Assessment Cover Sheet

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Assessment Title

reflection

Programme Title:

BILM

Course No.:

GSP5203

Course Title:

Market Yourself

Student Name:

Zahra Ali

Student ID:

201000227

Tutor:

Eman Al-Shamlawi

Due Date:

14th December 2014

Date submitted:

14th December 2014

By submitting this assessment for marking, either electronically or as hard copy, I confirm the
following:

This assignment is my own work

Any information used has been properly referenced.
I understand that a copy of my work may be used for moderation.
I have kept a copy of this assignment
I have read and/or attached the Turnitin Originality Report

Do not write below this line. For Polytechnic use only.

Assessor:
Grade/Mark:
Comments:

Date of Marking:

A week ago I was called for a personal interview with BABCO company in Bahrain Polytechnic Campus. The
job I have applied for is Assistant Manager Training Program, which is a great opportunity of experience
and knowledge because first it fits my major and gives me wider knowledge about oil and energy field in
Bahrain, especially that BABCO is the main oil industry in Bahrain connecting all aspects of production,
refunding, transporting and other many other processes. Another reason is because BABCO has always
followed me in my colleague assessments and researches and I have also followed their global and local
achievements in international organizations and energy researches, plus to their safety measures.

For all these reasons, I was very nervous and worried about this interview. So I decided to be prepared as I
could through getting tips from watching videos (Youtube, 2009), reading articles (Interview Success
Formula , 2014) and collecting information discussed in class. Moreover, I dressed professionally, prepared
all documents required and attended on time.

The interview went well, although there was some weaknesses in term of speaking, presenting myself and
previous experience well and some other flaws which will be discussed in following section.

One major issue that I have suffered from since I was in school is my speaking skill. The first learning
objective that was taught to us in the first year is how to identify and access a certain topic. When I had my
first speech, I had a topic on mind and I planned on how to present it, because of this weakness I only
managed to complete a part of the task of the speech and couldn't dive more in the subject. However, as
the semester proceed, I started to gain more knowledge about how to be able to overcome this issue.
Practically, my first step of overcoming this was through memorizing keywords or subheadings and try to
discuss each of them in order so I don't get nervous or mixed-up in jumping from a subject to another. This
has been a very useful method that I used in all my speaking and presentation tasks.

The challenge in the job interview was that I didn't have the exact question or information that I will talk
about or asked about, so I had to immediate plan answers before speaking. The questions were direct and
clear, and most of them were already appeared in the videos I watched before the interview, so I had the
information and answers in my mind I just got mixed in how to apply them because of all the pressure and
nervous I felt during the interview. There was very few questions that I didn't expect to be asked so I had
few seconds pose before answering them.

I could overcome some of these weaknesses by sitting steady, avoid finger moving, avoid low volume,
avoid voice shaking, having eye contact with both interviewer with simple smile and confident look,
answering all questions with sufficient information, try to give extra information that was not asked to give
better impression about myself confidence, in addition to ask information to show more interest in the job.

Nonetheless, this interview was one of the major challenges toward my speaking weakness, which taught
me a lot and showed me a part in my personality that when I am ambitious about something I try my best
to avoid and overcome my weaknesses and focus on the main goal and object of the subject which is to
deliver the information clearly to the audience.

However, if I could change something about the interview I would practice more with more than one
person, have someone to interview me and another to evaluate me. I would practice more on presenting
myself and talking more about my previous experience and knowledge. In addition, I would also practice on
getting unexpected questions and answer them immediately, clearly and professionally.

Nevertheless, another task that was required from me beside the oral communication as the written
communication represented in a resume and a cover letter. And when I remember my freshmen year in
college certain things come to mind. The most important thing that I think of is my writing and
communication skills. One class that helped me a great deal is PAL (Personal Academic Preparation). The
reason why that class helped me is because I learned how to develop my thesis as well as my entire essays,
also my process of how I write my essays, and how to give a effective speech.

My challenge in this task was fitting heavy material in a simple and short area. I've always faced issue in this
because I tend to add as much information and fact as possible because I find that stronger and more
sufficient. Therefore, when I was writing my cover letter I tried to fit more information that I should which
made the letter weaker not stronger because apparently the employer doesn't have that much time in
reading a long letter and would prefer reading a simpler and shorter one. Well, I didn't think of that while
writing and I thought that writing more information and facts about me will make the employer more
interested in me.

If I could do that again, I would surely minimized the letter, make it simpler and with only important facts
and information. In addition, I would also enhance my CV by applying briefer information about my tasks
and knowledge from previous experiences.

Conclusion
To conclude, this experience has shown me a clearer image of the workplace requirement and the
employer point of view in term of hiring and choosing the best candidate. Therefore, these facts and
experience will be highly used and applied in future tasks of CV, cover letter, and preparing for an
interview.

References

Bibliography
EIA. (n.d.). Retrieved October 2, 2014, from U.S. Energy Information Administration :
http://www.eia.gov/special/gulf_of_mexico/
Interview Success Formula . (2014). Retrieved December 14, 2014, from
http://www.interviewsuccessformula.com/interviewanswers100.php?utm_source=adcenter&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=BROADM-US
Youtube. (2009, July 9). Retrieved December 14, 2014, from Job Interview Tips - Job Interview Questions
and Answers : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epcc9X1aS7o