YTN Scholarship Interview Experiences (Yayasan Tenaga Nasional) UNiTEN

The view was amazing.

Just my experiences and opinion on this.

I was offered an interview under YTN and the iv session was held yesterday at the RHR Hotel @ UNiTEN. Alhamdulillah, i was shortlisted and not many people were lucky enough for that position, thus i didn't miss out the opportunity to try out my own luck for that. I swear it was terrific :) I had the first ever scholarship interview experiences and it's gonna be a blazing fuel to keep me going towards further achievements in my future undertakings.

We were grouped into 5, A,B,C,D and E. I got to be in the E group and there were a total of 7 peeps in my group, 2 from SMAP Labu, 2 from Sekolah Sultan Alam Shah, 1 from MRSM Taiping and ..... that one girl which i didn't remember much. She didn't say a word and she was passive, so yea... she kinda slipped of my mind (sorry wherever you are). The girl from SMAP Labu was really friendly! She was the first to introduce about herself. (Hannan I'm sorry i was in a rush and i forgot to give you my contact number :( hmmm) The first session was a cozy talk with TNB's board of director. The talk was mostly about TNB and it's future, yep mostly he focussed on the job opportunity TNB offers. What the future holds for us under the scholar, the face of the future job holders and so on. Seriously before the talk i had no idea about the courses offered and how it is interrelated with TNB corporation (albeit the fact that i did some research on that). And yeah after the talk, i was truly mind-boggled.

The next session started at around 10.20, another cozy talk with the YTN's administrator. The session was aimed to make us crystal clear of the Yayasan Tenaga Nasional's scholarship, and our path later on with our career. It makes me realize that what goes around, comes around. What i'm trying to say over here, that a company doesn't easily give out scholarship to Malaysian's student for the sake of "just for fun" or in terms of helping/just sponsoring but in a total debt, and as a compensation, we need to work for them. Well, we have to keep in mind that reality... kinda hurts. In this whole vast world we're living in, i don't think anything is ever free anymore. (exceptional for the air we're breathing in). But, nevertheless, i was totally impressed to learn that the YTN's scholar is 15% more than MARA or JPA scholar. And that, if we're qualified and if we meet the total requirement, any of us under the scholar may be able to continue studying in overseas! Gosh, that made me aroused and I was totally in an excited state. (nope this is not chemistry).

We had a break for roughly 20 minutes. We had brunch but i chose to check on my phone. Gosh seriously what should i be preparing for the writing test later and the interview itself? Thus i googled TNB and i read more and more facts on that. (at the end of the day, it turns out to be that it was kinda unnecessary.. the question wasn't really related about TNB's history, mission, vision or anything likewise/related..)

I was really nerve-wrecked.

Again, another session. It was still a talk, but this was different. Because at the end of the session the writing test will be held. Gosh i wasn't prepared for any kind of questions that may be coming out. And plus, the air conditioner was set on high, it feels like i was in the ice pole. I was freezing to death in there and my esteem almost dropped to zero. God, just end this quick. The talk was handled by aunty Norin, she currently works in the Leadership Resources (LRM). She wanted us to unleash our inner passion, and to voice out. She gave us a few examples on Malaysian heroes that foot-stepped in a career that differs from what their courses were back in the universities. Later on, she spoke about the top 5 career driving employment in Malaysia, gave the 4Q's (IQ,EQ,PQ&SQ), DDRC, secret formula on walking through the iv process, ranted on about employment values and finally, she summed up the talk with the 3 keys, talent, passion and conscient.

And that marks the end of her talk.

It's time for the writing test. *gulp*

I wasn't sure what i felt but i took a deep breath and I loosened up.

Okay and they were handing out the question papers. I took out the pen i used for my SPM papers. So, there were two pages on that paper, the front page was about us and the back page was mostly about TNB, and there were 11 questions in total. Oh why was I THAT nerve-wrecked? That was just an opinion-based paper. To voice out our own opinion. They just wanna get to know the real me, not much of a pain. Like i've stated earlier there were no history of the company, mission/vision or anything like that. Hahahaha. Silly me for worrying too much.

And so, I answered the whole Q&A paper in fully English. The first page was about our fav childhood memories, fav subject in school, how do you describe yourself, something like that. The second page was the harder one, because it was related to TNB's future. Like, what related skills do you have to improvise TNB in the future? What is your idea to help TNB outshine? What makes you qualified for the YTN scholar? haha ok i don't remember in details, I'm sorry. But the questions were something likewise. Seriously, the questions were a cinch!

So, the writing test was over and we had a break for lunch and dhuhr prayers. We went to Jupiter Cafe for our lunch. There were myriad of delicacies but i wasn't in any mood of eating. But seriously, I've tried the best fruit parfait there and i think I'm in love. xo. I wish i could snap a photo of it but hahaha ain't nobody got time for that. I went for dhuhr prayers with my SMAP Labu friends.

The Jupiter Cafe House

The interview session.


Seriously the agonizing wait made me jittered. I tried to calm down and go easy with myself but I just, couldn't. Hence, I did the hand-thingy he told me to do and Alhamdulillah it works. :) I wasn't nervous at all and finally i was able to breathe.

And therefore my name was summoned up (i mean called upon lol) and I entered the room with 100% confidence. Bismillah, with the name of Allah the most beneficent. And i said the salam to the interviewers. There were 4 interviewers in total, 2 women and 2 men. Seriously DON'T FORGET TO GIVE OUT SALAM/GREETINGS. There's like, a mark for that. It's your first impression.

Like most/any other interviews, it began with the question, 'tell us about yourself'. Seriously, just go easy with yourself, i was just imagining i had a talk with my friends, nothing much.

Done with that, they proceed on with the voice out paper. Little did i knew that the questions were a trap! Haha it wasn't a trap actually, but i wrote something else that contradicted. I mean, a business manager that likes biology? Yea i wrote biology for the "fav subject in school&why?" and I've just realized that i wrote like, 5 lines about that :(

And soon, they found out that I was just trying out my luck with the scholarship and that my passion was somewhere not in the business field.

"awak ni, nak jadi doctor, kan?"

gulp, they knew the truth.

And so, to save myself, I told them that people changes and that was my childhood dream. Hah, so much of a cliche answer.

And the interviewer said,

"we want someone who is passionate in this field and not just because of the scholarship. Business is not an easy work if you don't have a thing for it. Imagine, if you're working with TNB under business management and you don't enjoy it, a few years later you realized that this isn't right for you and you choose to chase your own dream? It is entirely possible for that to happen, just look at the examples of our Malaysian heroes we gave you earlier in the talk."

Man, I was awestrucked!

"and i guess, that's the end of our session. Do you have any question regarding this?"

And thus, i said no, i smiled to them and i said thanks for giving me the chance to be here, and i left. Haha no chance for me i guess :) but that sure was a pleasant experience!

Before I headed back home, I took a selfie outside the RHR Hotel lobby.

Thank you for a remarkable interview experience, TNB! :)