Transition

I took a half day off and went to another copywriter job interview yesterday. The company's Paprika Global this time. It's a real advertising agency but I'm not that excited, what's with all the things pending in my life - my resignation from my current job (which requires a bloody 2 MONTHS notice!), Emirates interview result, my next job, Taiwan trip. And all these are inter-related i.e. if I get a new job before August, I might not be able to go to Taiwan. This is truly a period of transition, hopefully for the better.

Anyway, I was interviewed by Andrew and Jermyn. Jermyn is actually the MD but he has a huge tattoo on his right arm, which I think is real cool. It was peeking out from under his polo shirt. Everyone in the office was really casual with jeans and tee, which was expected since it's an agency.

They asked me about the books I read and honestly, I've left it pretty much on the backseat since high school. Books are rather expensive here in Malaysia. But I've been trying to pick up what's left of my English through reading a coupla books. I think my English is sinking like the Titanic and to prevent it from vanishing completely from the face of Earth, that's why I'm making the switch from designer to copywriter. I wanna find the old Shakespeare in me!

Anyways, I told them I read Enid Blyton in primary school and Jermyn was like extremely surprised because he said Enid's for the 70s kids, like himself. Now it was my turn to be surprised because my circle of friends back then were mad for Enid. Andrew gave a look of doubt to Jermyn because he didn't think it weird for children to read Enid Blyton. Then I found out that Jermyn is from Singapore so I said probably Malaysia is slower than Singapore in the reading field. Unsatisfied with that, Jermyn asked whether I knew Aesop Fables. Hell yeah...Tortoise and the Hare. He exclaimed with a satisfied grin and turned to Andrew,"See! She knows! 13 years difference and she knows!"

I was like,"Huh?" But I was happy that I surprised them there haha. However, I still don't understand what's so strange about me reading Enid Blyton's books?

I went on to cite Christopher Pike and Francine Pascal as my influences. On my most recent read, it was Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper. And they checked it out on the Internet straightaway because a laptop was conveniently in the room! That felt a bit scary. Jermyn asked,"You didn't read it because it was an NY bestseller?" I replied No. In fact, I didn't even know it was a bestseller until recently.

Then we proceeded to talk about advertising and they inspected the copywriting works I've done. I answered their questions as honestly as possible and to the best of my ability. Since I wasn't expecting much from this interview, I wasn't the least bit nervous so I was able to treat it like a normal chit-chat. After all, I understand that with my lack of experience, getting into a proper agency like that would be quite difficult.

I also presented to them the 2 advertising campaigns I was required to prepared, so as to tell them about my opinions on the ads. For the overseas ad, I chose Pepsi. This is really fun, go watch it. I'm rather surprised that Coke didn't take legal action against Pepsi for this. Or was it banned altogether? But thank God we lucky mortals still get to see it on the Net!

As for my favourite local campaign, it's gotta be DiGi's Yellow Guy Campaign! That's just one of them back there, you can go here to check out the rest.

The overall comment about me was:

1. English command
According to Jermyn, advertising agencies are divided into 3 tiers. Saatchi & Saatchi, Ogilvy, Leo Burnett, Naga DDB and the likes are easily Tier 1. Tier 3 is similar to the company I'm currently working for. Paprika is Tier 2. And I'm glad to announce that he categorized me into Tier 2 copywriter because of my writing style. By the way, prior to the interview, I had to do a copy test of coming up with a headline, body text and an action line based on the pictures they gave us. I had to choose 3 outta the 5 pictures. They would only invite potential candidates to the interview based on the test result. However, my English command is slightly not up to par. So I still have plenty of rooms for improvement, which is true, that's why I was there.

2. Experience
Well, what can I say...

3. Background
My background as a graphic designer is probably the biggest plus point because I'd be able to help out the design department if I'm done with the writing part. Will that make me a slave? I think that depends on the employer.

I should have thanked him for the advices but I didn't find the opportunity to! That's my biggest regret for the interview.

So anyway, now I'm in for a wait. But I'd rather forget all about it because the chances of getting it is slimmer than Twiggy.

On another note, I heard from Jaku that the last time her friend applied for Emirates, she was rejected 2 weeks (sharp) after her final interview! Today is exactly a fortnight after my final with them so I'm getting a bit nervous. Hope I don't receive any rejection emails any time soon! According to Jaku, no news is good news! Hope the news is a good one when it finally comes!

Speaking of airline interviews, this Sunday will be my third attempt with Singapore Airlines. Just received their invitation yesterday. Unlike during my 1st and 2nd attempts, now I don't feel nervous about it at all. Whatever will be, will be. Attending these interviews really mature me in a short span of time! I would strongly suggest anyone wanting to grow up fast to go to these interviews! LOL!