So I just had a Whatsapp Video interview for an Online Visual Merchandiser role and I am pretty sure I completely fucked it up.
For starters, I have no fucking clue what an Online Visual Merchandiser does, I know what a Visual Merchandiser does but adding "Online" in front of the job title is something completely new to me, so my whole goal for the interview today was to learn the what the job entails and what the responsibilities of it would be.
Prior to the interview, when I was reached out by the HR who had informed me that I had been shortlisted for an Interview, I was very skeptical of the position because it was relatively high paying for a role that is supposedly entry level, it sounded too good to be true, plus the company itself didn't have much history, I couldn't find anything related to them aside from their official website, Instagram and Facebook, all of which were newly created only earlier last month, the website had nothing about the company's past works, no introduction to the founders of the company, there was literally nothing but the very generic introduction to their company and what they do, which was basically something like..
"Connecting business owners to the world"
... or something, it would be like my interior design company creating a website, and only have a small passage on the main page that reads...
... and not have any portfolio, no proper introduction to the company, no introduction to the designers they have, nothing about what kind of service is being offered, just nothing.
The Instagram and Facebook link was worst, only had the company's logo and that was it, and the Facebook was also created barely a month ago so really nothing else for me to gain any information from. The Instagram had literally nothing posted, the only thing I noticed was that it was following 2 accounts, so I went to look at the accounts it was following and one of it belonged to the HR, which is private and I know it is the HR because the HR has a unique name, the other was also a private account, and the profile picture was not of someone who looked like a business owner or a working professional because it was simply a low resolution photo of a girl eating noodles while using the Tik Tok Twin Filter.
When I went into the interview, I was prepared to have my time wasted, aside from trying to understand the position, I was also planning to ask the HR what the company's future plans were and all that, essentially just to see if they knew what they were planning to do with the company as it was introduced as a start up company. I was planning to be the one who ask the questions and not the other way around.
So I get a video call from the HR at about 11.15am earlier just now, and surprisingly, she looked very presentable, like a working professional. I think she told me she wasn't the HR who had reached out to me, but I wasn't super sure because I was very flustered trying to get my stupid Bluetooth earphones to work. I was having the interview at my office during working hours and the stupid call was being played on my phone via loudspeaker, it's not nice to be having a job interview at my current workplace, so it's even worst that my colleagues and manager could potentially listen in on it.
As I was fumbling around trying to check why my stupid earphones weren't connected, the HR started introducing herself and her company, she then talked about what their company is up to and what they plan to do, about their new clients who had just reached out to them and wants to work with them and I honestly couldn't focus because of the fucking earphones were not connecting.
I had to then request for the HR to give me a minute to set up the stupid bluetooth earphones, and when it was finally connected, she ask if it would be alright for the client to join the call, which took me by surprise because I was here to learn what the position is about, but I couldn't say No, so I begrudgingly agreed to it, honestly thinking that the client just gonna sit in and brief me on the job scope and ask me all the generic interview questions.
I was wrong.
What happens next was just horrible, the fuck up was as bad as my fuck up when I went for the writing internship interview. The writing internship was bad in a different way because at least I knew what the job entails and my fuck up for that position was entirely my fault.
With his however, not only do I not have any experience in the role, I have no fucking clue what the role actually entails, right after the client introduces himself and his company, the HR goes...
"So my client is planning to do a recruitment drive and we want to know how you would go about promoting this recruitment drive."
... I don't even know the exact nature of the job and now you are giving me a scenario and asking me what I would do in that scenario as an Online Visual Merchandiser, what the fuck is an Online Visual Merchandiser suppose to do? I literally have no fucking clue, I honestly just started staring into space when this was brought up as a question and was silent for maybe a good 5 to 10 seconds because I have no fucking clue how to respond to that.
This would be the equivalent of me throwing someone who doesn't bake but has bought cakes from a bakery before, into Phoon Huat and then asking them to buy the ingredients needed to make an Opera Cake with zero instructions, like what the fuck?
So I just started drowning in confusion during the interview, I even had to clarify if this was a Marketing position because it sounded more like a marketing position than a Visual Merchandising position, I mean the whole thing was so confusing. I am not someone who can think on my feet, I need time to really sit down and come up with ideas, so I was just blank the entire time during that scenario role play.
After a while, I just started sharing like a very generic response, saying we should do an online campaign to draw the crowds in and then do a roadshow to introduce what we are doing and it was just BAD because it was so fucking obvious that I was just spewing random generic bullshit out.
Eventually the HR changed the question and asked me where I see myself in 5 years, and because I am already in flustered mode, I just blurted out...
"Oh, a stable career and hopefully be able to manage my own group of people."
.... I don't want to manage my own group of people. I would make a horrible manager, why the fuck did I even bring that up.
And then the client brings up another question of how I would feel stepping out of my comfort zone, I could answer this a bit better because in my line of work, I am always stepping out of my comfort zone, so I shared that experience with him and then he ask me what I would do it I was presented with another job opportunity in the future, to which I responded that if it is another job scope within the company, than I am open for it, but I am looking to settle down so I don't plan to jump to a different company. I am not sure if that is the answer they are looking for, but that is my honest opinion so I have no regrets with that answer.
The client then thanks me for my time and leaves the group call because he has to go back to work, I was then left alone with the HR and I was expecting her to continue the interview further and ask me how I felt about the call and all that, but instead she just tells me someone will get in touch with me again, saying...
"The other HR will get back to you tomorrow, or maybe in a few days, she will try and get back to you in a week."
... or within the month, or within the year, or most likely never.
I know the interview went poorly, I would be surprise if the HR actually get back to me after that mess.
I am an Interior Designer, I have knowledge in Project Management and Interior Design, I have zero Knowledge in Visual Merchandising, much less an Online one, so I was extremely ill-prepared for the interview and fucked the whole thing up.
So there goes this opportunity, here's hoping for another one to pop up within the next few months so I can actually quit and land a stable career somewhere.
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