubleshoot the adhesive problems where SMT parts fall off after wave solder process. The root cause was incorrect placement of the adhesive relative to the pad due to differences between CAD data and the board. Although the experience is only 3months, I have acquire skills & knowledge in SMT, product & process knowledge.


Hope the above helps. Remember to end your sharing. Eg “This is a summary to share with you as in overall”

How to find them in bad times

There are still industries which are hiring due to product transfer as the cost of manufacturing are lower here in comparison to other countries. Also there are talented pool of workforce in here. We may observe market & hiring activities slowing down but there are still possibilities of getting a job especially for fresh graduates/internship programme.

In bad times, companies may have a preference to hire fresh graduates/interns. Therefore do not give up. Instead double your effort. Search & hunt for them.

Of course, it would be good if you know such news of product transfer / low volume hiring which are mostly not published. Get to know people around you, in the neighbourhood/ex-colleagues/schoolmates/friends, start talking to them & engage with them, leave your contact as well.


Search online jobs for companies which are hiring, go direct to the company website & apply jobs there. Don't miss any jobs & career fair & drop your resumes to recruitment firms. Seek & grab every opportunity available as the volume of jobs is low to cater to the large pool of active job seekers


The Star newspaper
GEORGE TOWN: Manufacturing and service sector companies are still hiring staff to fill strategic positions in Penang, an InvestPenang survey revealed.
It found that more than half of manufacturing companies and 80% of establishments in the service sector were still recruiting people for such positions.
InvestPenang executive committee chairman Datuk Lee Kah Choon said yesterday that the Business/Investment Sentiment Survey on the Manufacturing and Services Sectors showed that these companies had even indicated possible re-investments in the next six months.
“While operations in both the manufacturing and services sectors are still profitable, they are taking the necessary mitigating measures,’’ he said, adding that most companies started cutting down on overtime about six months ago and reduced working hours by imposing four-day or three-day work weeks.
Lee added that some organisations were looking into reducing risks including shortening work hours and overtime, imposing salary cuts and not replacing workers who had resigned.
Free Industrial Zone Penang Companies Association president Datuk Dr Mohd Sofi Osman in a statement said Malaysian manufacturers faced reduced orders and had to embark on cost reduction exercises to survive.
He urged Tenaga Nasional Bhd to reduce the electricity tariff which was a major cost component for manufacturers.