Recruitment process for HAL (Part 2)

Posted by GUGUN BASUKI on 08.38 No comments

Author: Edy Tantra

This part, I will explain the next step of interview, as I was asked to go to Cikarang for further test.

It was too early as I reached MS Nieuw (The building name), so I waited in the car and just look around the building where I will spend my 10 weeks training if I completed my tests and get a result of pass of course. The building was divided by 2 parts which is a dormitory on the left, and classrooms, offices, and trainee canteen on the right. It was 8 A.M as I entered the gate and asked the security where the training room is. They took my ID card and give me a visitor card. I walked in the pathway, and entered a big hall, it was the training place. I saw a lot of trainees there. Some of them were using black and white with bow tie, some of them not using bow ties. At last I found out that housekeeping trainees are not using bow tie, the one using bow tie are those trainees from Dining room or RSA (Room Service Attendant).

Walking through the hall, I saw a lot of class rooms with a sign on the door. There was a room named “Marcopolo”. Some of the classes was designed to fit with actual working condition, for example a class with bath room and bed room for housekeeping. Some were designed to be look like a dining room to support the training session for dining room trainee and RSA trainee. All the rooms were equipped with nice lighting, good environment, and air conditioning as well as of course, desks and chairs. Most of trainee have short haircut, and I guess it’s a must to have neat and short hair.

The formal test began as a person coming and entered the room. He welcame us and asked us to follow him to the room which at last I found out that it was the HR office. He explained what kind of tests we will face that day, and he gave us forms to fill in. It’s actually a form which will be filled with our scored marks through out the tests and interview, and 2 pages of format for CV/resume.

The first test was only a conversation skill in English. This time the interviewer was a lady. She asked few questions about myself, for example where I am living, how old I am, what my parents do for living, how many brothers/sisters I have, how do I found out about HAL, why do I want to work in HAL, what do I know about HAL, etc. There were still a lot of questions she asked me, but one thing for sure to tell readers, don’t wait until she asked you, try to expand your own story by yourself. When she asked about your family, tell her all, not only your parents or how many sisters/ brothers you have, but try to tell them more, such as where are your sisters/ brothers, how old are them, what do they do, and you are the oldest, youngest, or the 2nd, 3rd, etc. That’s one of my tips for you readers.

Having finished from the first tests, the lady asked me, why did I choose to work as Housekeeping as my English is just too good to be Housekeeper. She suggested me to be a RSA, and I told her directly that I actually applied to be RSA but SBI put me under HK as perhaps they do not want to take a risk if let’s say my English was terrible. After that she asked me to follow her to HR office and requested to upgrade my position to be RSA, the HR officer agreed with condition if I pass the RSA test.

The next test was the professional skill test. There was a list of question with a check mark for correct answers. I should have the minimum score to pass this test. The questions that I still remembered were:
- What are the methods of cooking of eggs? (Poached, boiled, scrambled, etc…)
- If a guest order a steak, what do we ask? (How do you like it to be done, sir?)
- What are the criteria of a steak? (Very well done, well done, etc…)
- Name the type of cereals.? (Cornflakes, coco puff, etc…)
- Name the type of breakfast? (American, Continental)
- What is American breakfast, example?
- What is Continental breakfast, example?
- Name the type of soups, example?

After that he gave me pictures and asked me to name it, few are poached egg, boiled egg, scrambled egg, etc. I have to differentiate between tenderloin and sirloin from the pictures as well.
Well, I passed the test even though it’s not a good result as I have no full time experience as I am a fresh graduate in Hotel management, not operation.

The next step was the last test for that day, it was a computerized English test. This test can be very difficult to those who are not good in written or grammar. Before I started my test, I have to pay a sum of money about Rp.45.000 if I am not mistaken for the software copyright. There were about 90’s questions that needed to answer in 1 hour. The question consists of listening (using headphone), which is odd, complete the sentence, option question, true or false question. As for readers information, the question is a bit hard if you are only a passive English speaker. One of the example of which is odd that I remembered and troubled me much was:
Which is odd?
A.Uncle
B.Son
C.Nephew
D.Niece

You might choose son is it? Well, it was wrong, the answer was Niece, because they were all male except niece. Hope this example won’t scare you much as now you already knew the right answer. It was D. Well, you should have a minimum score to pass the test, and it depends on your position. As RSA, the minimum score is higher than HK.