It was really hard for me to sleep last night because I was just too excited for the interview the next day! I don't exactly know my Dad that well so it should be a rather interesting experience for me!
We were only suppose to meet up at about 10:00 am but I had to wake up at 7:00 am to make a loaf of bread and 6 buns that Zen Wei A.K.A ZW ordered! I found out it was storming again, I didn't like the feeling of baking alone down stairs in a storm!
I found my Mama (That means grandmother in Cantonese not mother) awake, I felt much more at ease baking! I didn't have much of a problem baking the buns but when I started adding ingredients into the mixing bowl for the bread I felt as if I was about to puke and had a bit of stomach ache! Not wanting to contaminate my customer's bread I went into the study room to sit down...
My Dad came down after his morning shower and offered to help me make the loaf of bread. The loaf of bread didn't rise though... I am not sure why.
After that I ended up kneading my bread sitting down and having my grandma feeding me my Milo! Who says your family members are not around when you really need them?!
I tapped my cake this morning it was solid rock hard!!! I hope it thaws out LOL!
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Amrita car pooled with us to my Dad's office, Eu Fai and Eu Han went to Aunty Wai Leng's house.
I was quite curious on how Aunty Swee Bin and Jian Lin looked like... Hm...
Once we met up in my Dad's office we went down to have our breakfast at KFC while the adults went to have Madam Chiam's Pan mee. We ordered some Pop corn chicken and Pepsi for all of us to share but only me, ZW and Zen Mae A.K.A ZM ended up eating though... LOL
Our interview Q and A:
What type of pesticides are the most popular ones?
A: Normally our customers are very aware of health and environment issues. It is very important to provide them the best pesticides for the best feed backs. Some of our best ones come from Germany because during world war 1 or 2 the Jews were used to be tested on this chemicals.
How did you learn to manage this business?
A: This business first started with my Dad in 1972. I have only come to manage this business in 1995, when I left the Bank of America. This business used to be a home based business because you only need to communicate to your clients thru the telephone or hand phone. The field technicians will meet up at our house very early in the morning to get their To-do-list. I learnt management thru observing my Dad work..
Do you have any future plans for your business?
A: This business to me is just a stepping stone to something bigger. I want to keep it as small and manageable as possible. I don't want to involve my self too much in this business.
How many clients house's do you visit in a day?
A: It's hard to say but at an average 5 clients in a day. Sometimes it reaches up as high as 9 or as low as 2 in a day.
How many clients visit your office in a day?
A: Clients don't really visit my office, it's very seldom.
What made you want to run this business?
A: My Dad made me run this business because there is no one else to take over it.
Did school help you run this business?
A: Yes, the most important subject that helped me out was geography. It helps me know where I can find the pest that I am looking for.
How do you customers know about your business?
A: Through word of mouth and advertisements.
How many employees do you have and what are their tasks?
A: I have about a dozen employees. 2 of them handle the administration work (Paper work and receptionist) the rest of them are field technicians.
How much do your field technicians usually earn?
A:They earn from about RM750 to RM2000. If they come in as an entry level they may only get RM750.
What are the obstacles do you have in your business this moment?
A: The slow payments from our clients and the high price for the materials. Other than that our business is running smoothly.
After the interview we went to the back alley to have a fogging machine demonstration. I was told that the fogging machine if very similar to a jet engine. Fogging is mainly used to kill flying insects but the others also get infected in one way or another.
Just before we left my Dad's office we had some of my chocolate cake! I think the moms and the members of I Wonder enjoyed it.
We ended our meeting with some fabulous yong tau fu lunch in Peel road!
Your blogger this week,
KLJY
P.S I hope that there will be some feed back or reports from our other members.
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Hello again KLJY,
ReplyDeleteI can see that you are building up some momentum. Don't let anything stop you, keep working on it, keep looking forward. Build buffers, think ahead.
Back to your Safety Pest Control visit, here is my 2 cents. I think you have to be more inquisitive, ask more questions and make the findings of your visit even more interesting, full of information. Like, for a guy that does not know what is pest control all about, and when one reads your report, he or she will get the idea. For example:
1. What type of pests controlling do you specialize in? Rats, roaches, termites, snakes???
2. If it is termites, do they have different pesticides for different type of termites?
3. If you have to have different pesticides for different pest, do you have to keep stocks of the pesticides?
4. If need to keep stocks, do they have a shelf life where after a number of months, the pesticides are not effective anymore?
5. Since pesticides are so dangerous, how do you store it?
6. What if someone accidentally consume the pesticide, what should one do?
7. Does different pests found in different terrain ?
8. In your line of work, do you find that certain area in KL/Selangor will have different concentration of pests? i.e. PJU will have more rodents, Kepong area will have more termites, etc.
9. where do you get your supply of pesticides? local distributor or ????
10. What safety gear do the technicians use when administering the pesticides?
11. How big is this pest industries in Malaysia? Meaning how much money in it?
12. Do you have a lot of competitors in KL?
13. Your company is small, how do you compete with bigger companies? How do you survive?
14. If one select your company to rid some pest, what do you promise different from your competitor?
15. and more....
I would suggest that before your next interview, do a little research on the subject matter. Often from the research, you will have a lot more to ask and sometimes compare it with what you found in your prior research, you will see that you have even more questions to ask.
Another suggestion would be to imagine the flow of the business or operation of your interviewee. And then, from there, you will find that you don;t know a lot of stuff and that's where you can list down your questions and fire away. That's the gist of this "iwonder" thingy right?
All said and done, great job on the interview. I am sure you will be on your way to becoming an expert interviewer and share more interesting information in your next interview.
Until next time,
Jack Ng