Just want to share my experience with my recent interview at SMRT. Attended a talk in late September 2015 at my institution hosted by the HR personnel and executive level engineers of SMRT. Mainly the talk was about the path of an engineer in SMRT undergoing the EMA (Engineer and Management Associate Programme).
Just short after the talk with the week i sent my resume and details to graduates@smrt.com.sg with the subject header SMRT EMA programme. At around early October they got back to me asking me to fill in more details. Till mid October they sent me a reply:
Dear Applicant,
Thank you for your interest in the 2014 SMRT Engineering and Management Associates (EMA) Programme!
We are pleased to inform you that you have progressed to the next round of the selection process.
There are 4 stages of selection process for this programme, please refer to the diagram below.
Shortly after the link for the first test was sent to me. It was a cognitive test for the position of Engineering & Management Associate with SMRT. It consisted of 4 different test: numerical reasoning (some simple maths with difficult phrasing LOL), verbal reasoning (back to primary school comprehension but more difficult), logic test (alot of patterns and asking you to continue on with more patterns) and finally decision making. The test was not difficult but tedious so a small tip is rest in between the test or you will get burn out easily.
After doing the test i waited for around 1 week and the next email was sent to me saying that i was shortlisted for stage 3 of the application process and the first stage interview will be in one week time with the location at Kim Chuan Depot near Tai Seng. My slot was at 830am which means i must wake up super early><.
Stage 3: Assessment centre
After arriving at Kim Chuan depot and exchanging pass with the security, I went in down to basement 1 and saw many others waiting to enter the interview site. People were friendly and shaking hand here and there the vibe was good and didnt give me much pressure either.
After submitting our additional information in hardcopy form, we were ushered to a room which looked like a class room. I was given a sticker which had C5 (this indicated what group i am in) on it. By the way the sticker is super not sticky zzz keep dropping.....
Soon after everyone arrived for our timeslot which was about 20 people the HR started to give out papers and question papers, On the question paper there are 2 section:
SECTION A: 4 different technical questions mainly: CHOOSE ONE ONLY
1. 3 diffferent of brakes (airplane, trains and cars) explain how they work
2. Explain how a circuit breaker work.
3. Explain something on railway engineering ( My fren attempted this cause he said he watched on documentry b4 -.- surprisingly he passed LOL)
4. Explain quality engineering and importance of QC ( I Attempted this cos i had no other knowledge of others)
SECTION B: 2 different situational questions: CHOOSE ONE ONLY
1. When a train break down in the tunnel explain the most important feature which can help passengers escape ( I chose this haha hint: observe carefully what is at the side of the tunnel)
2. Totally forgot what this question is cos time is running out
After time is up the paper is collect phew finally over den he gave out more paper WTHHHHH. A case study of around 4 pages was given out describing the problems SMRT is facing and the after effects of the problems that occured. We had to write an essay of one page to fully describe how we will tackle the issue as one of the management. (TIPSSSS: Pls do this seriously cause this will lead to the next part group discussion). After finishing we were split into groups of 6 (TAKE NOTE: Remember i said that i had a C5 stuck onto my chest? Take note of those with the same alphabet as you they are your "enemies" hahahaha )
In the group of 6 we were being led into the BATTLEFIELD (a smaller room). There is a table in the middle of the room and 2 person were sitting at the end of the rooms taking notes when we entered. We were told to ignore the presence of the 2 person sitting at the end and carry on with our task. On the table there are 6 pieces of paper ( SUPRISE: ITS YOUR ESSAY) and we were told to sit down around the table at the allocated seats with the number indicating which number are we so as to let the assessors (the 2 person sitting at the end of the room) know who we are. Together with the essay we wrote we were give a list of solutions with a monetary value underneath it. The main purpose of the discussion was to solve the current SMRT issues with the list of solution given, however with the limited funds we can only choose from a few of those solutions hence explains why there is the monetary value there. ****I SHALL NOT GO INTO DETAILS OF WHAT EXACTLY TO CHOOSE HAHAHAHA ****
Still remember why i said this was a battlefield because everyone has to fight for the opportunity to talk. (TIP1: During the discussion show the assessor you are capable of leading by starting the ball rolling for e,g asking questions or asking for opinions) (TIP2: When you are brainstorming of what solutions to use please be prepared that other people will shoot down your idea to show that they are thinking vice versa think of stuff to shoot others)
After the intense discussion we had to present the final solutions we had chosen to the the 2 assessor (one was a senior engineer and another was a senior HR) The presentation was fine however the questions they asked were very tricky and makes you think that you are wrong (TIP3: Try to defend your point and not totally agreeing with the assessors) Also you will be surprised that the assessors listened to every detailed that we discussed really is every single detail. After the grueling almost 40 mins presentation our session finally end. We are the lastest group among our timeslot to end i guess the assessors liked us hahahahaha.
Finally we were led to a room followed by a debrief by the HR and some light SNACKS ( I am so hungry hahaha it was almost 1pm and i definitely cannot resist the hello panda infront of me). END OF STAGE 3!!!!
Stage 4: Panel Interview
After waiting for 1 week + i gotten back an email telling me i have been short listed for the final round panel interview at the same site. YOOOOHOOO!!!!
Upon arriving i saw the room with around 30+ people and after asking around i found out approx 30 ppl made it through to the last round. In my group 4 out of 6 were chosen i knew the assessors liked us hahahahahaa.
We started of with a tour around the complex looking at how the depot operates. BLAH BLAH BLAH...hahah the tour was fun but i shall not go into details. Next a sharing session with the HR director was done (hehe recieved a SMRT power bank as a souvenir).
Finally after all these misc stuff we were led to a room to wait for our panel interview. Each panel interview consist of 2 interviewers and 3 interviewees. Upon reaching this final stage with so little people left we were unintentionally hinted by the hr talking to us while we were waiting that around 2/3 of the people here will be accepted. So if you made it into the last round CONGRATS!!!! The interview was straightforward with the interviewers asking question like introduce yourself, what problems you encountered and how you solve it, what is the thing that will make you leave this organisation, why do you wanna join us.... blah blah blah all these typical questions. The interview was quite enjoyable and relaxing however one of my interviewer is a french manager other than having difficulties understanding what he is saying the interview was smooth.
Finally all the rounds were over!!!!!
Offer Of Employment
After waiting for approximately 3 weeks i received a call! It was from SMRT YAYYYYYY the HR informed me that i was selected to join the organisation. The salary (not bad for current market ) , benefits (quite good la perma free transportation leh, alot of leave compared to other private companies.... blah blah), and the privileges we are entitled to was communicated to me. I was give 1 week to considered and get back.
Decision and impression of SMRT
After going through all these rounds i felt that the vibe in SMRT was very different from other companies that i went to for interview. Everyone felt like a big family and the working environment seems good. The programme is very structured and loads of opportunity to learn.
However i decided to reject the offer as I took up an offer from another company (SORRY NOT TELLING WHERE) but i highly recommend people joining SMRT. Even though our trains frequently break down but they are doing their best to fix it hahaha.
So end of the day i accepted another company HAHAHAHAHA><
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