6th of August, Tuesday   Sunny

 

The second interview to Spectrum is with huge psychological gap:

 

Gap I: when entered the office, I was told that the foreign manager had headed for Philippines for something urgent and thus the face-to-face interview would become another test.

 

“More deeper and professional,” as Bill described, “but you don’t need to be nervous. Think about it. If this is easy for you, then it means the job will be easy for you if you are hired; if you find it difficult, then I’m afraid you will need to work under great pressure in the future. Thus, take it easy. No time limitation.”

 

To be very honest, on hearing this, what I was thinking about in mind was “What should I put on for the third interview?” To find a suit of clothes that fits me and suits the situation was not easy with money shortage. For the blouse I was in today, it took 200RMB and two days to get it…However, Bill’s next words helped me out of this problem:

 

“This test will be the last exam. But as we still have several other candidates who will take this test in the following days while we just need one of you only, so we can’t give you the result until all the candidates have finished the test—“

 

Several candidates…only one was needed…Ok, if I were not convinced by Lee’s “等额复试”, I wouldn’t feel disappointed then…

 

“—But, if before 16th you get our call, that means you are in. if no call, that means we are not considering you at this moment.”

 

6th…16th…ten days…So, my plan to start the nine-and-six work day next week was not impossible again? But very interesting, the date when I took the first interview was 16th of July. So, can I still have hopes for this?

 

Gap II: “What’s your expected salary?” Bill asked in his always kind tone.

“Can I know the salary range first?”

“Yes. Usually it’s about 3K to 4K for a new staff. Of course, five insurances and one fund are included.”

 

3K to 4K…I was not saying this figure was not acceptable, but in my first interview, Bill’s “During the probation, your salary will be not more than 5K.” allowed me to expect more…This was acceptable but, there’s just psychological gap, from 4K-or-5K to 3K-or-4K…

 

Though the gap exists, my enthusiasm for this position doesn’t change. I still want to work there, with Bill and Alan and others. Am I confident to get the call? Er, I’m not sure.

 

Before chattering with Lee, I didn’t have much confident for my performance of the test. I was asked to do an English summarization of a particular financial news article at sina web. The article was in Chinese and it discussed the reasons for Yashili’s bad performance in stock market. It consisted of three parts: why Yashili introduced outside capital; how it performed in stock market these years (full of different figures which were enough to drive me mad); why it performed so badly. My summarization focused on the reasons as its title and conclusion implied. Er, why I didn’t have confidence? My answer was too simple…But in Lee’s words, I got the points…and his recognition gave me some hopes…

 

But I dare not say I am confident for the calling because many times for something I felt good of myself, it turned out I was day-dreaming. Thus, if I am not sure for that, will it turn good? Just like the first interview. I don’t think my performance was good enough and the notification came so late that I had already given up the hope for second interview. But, it came…So, dare not to speak out loudly, then I may get the phone-call…