Monday 25 March 2013

How I Got the Yayasan Khazanah Watan Scholarship

This post is a response to all the questions I got in FB. I wondered why so many people were asking about 'interviews' out of the blue. It turns out that Yayasan Khazanah (YK) is accepting applications for its scholarship program. 

I am not sure if I can offer much help since my experience was way back in 2010. Maybe the screening process is different now, I'm not sure.

So let's cut the chase and go straight to introduction. 

YK offers a few scholarship programs. Watan is for local university students and Global is for those who aim to go abroad. Basically these are the two most related to Malaysian undergrads. For more info, feel free to visit YK's website. 

Since I'm a Watan scholar I could only share the 'Watan' experience. 
Let's start with the application process. 

The minimum requirement is 3.5 GPA from pre-uni / matriculation / diploma or 3A 1B in STPM.
Obtained admission or currently in the first year of Bachelor program. [Not offered for foundation / diploma level].
Disciplines? Only business, bio-sciences, engineering and medic.
Active in co-curriculum and show exemplary leadership skills.

To those who wanted to apply but stop halfway, doubting yourself. Get a grip! Just do it!
If you don't try, you'll never know. Remember that!

Kadang-kadang orang yang 4flat pun tak tentu dapat scholarship kalau bukan rezeki.
Rejection is a step forward.

Even now, sometimes I could not believe that I'm a part of YK. It's so surreal!

So the application process is done online. Just filled the form without any hard copies. 

In Watan cases, there are 3 stages of interviews altogether. For Global, there's an extra stage.

The first interview/assessment was held at Mercu UEM, KL Sentral. The big hall was arranged as per Harry Potter's OWL examination. Tengok HP tak, tengok tak? Ramai candidate. Cuak! And there were more than one session apparently. 

It was an IQ test comprising of several sections (calculation, logical, social etc). It was very tense because every section was timed. With the loud ringing bell, we have to move on to the next section. My experience? Twas quite hard and I did not finish -.-' It was over in less than an hour. 

Luckily though, I passed the minimum requirement. The second stage was then held at PNB Darby Park. The first taste of many YK's hospitality :D It was a whole-day-long assessment center. *I believe I could not divulge too much info here* Teheee.. 

First event was the one-to-one interview. Secondly is a group discussion and presentation. Or should I say debate?  Thirdly is the written essay. Since YK outsourced this process to a consulting company, you can be rest assured that the interviewers are very much experienced in assessing people, potential and they're good in making you loss for words, too. It happened to me. It was a very long day, the second stage. 

After that, you'll have the third and final stage which is the interview with the senior management. Held in their office at KLCC. Don't bother to go crazy reading all about Khazanah (like what I did) because what you'll get is only 10 minutes. 10 minutes to answer the given 3 questions and to pose some questions of your own. When you're nervous, trust me you'll talk like a bullet train. So be prepared with a kick-ass questions to show them what you're worth. Just be yourself.

All the questions are about yourself, don't worry. Just be prepared in advance. Make sure you know yourself well and above all, brush up your speaking skills. Be confident! Be humble.

Ini gambar during the third stage interview.
Good luck!

Memories with YK Family.












Lots of love.

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