Breaking All the Rules

The college recently had a career fair on Monday and Tuesday. About 10 companies were invited including MDEC, Dell, and Mobile88. MDEC didn't show up but I guess that's fine because I don't need a low-paying programmer job in Cyberjaya anyway.

The only serious IT company I liked was Extol. Actually I didn't know anything about them until I went for the walk-in interview on Monday. They are an IT security solutions provider based in Subang.

Now, I've listened to talks on how to handle an interview. I've read articles on personal grooming tips for interviews. I've been through enough interviews to know how to act and look. But on Monday I broke many of the rules. It's really hard to blame me because I could hardly walk around without feeling the need to puke. The evil, evil carrot juice was still circulating around my insides and I was in no mood to be in an interview. But Calvinsanity had come to see us and I had no choice but to "give face".

So I dragged myself out of bed and put on a t-shirt. When I got there I saw Jackson applying at Extol so I just joined in. As I was waiting for my turn to be interviewed by the company's CEO, COO, and another senior employee, I realized to my horror:

• I was wearing an orange t-shirt


• My t-shirt was not tucked in


• My hair looks like a dead racoon, and probably smelt that way too


• I didn't shave, and so I had this uneven stubble


• I was wearing casual sneakers instead of black, fake-leather shoes

Talk about first impressions! Thankfully I did bring my resume and transcript. I let it do the talking, so to speak. And I'm sure my personality shone through. Or was that just the oil on my unwashed face?