In between choices
If you have been following my internship journey so far, I have received one email from a company for an interview out of the seven that I applied to. Three of them were from the matching process at my university.
Receiving a call after a month
Out of the blue, I got a call from one of the three companies I had applied to via my university’s internship matching, which was about a month ago. Out of the three matching, there was one I wanted because of the pay and location compared to the other two companies, which were far away and had low or no pay.
I had not heard from any of my three matches for more than a month, so I started applying for internships on my own, which, as I mentioned in the beginning, I got an interview.
Thus, I had lost hope of getting interviews or emails from the companies to which I had applied through the university. So, I got a random call from the company I most liked from the matches; for simplicity, I’ll call it “CompanyLib.” And the other company, to which I applied on my own, got an interview with “CompanySM.”
Lib because it’s in a library. SM because it’s about social media marketing.
I have never worked or interned in any of these fields before, so either way, it would be my first time.
CompanyLib called me and asked if I already had an internship offer and if I was available for an interview the next day face-to-face. The person behind the call asked me if I could speak Cantonese, and I replied, as I usually do, “a little bit.”.
Having to choose between two options
I was surprised, but at the same time, I was glad to know that I was getting more choices.
I was happy and conflicted about which internship to pick if they both offered. It was easier when I just had one choice, so I made a side-by-side comparison based on location, pay, length, skills I could acquire after, and more.
Here’s the simple version of the comparison:
Dress to impress (and be confident)
I picked out something smart and casual to wear and prepared it beforehand. A light-colored flowy suit jacket with a black t-shirt, black trousers, and black shoes. Something I will say is to try your outfit beforehand, especially if there’s an element you’ve never worn before.
For example, I had bought that suit jacket to go to interviews with a long time ago, but there wasn’t an occasion for it, and thus it was my first time wearing it. So, I wore it and checked myself in the mirror to see how it was looking and making me feel.
Considering I’m making an impression, it can be however I choose it to be. I decided to make sure that, besides my outfit, I carried warm confidence, which is how I wanted to be perceived.
The weather was sunny, and I carried wet tissues with me so I wouldn’t be a sweaty mess once I entered the room.
Let me tell you something about myself: I’m not good with directions or finding places unless they’re straightforward. So, I would always arrive at least an extra 30 minutes before I needed to.
I was right; as soon as I exited the MTR, I was lost, and my map kept showing that I was going in the wrong direction. When I finally made it to the right side, it got easier, and I made my way to the location. It would take me 30 minutes to travel here via MTR and less than 10 minutes to walk if I were going in the right direction.
The short interview
Once I finally made it to the interview office, I greeted and smiled at whoever was in front of me and made my way into the office for the interview. I greeted her as well, and she ran me through what the internship was going to include, which was related to library services and systems. She asked me if I spoke Cantonese again and when I was available.
I asked her some questions regarding whether it was a full-time or part-time position and what my main duties would be. It was a short interview where I was asking, and I think I was asking more questions.
She also let me know that since I’d be interning for only 2 months full-time, it’s okay that I don’t speak Cantonese. Also, I was most likely going to get the position since I was taking information management and the other candidates weren’t.
But since they have one more candidate left to interview, they will officially let me know afterward. That gave me some confidence that I’d get the internship. The staff was overall quite friendly, and I left feeling confident in myself.
Goals I had in mind before and how it turned out after
I did have some things in mind before I went.
- What is the work environment like?
- How are the staff and my potential co-workers?
- Do I see myself being here for 2 months?
Now that I had the interview, I could tell that I could see myself working here, and the work environment would be good because my co-workers also seemed nice.
P.S. update:
Made up my mind in the end
I waited for Monday to finally make my decision.
If I got CompanyLib’s offer, I would accept it. But if I didn’t, I would go for the CompanySM interview and hopefully get an offer from there. And if that didn’t happen either, I’d have to go back to applying for more internships.
CompanyLib seemed like they had already made up their mind and wanted to hire me while CompanySM was still considering options. So, when Monday rolled around and I got a call from CompanyLib saying that I got the internship and needed my confirmation, I said yes.
I was going to be working full-time at CompanyLib from May to June.
And along with this came a bunch of emails I had to write, first to tell my uni, that I had gotten an internship, and politely reject the interview from CompanySM, however, I did add that I was still interested in they had a position for July/August instead.
To follow along my ongoing internship journey, I recommend reading:
