Interview (1) — The Novice Phone Interview

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts

4 min readFeb 24, 2022

Finding this job at first I must thank my older brother (Who is older than me by 6 years). His best friend was used to leading a team in the company and he put up quite a substantial of good words for me to the bosses.

In the meantime, the vacancy slot did belong to a team head who is also close to him. Therefore, I landed my job interview without any hassle.

Through a WhatsApp arrangement for a quick phone interview, originally scheduled a 30 minutes interview that he had made for 2 hours. The contents are not limited to his expectations, company’s culture, job responsibilities and the reason why given my background would be interested in this job. There was not really a lot of conversation involved during this interview rather than listening to his mumbling and complaints about how the company put him into a difficult position.

One of the most worth noting questions he asked was “Why choose this company, why not Google or Microsoft? They are also hiring and I am sure they would hire you with your background” I replied “I have applied but I failed in the final interview stage as I just simply can’t beat the candidates that I am competing for. Perhaps luck and timing are all that matter”

But in truth, I actually have never applied to Google nor Microsoft, or any other job positions at all. I was lack of confidence, I never like the interview, it gives me a feeling of I was a product in the marketplace and being picked and dropped by random strangers. I didn’t get the feeling as other people said “Treat it as a training ground. Get yourself ready for the real job and don’t treat it too seriously”, or “If you are skilful and presentable as your resume is, there is nothing for you to worry about!”