My trip to Surrey

I just got home from Surrey for my KBR assessment day & interview. I left Manchester yesterday and arrived in Guildford at about 5.30pm. Hawari greeted me there, cheerful as usual and belanja me a nice dinner at Wagamama. I was so excited to be back in Surrey again after nearly 6 years. When I reached the rail station, suddenly the memories of Surrey hit me. Hawari brought me walking down memory lane to Guildford town and the university. We went to find our old room in Battersea Court and the buildings I used to spend most of my time during my undergraduate. Though lots of new buildings were built since I last seen UniS, the same peaceful surrounding and serenity of Surrey nearly brought tears to my eyes as I recalled all the good times I spent there. Hawari also managed to bring me to one of his favourite cafe in town (which is a new one), by the river and we had the best serving of Belgian waffles and capacino. We talked and talked, laughing off bout the good old times in Surrey.

We then headed home to Hawari's. It was a nice neighbourhood. Hawari's housemate, George, voluntarily evacuated to his girlfriend's place for me to have his room for the night. Siap pasang air freshener lagi! Instead of having an early night rest, Hawari was so kind to go through important pointers and tips on how to do well for the interview. We discussed on the possible Q&A which I found really useful.

This morning, I woke up really early, got ready and rushed down to Leatherhead with Hawari driving through the mad traffic. Alhamdulillah, got there on time and I was so nervous. I was a bit surprised though that out of 10 graduates that they were expecting for the assessment, only 5 (including myself) showed up. Though, it was quite a relief that all of us were international graduates, so we weren't really intimidated by each other. In fact, I was lucky that all of them were really, really nice people.

The assessment started off with a brief introduction about the company and then we had to give individual presentations. As usual, I forgot my lines. I didn't do too well in the presentation, but I think I did quite all right with the other assessments. We had a team activity, phsycometric tests and an 'energiser' activity, which was really good fun. After lunch, it was back to more company presentations and a tour of the KBR facilities. The last agenda of the day was the most feared of all - the individual interview. To make matters worst, I was the last one due! So, you can imagine the stressful position I was in and the numerous toilet trips I had to deal with, while anticipating my turn.

Finally, I got called in. They asked the normal standard questions - what can I offer the company, where do I see myself in 5 years, my expectations bla bla. I so want to thank Hawari that we went through 80% of the Q&A the night before! Then, they asked me on my working experience. As soon as I said that I was from an oil & gas company, doing the exact job that they were offering, they suddenly got all excited. They tested me on some practical questions and even went all the way to get a single line diagram out! Since I'm familiar with the drawings, I was more than happy to answer all their questions. Once done, Rob & Kate (two of the interviewers), sat back, rolled their eyes and said, "Oh my God, I ran out of questions - you're ready to start tomorrow! If you decide to join us, I bet you can achieve your charteredship in 2&half years, max!"

At that moment, I just sat there stumped & speechless. Suddenly, the vision of Dr Kapas's PhD offer, Yusman's PGTS, Mama, Hubby & Boboy were spinning in my head. My nightmare has officially begun....