TANYA JAWAB INTERVIEW

Studi Kasus Interview User ExxonMobil

“Rosulullah mengajarkan, ada dua jalan bagi setiap masalah, yakni sholat dan sabar.”

P
ertanyaan dan jawaban di bab ini adalah pertanyaan interview diluar
pertanyaan terkait isi CV/Resume. Mengingat pertanyaan terkait isi CV
adalah personal, dan umumnya bisa dijawab dengan benar-benar
menguasai isi CV/Resume. Pertanyaan yang terkumpul disini adalah
kumpulan pertanyaan dari tahap interview HRD hingga interview user rekrutmen
ExxonMobil Oil Indonesia.

Pertanyaan diklasifikasikan bukan berdasarkan tingkat kesulitan/ kemudahannya,

melainkan menurut kategori sebagai berikut:

QUESTIONS ABOUT
PERSONALITY

1. How would you describe yourself? (Tell me about yourself?)

I am a very goal-oriented person with a passion for new ideas and a desire to
achieve excellent outcomes in all that I do. I have demonstrated my commitment
to excellence in many ways. For instance, when I attended the University of
California Berkeley for research participation, being committed to pursuing the
research goal we were finally awarded “Global Collaborative Research Award”.
My stellar academic performance and leadership potential led me to be awarded
prestigious scholarship “GE Scholar-Leaders” for 3 consecutive years during my
college. I now have a very valuable skills set and am ready to move to rewarding
professional career, working in energy sector. That is why I have approached
your global energy company. I believe this is my ideal company and job position.

Sampaikan karakter-karakter professional yang Anda miliki. Penting untuk langsung

membawa interviewer ke diskusi tentang beberapa prestasi yang akan menunjukkan

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Anda adalah kandidat terkuat. Prestasi-prestasi tersebut bisa menjadi dasar atau alasan
mengapa perusahaan memilih Anda bukan kandidat lainnya.

2. What is your greatest weakness?

Well, it would be my lack of proper planning in the past. But now, I have been
used to input all of my appointments into digital organizer in my phone. Now,
every time I think of new ideas, directly I put those on digital note in my iPad or
phone.
My greatest weakness is a tendency to be too detail oriented. There are times
when my works must be done quickly and solving 80 percent of the problem is
more than sufficient for meeting the goals. If I try to attain perfection, I could
waste a great deal of time. So, I constantly try to delineate my goals to make sure
I am not putting in too much time on a project or doing unnecessary work.

Ini adalah kelemahan umum, meskipun demikian ini adalah salah satu cara terbaik agar
tidak menjadi boomerang dalam proses wawancara. Selanjutnya kita perlu menceritakan
upaya yang telah dilakukan untuk memperbaiki kelemahan tersebut, dimana upaya
tersebut bisa dilihat sebagai reaksi konstruktif dari kelemahan yang kita miliki.

3. What is your greatest strength?

My greatest strength is my ability to work well with others. This made me an

excellent team participant, when I needed to assist others with difficult
situations. This also enabled me to be a great team leader, because I needed to get
to know my team members well in order to manage them excellently. I was
frequently chosen as leader not only because of my leadership but also my deep
technical understanding and analysis.

Jawaban yang cukup bagus, kemampuan bekerja sama dalam tim adalah kelebihan yang
sangat dibutuhkan agar kita bisa bertahan dan sukses dalam karir.

4. What motivates you?

The global energy need is increasing rapidly in the past years. Knowing your
company is committed to providing quality energy to global society, I’ve been
keenly expecting that by joining your company I would be having vast
opportunities to directly contribute in supplying quality energy to global people
and in supporting to raise global economic growth. I am motivated by a deep
desire to help others through energy that your company provides.

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Jawaban yang cukup baik karena menjelaskan motivasi kandidat dan menguraikan
tentang alasan mengapa kandidat memiliki motivasi itu. Untuk mendapatkan perhatian
dari interviewer, penting untuk kita memberikan suatu motivasi dan alasan yang tegas
dan sesuai dengan corporate philosophy atau visi-misi perusahaan.

5. What makes you unique?

The diversity and depth of my education and work experience help to make me
unique. I have lived in three different countries. I have enjoyed different cultures
and enjoy getting to know the histories of exotic places. Fortunately, I have also
had the opportunity to participate in and lead teams in each of those countries—
in the United States, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. As a result of those
experiences, I have learned to work with multinational teams. This would be a
big asset at your firm, because of your firm’s diversity. I will be able to blend with
and manage diverse teams well, which is needed in the job you are interviewing
for.

Jawaban tersebut adalah cara bagaimana meyakinkan si interviewer bahwa si kandidat

adalah pilihan terbaik dengan menunjukkan bahwa dia mempunyai pengalaman tinggal
dan bekerja di luar negeri dan terbiasa bekerja di lingkung multinasional. Pengalaman
tersebut akan sangat dibutuhkan ketika bekerja di perusahaan yang dia lamar, karena
keberagaman yang ada di perusahaan itu.

6. How would your friends describe you? (What are your most
memorable characteristics?)

I am analytical, creative, and hardworking. I have served on many teams in

which my analyses were pivotal to the overall success of our team. As a result,
my professors and supervisors have given me increasing responsibilities at the
works and I was frequently chosen as team leader. I also have a natural tendency
to consider new solutions to problems. For instance, when I was working in
ESCO Micro, dealing with numbers of product design defects I came up with
new approach by utilizing CFD Analysis. Finally, my willingness to work hard
has helped drive my success both in school, where I held a high GPA, and at
work. In spite of my hard work though, my friends would also say I am a lot of
fun to be around. I try to keep balance in my life by continuing to work in the
community in my spare time and by participating in outdoor activities such as
playing futsal and biking with my friends.

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 PERSONAL QUESTIONS

1. Whom do you most admire?

Talking about the role model, the person that I’ve been admiring is Prophet
Muhammad. The prophet Muhammad is a hardworking person. He teach us, as
Muslims we have to be constant in our acts of worship, we also have to work hard
to make a living, as it is recorded in one of his famous sayings: “Work hard (for
making a living and survival) as if you are going to die”.

The prophet Muhammad is a great team leader as well as great team player with
excellent leadership capability. He teaches us to help one another in goodness
and piety, and do not help one another in sin and aggression. Prophet
Muhammad said: Faithful believers are to each other as the bricks of a wall,
supporting and reinforcing each other. The values and attributes that he has,
have been keenly inspiring me.

Pilihlah sosok yang Anda kagumi karena nilai-nilai dan karakter positif yang dia miliki.
Secara tidak langsung karakter sosok yang Anda kagumi tersebut adalah refleksi dari
karakter Anda atau karakter ideal yang ingin Anda miliki.

2. What is your favorite hobby?

I really enjoy playing futsal soccer with my colleagues; even we ever participated
in campus community league. What I enjoy most about playing futsal is the way I
have to focus on attaining goals and the way in which I have to play an effective
role on a team in order to attain success. Besides that, it is just good fun, enables
me to remain fit and doesn’t lead me to be too tired after the play.

Jawaban di atas menunjukkan relevansi antara permainan futsal dengan dunia

bisnis/kerja, yaitu bermain atau bekerja dalam tim dan focus mendapatkan gol atau
target.

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 QUESTIONS ABOUT
LEADERSHIP

1. Describe an unsuccessful project you have been involved with at work, and
assess why it was not successful.

In summer 2009, I was involved in the Community Empowerment Program Field

Practice (KKN PPM) in West Yogyakarta. I was assigned as designer to create
“energy-saving stove” that’s expected to be capable of speeding up the process of
making brown sugar. The project leader was lack of good communication with
team members. On the team, members were reluctant to approach him when
they experienced problems. Our work was rather bland, the first stove we made
was not working properly, and it didn’t meet the requirement.

From this unsuccessful experience, I learned a great deal about what not to do in
team work. Then I proposed myself to take the leadership, since I have become
the leader, I had always made sure to establish strong relationships with my team
members and to ensure they were comfortable approaching me. These practices
had helped to make my teams excellent at producing high-quality work.

Jawaban tersebut sangat baik, karena si kandidat menekankan pentingnya belajar dari
suatu pengalaman, selanjutnya kandidat menerangkan bagaimana cara mengaplikasikan
nilai-nilai yang diambil dari pengalaman tersebut.

2. Tell me about a situation at work in which you led a team well.

Instead of taking internship at Chevron, I took a research in engineering material

lab with two students. We were assigned to project “Ultrafiltration based Water
Purification System”. Innovatively it was designed to be capable of preventing
even the smallest bacteria and filtering even wastewater. The project was very
complex. Three things enabled me to lead my team wonderfully. First, I outlined
carefully and clearly the scope of the project. Second, I set goals for us to attain at
various points in the project and kept our work on track. And third, I created a
positive environment in which the team members were willing to go the extra
distance. We delivered the project on time and with minor flaws.

Berilah jawaban yang konkret dan terstruktur seperti jawaban di atas.

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3. Tell me about a situation at work in which you experienced conflict and how
you resolved it.

Well, basically I’ve never had any major conflicts, but on the few occasions I ever
had some disagreements. In such situation, I always asked the other persons to
give their perspective, and then I also asked them for permission to give my own
perspective and my thoughts. After that I worked on the way how to reach a
compromise or mutual agreement. I believe that the good listening skill and deep
problem solving skill are two major things really needed to smooth over such a
tense situation.

Jawaban tersebut mengungkapkan contoh konkret tentang teknik untuk meredam suatu
konflik.

4. Tell me about a time when you exhibited initiative. Or, tell me about a time
when you solved an important problem in the workplace. Or, describe the
role you played on your most recent project.

In ESCO Micro, I was appointed as key mechanical engineer in New Product

Development Division. Given my deep technical knowledge, I was able to deliver
two new innovative breakthroughs:
1. I developed algorithm for engineering calculation, to make sure every
calculation is done in detailed and we are able to omit errors as many as
possible. Previously the calculation was always done in unstructured steps.
2. I also came up with idea to utilize CFD Analysis through software “Fluent”.
Constantly implementing those ideas, as a result we were able to significantly
reduce the number of defects in the first IVF-6 Feet prototype that I was
working on.

Di dunia kerja, kemampuan berinovasi sangat dihargai tinggi. Jawaban di atas

menunjukkan apa saja yang sudah kandidat lakukan dalam memberikan inovasi di
tempat kerjanya.

5. How do you deal with stressful situations at work?

When I am feeling pressured at work, let say I am having two or more projects to
complete and most of them are approaching the deadlines. To deal with such a
situation, I’d like to prioritize within myself and with my team to get what’s the
most important to be accomplished first. In order to prioritize intelligently, I’d

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like to evaluate projects in terms of their overall importance or significance. It’s
very important to determine which projects will help us achieve our objectives
most efficiently.

6. How do you define success in a team project?

I learnt lot of things while working in ESCO Micro. One of them is how to define
success in professional term. I measure success in terms of producing excellent
work for my company’s clients and in terms of the professional development I am
able to provide for myself and team members. Excellent work for our clients is
important to keeping my company positioned well in its field. Helping myself
and my team members develop professionally is one of the most important goals
in my role as team player and a team leader.

Di dunia kerja ada dua hal yang dijunjung tinggi, yakni kepuasan pelanggan dan
kepuasan karyawan. Jawaban di atas mendemonstrasikan pentingnya 3 hal tersebut.

7. How do you behave in team?

How I behave in teams is a function of my role on the team. When I am

appointed the team leader, I set direction and give good feedback as our work
progresses. When I am a team participant and not its leader, I respect the role of
the team leader, and I deliver high-quality work on schedule. I also help the team
leader with the tasks that can bring us success, such as setting direction and
creating a positive atmosphere on the team.

Kandidat menjelaskan apa saja yang akan dia lakukan untuk menjadi seorang pemimpin
yang baik dalam suatu organisasi atau kelompok. Dia juga menjelaskan apa saja yang
perlu dia lakukan ketika bertindak sebagai partisipan, bawahan atau anggota.

QUESTIONS ABOUT
QUALIFICATIONS

1. What is your greatest professional strength?

My greatest professional strength is innovation. I love bringing fresh, novel ideas

to issues in order to bring creativity to my work. My innovation enabled me to
deliver additional values to my works. For instance, when I was involved in new

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IVF-6 feet project at ESCO, I proposed recommendation to utilizing heat wires
instead of aluminum pad for heater design. According to my best knowledge, the
heat wire is having better thermal conductivity, safer since no direct electrical
contact and cheaper absolutely. The prototype we created was also having better
thermal performance.

Untuk menjawab pertanyaan seperti ini, fokuslah pada karakter atau skill relevan yang
menonjol pada diri Anda. Sebagai contoh, jawaban di atas menunjukkan bahwa si
kandidat mempunyai kemampuan inovasi yang baik. Dalam jawabannya dia juga
menyertakan contoh konkret yang sudah dia lakukan untuk memberikan “improvement”
di tempat kerjanya. Dengan demikian kandidat dinilai jujur, tidak memberikan jawaban
yang dibuat-buat. Hal terpenting yang mesti Anda perhatikan adalah, kekuatan atau
kelebihan yang Anda ungkapkan harus relevan dan sesuai dengan persyaratan kriteria
kandidat yang perusahaan cari.

2. What attributes will make you a valued presence at our company?

I offer a great deal both in terms of my personal attributes and in terms of my

practical skills. In terms of my personal attributes, I am goal oriented and
committed to achieving strong results. That has helped me to excel in my college
and work. For instance, in the college, given my stellar academic performance I
was honored some prestigious scholarship and awards. I am also delighted to say
my practical skill and my passion for innovation led me to succeed at work. I
bring to your company my record of achievements and the attributes that made
them possible.

Pertanyaan ini pada prinsipnya tidak jauh berbeda dengan pertanyaan sebelumnya. Anda
harus focus pada kemampuan, karakter atau prestasi yang paling menonjol dari diri
Anda. Pastikan juga kemampuan atau prestasi Anda tersebut sangat dibutuhkan oleh
perusahaan yang Anda lamar.

QUESTIONS ABOUT
EDUCATION

1. What did you do in UC Berkeley?

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1. I was thankful that I was having chance to contribute in a team of
“Compressed Gas Expander based on Limaçon Motion” project. My technical
understanding and analytical skills were strongly improved. I believe that all
deep technical knowledge that I have gained will be widely beneficial to your
company.
2. My experience communicating and living with foreigners also lead me to be
confident in speaking English and led me to be strongly adaptable to
multicultural situation or environment.
3. I also had chance to brainstorm and problem-solve with team in finding best
way to research electrical conductivity of the liquid desiccant. Doing the
breakthrough we were able to reduce research costs by 30%.

2. What is your favorite extracurricular activity?

I really enjoy joining the Physics Engineering Student Association as an

extracurricular activity. Given my good performance in the first year of my
membership, I was trusted to be vice-head of Science and Technology Division in
the second year. One of memorable event I ever organized was ”UGM Antenna
Fair 2008” show that’s dedicated for public people and students interested with
antenna technology. Generally I enjoy being member of the association because it
allows me to contribute to my community, as well as to meet other students who
are seeking to make positive contributions. This activity fits well with my values.
I have already helped organize teams that have completed multiple projects. It
has been always a fun opportunity to employ my organizational and leadership
skills.

Pertanyaan terkait kegiatan ekstrakurikuler memberikan kesempatan kepada kita untuk

menceritakan semua kegiatan yang kita lakukan di luar perkuliahan. Dari situ, akan
terlihat seberapa aktif kegiatan organisasi kita, seberapa besar kontribusi kita ke
masyarakat/lingkungan dan seberapa kuat kemampuan kepemimpinan kita.

QUESTIONS ABOUT
JOB OFFERED & COMPANY

1. How do you view our company?

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 The most challenging problem that Indonesia and global people are facing is
energy. The global energy need is increasing rapidly in the past years. Oil is still
relied on globally as energy source, while actually global proven oil reserves are
shrinking (getting limited). To deal with the energy problem, your company has
led the way in finding the new reserves and new energy resources. I have read a
great deal about Exxon’s innovative technology in exploring new oil reserves in
challenging environments such as deepwater, heavy oil/oil sands, tight gas and
Arctic regions. I know your company is also currently expanding its natural gas
production. Given your company’s emphasis on the innovation and my own
commitment to contributing to the world welfare through energy, your company
is ideal for me. I have also spoken with several of your employees, and from our
conversations I know that your corporate culture, which emphasizes teamwork
and collaboration, is also ideal for me.”

Jawaban seperti di atas menunjukkan kalau kandidat adalah orang yang sangat serius
dan antusias ingin bergabung dengan perusahaan yang dia lamar. Kandidat
mempersiapkan dirinya dengan banyak membaca informasi terkait perusahaan. Dia juga
menggali “corporate culture” perusahaan, dari situ dia bisa menilai betapa idealnya
perusahaan tersebut untuk dia. Jawaban seperti ini umumnya sangat disukai interviewer.

2. What do you know about the company?

ExxonMobil is the largest of the six oil supermajors with daily production of 3.9
million BOE (barrels of oil equivalent) in 2008, this was approximately 3% of
world production. Exxon Mobil Corporation is an integrated oil company
engaged in exploration and production, refining and marketing of oil and gas.
The company also operates in petrochemicals. The upstream division dominates
the company's cash flow, accounting for approximately 70% of revenue.
ExxonMobil has been operating in Indonesia since 1898 (113 years), the company
has been operating in Arun, Aceh and Cepu Block, Central Java. While the
company is also conducting exploration in some areas, such as Cendrawasih
Block, Mandar Block, and so forth.

3. Why are you interested in this company?

Generally speaking, what make me so interested to join your company are:

1. First of all, your company’s commitment to providing quality energy to global
society. I’m keenly expecting that by joining your company I would be having

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 vast opportunities to directly contribute in providing quality energy to global
people and in supporting global economic growth.
2. Secondly, I know that ExxonMobil is really committed to providing its
employees with excellent trainings and professional development programs. In
my perspective these are critically important, since with skills that I can expect
we enable our self to progressively grow and excel in any works that we
working on.
I have also spoken with several of your employees, and from our conversations I
know that your corporate culture, which emphasizes teamwork and
collaboration, is also ideal for me.

Kandidat terlihat sangat mengenal reputasi perusahaan dan jelas memahami perbedaan
perusahaan ini dengan kompetitor. Kandidat menggaris bawahi apa yang dia cari dalam
bekerja, dan memastikan bahwa tujuannya tersebut sesuai dengan apa yang ditawarkan
oleh perusahaan.

QUESTIONS ABOUT
CAREER GOALS

1. Will you be seeking higher education?

I foresee myself gaining many key skills on the job with your company. Whether
or not I pursue further education will depend in part upon the needs of your
company. In case the company sees that it is necessary for me to take higher
degree for company sake, I am willing to do so. Otherwise, if it is not quite
necessary, I can say I won’t do that.

Sangat disarankan untuk berhati-hati menjawab pertanyaan seperti ini. Mengingat kita
tidak tahu apakah perusahaan yang kita lamar mendukung pendidikan tinggi atau tidak.
Jadi sebaiknya jawablah dengan pernyataan “itu tergantung kebutuhan di perusahaan
nanti”.

2. Where do you see yourself in ten years?

I look forward to becoming the expert in my field, becoming the individual that
others rely upon, so that I will be fully prepared to take on any greater

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 responsibilities that might be presented in the long term. It means I also will be
ready to move up to higher career level or positions, let say manager level.

Kandidat menyampaikan jawaban dengan profesional. Dia meyakinkan interviewer

bahwa dalam jangka panjang, katakanlah 10 tahun kedepan dia akan semakin siap untuk
menduduki posisi dan memegang tugas lebih besar.
END-OF-INTERVIEW
QUESTIONS
[Applicable for Technical - User Interview]

Di akhir interview, umumnya Anda akan diberi kesempatan untuk menyampaikan

satu atau dua pertanyaan. Manfaatkan kesempatan ini sebaik-baiknya untuk
menunjukkan bahwa Anda adalah kandidat terbaik. Contoh di bawah adalah dua
pertanyaan dan satu kalimat pentutup di interview user ExxonMobil Indonesia.

1. When reading through current business articles, I was interested to learn that
Exxon Mobil is proceeding with full development of Banyu Urip field in Cepu
Block. Once the 3 years EPC contract is completed, the field is expected to
produce oil with optimum production rate, 165,000 barrels per day. I have
been curious, what is the most enjoyed about working in this area and
challenge that mostly dealt with?

I was just curious, according to my best knowledge the Cepu Cooperation

Contract was signed in 2005, so I was wondering is any major obstacle that
hinder Exxon Mobil to proceed to the full production in the past years. I am
curious about how Exxon has been dealing with this challenge?

2. I know that exploring new oil reserves is getting more difficult,

technologically and politically challenging. While about 90% of the global oil
reserve is nationally owned. Struggling to find the new reserves, Exxon seems
have turned to gas as a proxy. Like Exxon, other major oil companies are
looking to invest in unconventional gas in order to prolong their high profit in
the fossil fuels market. Here, I’d like to know; will Exxon shift and become
more focus in gas than oil? Let say Indonesian oil reserve is depleted in 14
years, and there is no new significant oil finding. What measure is Exxon
going to be taking to handle such situation?

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 3. Well, I just want to thank you again for taking the time to meet with me. I was
really happy to receive an interview because, as I mentioned, I have for some
time been working toward a goal of securing a position like the one you are
offering. With the engineering skills and experience I have gained, I believe I
can excel in the position you are offering. I hope to have the opportunity to
join your firm.

Satu kebiasaan baik yang perlu Anda lakukan setelah interview selesai adalah
mengirim “Thank You Letter” lewat email. Apa manfaatnya? Surat ini akan
membuat user atau HRD personel semakin mengingat Anda. Ucapan terimakasih
serta kesan dan pesan yang Anda sampaikan di dalam surat jelas akan membuat
interviewer semakin menguatkan keyakinan mereka bahwa Anda adalah salah satu
kandidat terbaik. Berikut sampel surat Thank You Letter yang bisa Anda contoh:

M. Noerdin
Planning & Business Analysis Group
ExxonMobil

Dear Mr. Nurdin,

I wanted to thank you for taking the time to meet with me yesterday about the job you are
offering in engineering positions. It was a pleasure to have the opportunity to introduce myself
and to meet the many talented professionals of your company.

Having completed detailed research about your company, its culture, and its plans, I entered
the interviewing process very excited to meet key personnel and discuss the possibility of
joining your team. The highly positive image I had of your company was only deepened and
reinforced by the dynamic team members I met yesterday.

With my strong engineering background, I know that I could complement your team. In
addition to my experience, skills, and qualifications, I am an experienced team player who
brings enthusiasm and energy into group efforts. I know that I can meet your expectations for
an engineering position and will be a very valuable addition to the team.

Based on our discussion, my interest in this position is even more enthusiastic. I would
welcome the opportunity to proceed to the next logical step. Thank you so much for your time.

With much appreciation,

Mochtarom Karyono (Muhtar)

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 Engineering Physics UGM 2006 - Mechanical Engineering KAUST 2010

Ingat! Surat ini umumnya dikirim via email, dengan demikian Anda harus berusaha
dapatkan kartu nama atau info kontak interviewer sewaktu interview berlangsung.

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