Yayasan Khazanah Scholarship Interviews Experience

Assalamualaikum and hello guys!

Today I would like to share my experience of being one of the candidates of Yayasan Khazanah Scholarship, in which in the end of this entry, I will tell you either I was successfully qualified or not. Back to my experience, I was actually chosen by our college counselor to apply for this scholarship by using our Trial SPM Result. I was so glad since one of my friend, Johannes Low Jun Wei also fulfilled the requirements to apply for this prestigious scholarship. So, it was two of us. Great! I thanked a lot to my teachers and my parents who helped me a lot in facing my first scholarship interview ever in my life.

On that time, we were given the opportunity to choose either two programmes, which are:-

- Khazanah Global (who wish to study overseas in the field of business, engineering and biotechnology), consisting of 5 stages.

- Khazanah Watan (medicine and other courses stated in Khazanah Global), consisting of 4 stages

I actually chose medicine as my course. But it was so funny since I applied for Khazanah Global (in which I supposed to apply for Khazanah Watan). This big mistake caused a bit trouble since it displayed my carelessness for not knowing the details about this scholarship earlier. So, moral of the story, read every single information of a particular scholarship before you're going to apply for it! :P

1st Stage  
           
At first, Johannes and I spent a lot of time in front of computer, as the procedure to apply for this scholarship was so time-consuming. And for your information, this particular moments took place in just few weeks before SPM Examination. But who cares? This is for our future and we have to grab every single opportunities. One thing for sure, we actually have to write an essay not exceeding 1000 words, regarding:-

- a description of the intended area of study
- how this will benefit the country
- personal qualities that make us a worthy recipient of the scholarship

Alhamdulillah, we managed to go to Stage 2.

2nd Stage  

In this stage, both of us have to sit for online test. To be honest, these tests are mind-boggling, and some tests are analysing our personalities. The tests are:-

- Cubiks Team Role Questionnaire   
- Khazanah Cultural Reasoning Inventory (CRI)   
- PAPI 3 N   
- RfB Managerial and Graduate Numerical B (unsupervised)   
- RfB Managerial and Graduate Verbal B (unsupervised)

 3rd Stage

Alhamdulillah, I was extremely excited knowing that I passed the previous test. However, this stage requires me to go to Kuala Lumpur. It is so unfortunate for me since I was the only Bornean who deserved to go the 3rd Stage, which means I am the only one who need to pay for airfares. Luckily, Khazanah was being so generous as they sponsored my accommodation in Chorus Hotel, Kuala Lumpur.

This stage consisting of:-

- Group Exercise
- Business Analysis Presentation
- Interview Session

In Group Exercise, we were given a case study to conduct a meeting. The meeting was all about to choose deserving workers to work in Sunway Lagoon. In my group, there were 5 intervewees. Each of us were given 2 CV of different people who were applying to work in Sunway Lagoon. Among the 10 applicants, we need to choose 5 of them to fulfill the vacant posts in Sunway Lagoon according to their academic background, experiences, personality and salary expectation. We were given 20 minutes to study the case and 20 minutes to do discussion.

In Business Analysis Presentation, we were separated individually in different rooms. For me, I was given the responsibility to manage a launching ceremony for a new phone. I was given 20 minutes to prepare on the name of the mobile phone, my marketing strategy and my preparation for the launching ceremony. Other 10 minutes was allocated for presentation. Among these 3 tasks, I've did this the worst :'(

In Interview Session, it was conducted individually. I was given simple questions such as:-
- tell me about yourself
- have you ever go to Peninsular Malaysia before
- share an experience about a competition you have ever join before
- explain how you deal with a situation where you argues your teacher
and some other questions that I did not remember exactly :P

4th Stage

This is the last stage for me as the Khazanah Watan Scholars. I was so surprised that the last stage seemed to be the easiest stage. It was just an interview. Unfortunately, my turn was the last one. When I entered the room, there were 2 interviewers, and they were so nice. However, I was just given few questions like:-

- tell me about yourself
- why you choose medicine
- tell me about Sabah

It took just few minutes, then the main interviewer started to have a casual conversation with me, sharing his experiences when working in Sabah. It was as if he was the interviewee. I have no idea and I loss my confidence since I didn't talk much. He dominates the entire situation. I thought maybe I was the last and it was already afternoon. For sure, they were all hungry and sleepy, (and didn't want to listen too much words from me). I just REDHA since I knew I didn't do quite excellent in promoting myself.

AND THE RESULT WAS.....

I didn't even receive any mails from Khazanah, while other candidates have already pursue their studies in Kolej Yayasan UEM during January 2016. It actually means I've failed in the 4th stage, and didn't manage to be their scholars. But it's OK. The experiences were so WORTHY enough for me, since I am going to attend a lot of interviews after this. Moreover, I am so proud of myself that "Kakak" yg urus interview Khazanah tu ckp I was the only Sabahan who passed the 2nd Stage, and managed to go to 3rd Stage and 4th Stage.

That's all from me. I think it's quite detailed regarding each stages. I hope this would at least be helpful- your interview format might be different since we went through the interview cycle using our SPM TRIAL RESULT. Next, there will be another application using ACTUAL SPM RESULT. Make hay while the sun shines! Grab the golden opportunity to be one of Khazanah Scholars!

Thank you. :)