Job Search (Part 2)

Image by elaine

Continued from Part 1 here.

The office visits that I made in my 1st round of job searching were all rather short, and I only managed to hand in the documents to the staff on duty, who said that they would refer the documents to their bosses and will call me if they need me. I left feeling a little unsure of myself. I was jittery when talking to the staff since this is the first time I've ever done such a thing, and the thought of having made a nerve-wrecked first impression kept replaying over and over in my head. Nevertheless, I hoped for the best.

A few days later, in casual conversation I received valuable pointers from a lawyer friend on how to improve my resume and cover letter so that they were more professional and direct. With suggestions from him and also from my dad who has experience reading job applications in his company, I made my second cover letter and resume better than the first one.

The 2nd time around, I tried a different job-searching approach. Instead of traveling to the respective firms, I would e-mail them the documents needed along with contact letters. Thinking about it, this approach was more direct, easier and saved costs in terms of transport and paper. The Malaysian Bar website had a very helpful directory of law firms in the area, so I emailed accordingly.

Immediately,the 2nd method proved more effective - I suspect it had something to do with the use of the word intern instead of just temporary job (I wasn't sure if intern was too big a word for a small fella like me to use!). Within the first 30 minutes of sending out the emails, I received a call for an interview the following day! Now I had a different set of thoughts going on in my head such as how to make a good first impression, how to answer the questions etc. Later in the day I got another 3 replies that were somewhat mixed responses, but the firms were all very professional and helpful in their replies.

I woke up early in the morning on interview day to get ready. Everything, from the outfit I wear to the documents I bring to the way I prepared for questions had to be just right. I tried my best. When the time came for me to walk up the office door, I took a deep breath and walked in. I was ushered into a room to fill up a employment form. After that, I was interviewed briefly by one of the lawyers who ran the firm. The interview went well and I gained a lot of insight on the firm and being a good lawyer from her. I was told to wait for a reply as my employment would need to be discussed.

I came back thinking "Wow, it was less scarier than I thought!" and when I reached home, guess what- I received another call for an interview, this time from another firm. So on Friday afternoon I geared myself up for the 2nd interview, this time in a corporate building (the first was in a uptown commercial area), and I kept telling myself not to take it easy since my first interview went well. So I went, this time slightly less hesitantly to the office. After 2 minutes, the boss was free to interview me and she asked me a lot of questions about myself. I stumbled a bit and have used big words (such as merger) with little idea of what it meant (I was trying hard to impress!). Fortunately, not only was I forgiven, I was hired with the advice of 'ask me as many questions as possible' from the boss as I left the office.

Wow! I'm hired! Thank God :)

I'll be starting work the Monday after Chinese New Year, so I have one week to relax, enjoy the festive season and prepare for working life. I hope that being an intern would be one of the most meaningful experiences in this season of life.