I think it’s every professional person’s dream to be hired by a multinational company mainly because of its benefits and compensation packages. Versus local companies, it’s very competitive and generous for the amount of workload and long hours of work rendered. But what does it takes to be hired by such kind of company? What are their requirements and qualifications to at least make a person be interviewed or considered for a job role/position? Of course, most of us do not anything unless you had become or currently an employee to them.
I, myself was hired by a multinational company but I just resigned a month ago. I’ll tell the reasons why on the latter part of this blog.
Going back to the question on “what it takes to be hired in a multinational company? “ – on my personal experience as I got interviewed the past months by different multinational companies, of course they go to the beauty and pleasant details of your resume. The content of your resume should be comprehensive and precise to whoever will review or assess it. Since my resume is quite noticeable, I guess that’s the reason why I really passed any initial assessments undergone. I never go for exams already every time a company would call me. I immediately proceed to the next level which is the interview to the Hiring Manager. Additionally, I am also an experienced hired so I believe, an exam should not be necessary.
The past 2 months, I got interviewed by two of the most prominent multinational companies in the country. At first, I got excited of course, since opportunities are on its way. It’s a head to head match in my heart for these two companies. For both companies, I passed the interview from the Hiring Manager level and I was able to reach the final interview with their offshore counterparts from the US & UK region. The first company belongs to retail industry. It’s my second set of interview to them since the first set of interview was not successful so the headhunter had referred me another role. However, the second set of interview was still unsuccessful.
The second company was an oil/service company. With this company, my confidence of getting hired was there. Though it’s a new industry to me, it’s still is on the line of my supply chain management expertise. My interview to the Hiring Manager went well (though I was not feeling good that day because of cough allergy) and we had discussed the job responsibilities with clarity and agreement. With this, she referred me to their UK counterpart for video call interview, which is also a Human Resource Specialist. The video call interview happened at 6pm in the afternoon, which is just 8-12 hours advanced from UK. It was a very lame interview for me since there were no questions been asked to me. I just re-take the online assessment that they have sent me weeks ago just compare with the current results. After the re-take was done, the HR specialist had discussed the results to me then she told me I passed the assessment. No further questions were given to me then the interview adjourned just like that.
I waited for the result of my last interview from this second company for three weeks until I initiated to follow-up on the status of my application already. It’s been three weeks since the last interview and I cannot wait much longer. I also need to consider and entertain other job opportunities inviting me. I tried sending SMS to the headhunter who reached out to me on the initial interview but she did not respond. I also send her an email just to formalize my follow-up but still no respond from her. Aggressively, I made a follow-up to her colleague thru SMS, I’m not sure if this is her Manager. But this colleague was the one who attended me on my interview to the Hiring Manager. In just few minutes, the head hunter sent me an SMS that I was not considered for the role. Though I’m ready for any l negative response, the message still came as a surprise to me. My stomach felt upset and there’s this feeling of boiled water pouring on my head.
I don’t know what’s wrong. I don’t know what qualifications I lacked for me to be able to get the job/role. From the sets of interviews I’ve had from these multinational companies, being a conversationalist is very important. Is it? What if a job candidate is not into such kind of personality and that she is more of a worker who can deliver results and meet project timelines? What if she is more of a customer-focus but still can deliver her job even without too much chatterbox actions? Well, of course a conversation is very important in a job but too much of it would not be necessary to accomplish a job. What I’m trying to say here is that multinational companies should also take chances of results-oriented workers. Give chance to these people and multinational companies should not limit your selection process as some best workers are born without the best qualifications. You always say a highly competitive environment? What are your requirements for these? I know a lot of people who can deliver their job very well but cannot at least get interviewed by a multinational company. It’s quite unfair but it’s the reality.
Yes, I resigned a month ago from a multinational company. Various reasons are on-hand. And one major reason for this is the culture not to mention the lack of work+life+balance. I was so disappointed to be hired by the multinational company. All my high expectations of a multinational company here were gone after I was hired here. My hiring process with this multinational company was very tedious. I undergo five interviews (including the final video call interview from Singapore). Since the hiring the hiring process was very tedious, I expected a lot that this company was really indeed good. The salary that I asked for was granted with additional allowances as well.
My first month on this multinational company was exciting. I want to learn more on the process and products that we have.
However, as weeks and months pass by and as I become eager to learn more on the job, I’m not having this right feeling at all. I was not happy. Everything was boring. My colleagues are like Bergens from Trolls (the movie) who are miserable and stressed on their work. They don’t even find time to smile and have in-between breaks if needed. They also work on weekends and holidays. They even work extended hours every day and the earliest time that they would go home is 2AM in the morning. During month ends and cut-offs, they even stay in the office and sleep there for days. With the stressful environment that we’re having in the office, we have this Bergen Boss who does not care enough on your welfare. That all she wanted was numbers and revenue for the region submission. From these reasons, I decided to go and leave the company.
There is one reason that I learned from the reasons above, high salary is not a factor in having a fulfilling and happy job. The good environment, pleasant people and supportive/considerate boss are the most important factors today. Of course the work+life+balance scheme should always be present. Regardless if you get hired in a multinational or local company, always look for these factors. I assure you that you’ll definitely stay in your company for years. Right now, I’m jobless. I’m still in search of my best company where I can share and contribute my knowledge and professional years of experience. I just hope it would be soon and in God’s time perfect time.