Housemanship Interview

So my housemanship interview was today!


Spent most of last night freaking out about it...which, as it turns out, was totally unnecessary because our interview was really easy (easiest interview in the history of forever tbh).
But of course, last night we didn't quite know what to expect, so we spent a lot of time reading other blogs of people who had already been through their housemanship interviews and had written about it...which was honestly rather helpful.
So I promised myself that I'd come back and write about my interview, 
so that later on when some junior decides to freak out about housemanship interviews and google stuff, 
they'd at least have an idea of what to expect (if they come across this)

Although I'm not sure how much my experience will help... our interview was completely informal, 
and rather fun, to be honest.

We're apparently one of the first few batches to go through group interviews.
(because there are so many of us here in Batu Pahat)

So 5 people per group, 
and each group has about 15 minutes in the room with the interviewers (who consist of an 1. officer from the ministry and 2. a medical doctor)


I'm not sure if the group interview was done just because they were conducting the interviews on our university campus, 
or whether they're switching entirely to group interviews now.


We had a briefing on Sunday evening by one of the officers from the ministry as well, 
although he took us through more of a career evolution sort of thing instead of actually briefing us on what to expect during the interview.
But he was nice enough to tell us not to worry, and to just be ourselves during the interview, etc.

"Korang konferm pass punya...as long as korang fulfil 4 criteria :
1. Datang interview dalam keadaan normal - jangan khayal. Yang bukan islam, malam ni tolong jangan minum arak ya. And those yang suka khayal-khayal tu, malam ni you jangan la ambik ubat khayal"
2.  You kena at least jawab la interviewer tu tanya apa. Kalau nak jawab one word one word pun takpe. As long as you jawab.
3. Bawa semua dokumen yang saya dah cakap tadi.
4. Ada satu lagi sebab korang konferm akan pass interview - tapi yang tu biar saya saja yang tau ye"

(what even...ada orang bribe die ke?)

But anyway :
Documents needed  : Resume, IC, Birth Cert, SPM results, Pre-U results and final transcript (or in our case, a measly letter stating we're final year med students -.-)

And most of us dressed up in baju kurung for the interview today.
It was recommended, so.
Might as well.


We were there at 7.30 (because he said registration was going to start then), but registration only started after 8.
And we were in the 7th group - ended up going in at about 11. 
o.o

By then, all our nervousness had dissipated...waiting 3 and a half hours can do that to you.
Plus I was going in with my housemates, 
so that was another reason not to be stressed out.

So at 11, they call us in, 
and we file in; our resumes are all already on the table in front of the interviewers.
The officer kept looking through them throughout the interview, but didn't comment much on them.
(kind of creepy tbh, having someone thumb through your resume and look at you and not say anything)
But when he did ask us stuff, he was really nice though, so that was okay.

The medical doctor was the Deputy Director (?is that how you say it omg idk) from Hospital Batu Pahat.
She was really nice.
And so chatty omg we could hardly get a word in ourselves!
And they were very informal...they themselves kept switching back and forth between Malay and English, which suited me just fine...I can speak Malay quite fluently, but after leaving school I've gotten into the habit of inserting English words in between.

She started off by asking us how we were doing, 
how we found Batu Pahat (all of us were from the Klang Valley), 
and then of course the dreaded question : "You're all from KL side, eh? So kalau posted to Sarawak or Sabah macam mana?"

Someone mentioned "we should take it positively", and the rest of us barely managed to murmur our agreement before the doctor started telling us about how we should indeed take it positively, 
and then she was listing down the benefits of working there (extra allowance, mainly), 
and the officer joined her in saying it was a nice place, and its good experience, and we get to come back after two years.

And we all just nodded in agreement, although we none of us had ANY intention of applying there.
But then a lot of my other batchmates have applied there though, so I guess we're safe.

And the next question : "So why medicine?"
Before we could answer, the officer asked us if any of our parents/siblings were doctors (nope), and then "Then why medicine? I mean kalau bapak engineer ke apa ke.."

Me : "Bapa saya engineer"
Them : "Ha. Ada pun. So kenapa tak nak buat engineering?"
Me : "Oh, Because abang saya pun buat engineering so.." (see what I mean by I mix English and Malay)
Them : "Oh so dah boring la kan, kalau semua kat rumah engineering!"
I was like.. LOL. yes. 

And then she moved on to the next question. o.o
Cepat gila move on kot.

Then she asked us if we knew what NCD stood for (this was our medical question).
And we obediently chorused "Non-communicable diseases", 
and then she asked us what diseases, 
and we all chorused "hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, osteoarthritis.."
and then she proceeded to tell us about why it was important to know NCDs and notifiable diseases (there are 25, apparently, which we are not required to know at undergraduate level, but we would need to find out during housemanship)

And then she asked us what our hobbies were.
For that one, we went in turn.
Started off with the officer looking at The Bwoy's resume and going "So, from what I see here, you seem very interested in entertainment?" (because he put he liked singing)
We all laughed.
And then my turn I talked about playing the piano..
"Oh so you memang belajar betul-betul la? Like exams and everything?"
"Apasal Grade 6 je? Tak nak continue ke? Continue la, its good to have something outside medicine. At least relieve stress sikit kan?"
I mean, I completely agree, but how to carry my piano everywhere, srsly.
The others' hobbies were drawing, travelling, and hiking.

Honestly, we could barely finish two sentences before they interrupted us with questions, or tales of their own experiences.
But it was nice.
It wasn't like a proper formal interview...more like a get-to-know-you session.

And then they just advised us a bit more on what to expect during housemanship, 
and then we were done!
They didn't even look at our certs...guess it wasn't necessary, what with the resume and all.

They didn't ask us anything that we'd spent the night preparing for!
No questions about the politicians, or the Ministry of Health, or 1Malaysia...absolutely nothing.

Gah.

I think they probably save those for the individual interviews though.

But anyway, 
in case anyone who's preparing for the interview is reading this, 
what you should know anyway for the interview (just in case) :

-The current Agung (DYMM Tuanku Abdul Halim Muazzam Shah, Sultan of Kedah -14th Agung)
-Prime Minister (Dato' Sri Najib Tun Razak)
-Deputy PM (Datuk Muhyiddin Yassin)
-Health Minister (Dato' Sri  Liow Tiong Lai) ... I might be getting their titles wrong, so :|
-Deputy Health Minister (Datuk Rosnah Shirlin)
-Director General of Health (previously Datuk Dr Hasan)
-Acting Director General of Health (Datuk Dr Noor Hisham)
-Deputy(?) DG - (Datuk Dr Azmi Shapie)

And then of course you need to know the 1Malaysia slogans 
for 2012 - Janji Ditepati (kalau ni you guys tak tau idk what to say)
2011 it was Transformasi Berjaya, Rakyat Sejahtera

And the 8 1Malaysia values :
mnemonic : CAL HIM PE
Culture of Excellence
Acceptance
Loyalty
Humility
Integrity
Meritocracy
Perseverance
Education

And Budaya Korporat MOH : Kami Sedia Membantu. Penyayang, Profesionalisme, Kerja Berpasukan.

I thiiiink thats about it.

Oh oh, and Rukun Negara
We actually had to google this last night omg. We remembered everything except Kepercayaan Kepada Tuhan.
*facepalm*
So embarrassing. 
We've recited this every Monday for 11 years, and we actually forgot the Rukun Negara.

tsk.



But yes.
So that was my interview.

After it finished, we were kind of like "we pakai baju kurung just for this?"

But you know, even if it was just a formality, 
dressing properly is important. 
so.
yeah.


We'll get our appointment letter within a month!
ahhhh.
Tension.


yay ok so now we can focus on portfoliossss.

...
What is life.



p.s. If anyone is reading this before their housemanship interviews (I doubt people will google this and find my blog, but anywayyy if you are going for your interview) ...All the best! 
Look on the bright side, 
we're pretty much all guaranteed jobs anyway. :D

(unless you've graduated from overseas, in which case I wish you moarrr luck - only because you don't have the luxury of being guaranteed a job like we local students do - be yourself, don't say anything ridiculous, and you'll be fine :D)
(at the very least please don't say dengue is spread by mice omg)




And right now its 2am, 
and I have to drive 50-odd km to Hospital Kluang tomorrow morning (yay) so I'm going to go sleep.
And dream of Aidan Turner.

I honestly did try to resist, you guys, but.

I finally caved in and ..well. current desktop wallpaper.

I tried, though.
I really did.

Dammit Aidan, you perfect human being.




Goodnight world!

I'm one step closer to being a doctor.

So scary.



~vid~