Winning the Oracle Interview

To the people shortlisted for the interview for the graduate program for ASEAN this year, congratulations! I have decided to share some tips for a more successful interview session with the Oracle interviewers.

1) Answer the “Why?” – Be prepared to answer two critical questions. “Why Tech Industry?” and “Why Oracle?” The organization knows that you probably have thought about joining a variety of industries, such as banking, insurance, energy etc. And they want to know whether you have a passion for the tech industry and why so. Next, after you have convinced them of why you want to join the Tech Industry, you have to convince them, “Why Oracle”, not IBM, not Sun, not HP or Accenture. To be able to answer this, do a lot of research on Oracle’s business, products, strategy, financial performance, etc. You can also make reference if you encountered any Oracle people who have influenced/ inspired you to join Oracle.

2) Business/ Technical. Boon and Bane. For the people who has a business background, you might be asked how do you make up for your lack of technical knowledge. For those with a technical background, you might be asked on how do you make up for your lack of business knowledge. This shows that no one has a clear advantage. Don’t ever think that your background will put you at any disadvantage.

3) Back up every point with an example. When you are talking about yourself, make sure you back up every point with an experience or example. For example, if you say “I like to go the unconventional path”, or “I always strive for excellence”, make sure you have a story to tell to illustrate this clearly.

4) Do a mock interview! I strongly strongly recommend for everyone to do a mock interview with a friend. Have the friend ask you all sorts of questions and see how you answer them. After the mock interview, you are very likely to reflect and ask yourself “Why did I answer the question in such a way? Can I improve in my clarity, or content?” It will dawn on you that your answers are not as clear thought out as you think.

5) Slamdunk the opening question “Tell me about yourself.” A lot of people feel very uncomfortable at answering this question. They do not know how to talk about themselves, and there are so many aspects. Moreover, they do not know how long they should talk for. This is the opening question usually and it can make or break your interview. Use it to your advantage. Prepare your answer and my tip is: Tell them 3 aspects about your life. Without going into detail, I’d talk about my family, my passion, and my personality. Each of these points can potentially tie back to the interview later on. And they give a view of consistency in your answers. Your answer should not be longer than 2-3minutes. Don’t be surprised if they cut you off.

6) Answering and delivery. Take your time. Don’t be in a hurry to answer every question immediately. It is better to stop and think, and construct your thoughts and give an answer that flows well. Always clarify the question. If it is too general, rephrase the question and ask them back on what they are asking.

7) Don’t let anything throw you off guard. Oracle is not known for conducting stress interviews. However, in the event that the interviewer does not seem interested, or somehow has a hostile face for whatever reasons, keep your mind focused on the goal. Don’t look taken aback, discouraged. Many interviewers get frustrated when you are not answering the question. Greatest pet peeve. If they frown, smirk, or yawn, keep your composure.

Be yourself! I did not include in this post about “What Oracle is looking for” for 2 reasons. The first is, if you have been following this blog, you should know what Oracle is about, and generally what kind of traits they are looking for. The 2nd is, we do not hope that you alter your personality just to fit the culture. It will not do you good in the long run. Just be yourself and trust the interviewers.

Other points to note:

Take note that this year’s competition is extremely strong. Oracle is one of the few companies that are still hiring in the midst of the economic downturn. We are doing this blog post to help you in any way to show Oracle your best self. Prepare the standard set of questions like “What is your weakness, strength?” and “Where do you see yourself in 10 years’?” Once again, there is a way of answering it with the correct technique and balancing it with truthfulness at the same time.

In the event this door is closed, don’t be discouraged. Shake the dust off your feet, learn, and then move forward.

We sincerely wish you all the best in your job application!

Working at Oracle – Vivek Marla

The selection process will be commencing soon for the FY10 graduates for ASEAN. Before you step into the interview room, it will benefit you tremendously to read this interview of a veteran in Oracle, with 20 years of experience and memories behind him. Vivek talks about the culture, the work, his experiences in Oracle and some valuable advice for people interested to join Oracle. The interview was conducted byPushpa Sreenivasan, of the Oracle India Recruitment team. Enjoy.

By Pushpa Sreenivasan

Vivek Marla is a Vice President with Oracle and heads Oracle Solution Services India (Oracle SSI).

As head of Oracle SSI, Vivek leads one of Oracle’s prominent global consulting organizations. He leads a team of consultants specialized in global consulting delivery in a remote/onsite mode. His team delivers rapid, high quality and cost effective solutions across multiple industries using Oracle Technologies and Oracle Applications, to customers worldwide.

I had this good fortune to meet up with Vivek to talk about his life in Oracle and his journey. Some of them that I gathered were:
1. How did you board the Oracle ship?

I was working for a small consulting company in US and the company was not doing well. Hence I was on the look out for another job. I was contacted by a recruiter about a company called Oracle looking for an Applications consultant. I knew very little about Oracle then. It sounded like a very ambitious organization, determined to move beyond Databases and make a difference in the Applications and Applications consulting world. Its culture seemed to fit well with what I was looking for. I joined Oracle as one of its first two Manufacturing consultants in 1989 in its Los Angeles office.

2. How do you want to describe your journey in Oracle?

In a few simple words, I would describe the journey in Oracle as exciting, challenging and fulfilling. This journey has enabled me to live and work in multiple countries, work in multiple lines of business, work in different levels of technical and management roles, and work with clients from varied industries and backgrounds. I started my career in Oracle as a Manufacturing consultant, and when I left Los Angeles 6 years later, I was heading the Manufacturing Consulting Practice in Los Angeles. I joined Oracle Korea as the head of its Consulting group and started the Oracle Korea consulting group almost from scratch. I moved to Thailand and managed the implementation of a very large ERP system for Nissan Thailand and started an Automotive Consulting practice for APAC. I moved to India and set up the Oracle India Consulting Practice, again almost from scratch. I moved on to head the Pre-sales group for Oracle India, and 2 years later I moved on to head the Corporate Sales function for Oracle India. From there, I moved back to consulting to head Oracle SSI, Oracle’s largest offshore consulting group, serving EMEA and APAC.

It is only at Oracle I could get such diversity of roles, diversity of countries and cultures to work in and diversity of challenges to manage. These are the kinds of opportunities that Oracle provides for its employees.

3. What is it that you enjoy about Oracle?

I like Oracle’s penchant to be in the leading edge of technology and products. I enjoy the dynamism that exists at Oracle. While its long-term strategy is very clear and strong, tactically it is very adaptable to change based on business needs. I thrive in this change. I also enjoy the diversity of opportunities that Oracle provides to its employees. Most importantly, I enjoy the people I work with, no matter which country I am working in.
4. What qualities and characteristics would you say Oracle looks for in its potential employees?

Primarily Oracle looks for brilliant minds to work on their leading edge products, technology and services. Equally important, Oracle looks for people who are dynamic, flexible, adaptable, hungry for knowledge, ability to multi task, people who thrive on challenges and people who relish working in a high performance culture.

5. How would you describe the Oracle culture?

In my view, Oracle has a very high performance culture. It is highly results oriented, with a strong desire to be the best in the world in its products, technology and services. It empowers its people and gives them intellectual and functional freedom, subject to overall corporate guidelines. It has a strong value system that it inculcates in its employees.

6. How does Oracle manage to get the best out of rest?

First of all it makes sure it hires the best people. In general, the caliber of the people working at Oracle is very high. Being a results oriented organization, Oracle encourages its employees to set their goals, encourages them to be aggressive in their targets, allows them the freedom to achieve their goals and gives them the best tools, training and infrastructure. Naturally, every employee ends up giving his or her best to the organization.

7. What opportunities can Oracle provide for its staff?

Oracle is known for its training programs – both technical and soft skills. Employees at Oracle have probably the best opportunity to regularly sharpen their saws and keep themselves at the cutting edge of knowledge. This is the reason, Oracle looks for people who are hungry for knowledge. Oracle, with its huge portfolio of products, technology and world wide operations, offers its employees unparalleled opportunity to broaden and deepen their experience and to grow horizontally and vertically. I am an example who has leveraged this opportunity to the fullest.

8. How does Oracle support its staff?

Very briefly, Oracle supports its staff by providing them a conducive environment to learn and to grow, by providing them a supportive environment to enable them to face challenges and to achieve milestones and by providing them world-class HR policies that facilitates personal and professional growth.

9. Any advice for people who want to be with Oracle?

My short advice would be: You try to be the best you can be and make a true difference to the organization you work for. Oracle, in return, will make a difference to you.

The author of this article has been with the Oracle India Recruitment Team for the past three years and can be contacted at pushpalatha.sreenivasan@oracle.com

Chronicles from the fat man’s Chest

Not sure if we mentioned this before, but the Graduate Program at Oracle has a manager assigned exclusively to ensure the welfare of the graduates, match opportunities with the various departments etc. Well, he’s written a rather interesting piece on our Foundation Training in KL. I have embedded it here. So read on!

View this document on Scribd

On another note, we will be visiting SMU tomorrow and NUS soon. Looking forward to it!

It’s time to upgrade – Upcoming Events!

Rotating Rotating

We just had our own Oracle “’O’ Level results” announcement.

Yes, I am taking about our second rotations!

As transparent as it could be, our graduate program manager spoke to all 43 graduates over the conference call on the number of requests per country. He also spoke to us regarding how we are assigned to our second rotation and answered many of our questions regarding the assignment of our second rotation.

In a nutshell, our second rotation is largely dependent on first of all, the business requirement; i.e., whether that LOB wants to accept graduates. This requirement is then matched to our preferences. All of us in Singapore gave two lines of department (LOBs) for our preferences even though we just need to give one, as we are extra kiasu. (Hey, if we can’t get fish, prawns are also good.)

The requirements by businesses for graduates will then be evaluated by the Graduate Program Office to determine if it is a genuine request. In other words, the requirements for graduates by the LOBs must not because we cheap labor. (This scenario happens in all companies I believe.) There must be a real project to be done by the graduates and proper justification for having graduates.

Names are blanked out to protect the innocent.

Nevertheless, it feels like getting your results when the email from our graduate program manager appears in our email box. It really makes it more exciting when the title to the email reads: “Your Next Rotation”. Various thoughts run through one’s mind. “What if I don’t get where I want?” “What if the department doesn’t need graduates?” “What if I rotate to sales/support/consulting <- (Insert undesirable LOBs)?”

Well, I don’t want to spoil the fun by sharing with everyone where I am going next. All I can say is that I am one step closer to finding out where my dream LOB is. Oracle will be going back to NUS, NTU and SMU in the next few weeks to conduct recruitment talks so perhaps you can ask me then!

Meanwhile, let me prepare for my next rotation!

Back to SMU

Coming back to SMU was really great. It feels almost like you are back in school again, getting ready for some presentation with your “formal” office wear. The only difference?

No more exams!

Well, Oracle Reds were back to SMU for the informal sharing session between the students of SMU and us. The team of Oracle Reds comprises of Ravi, Aaron, Lokman, Sharon, Medy and myself. For the benefit of those who are not acquainted with everyone mentioned, Ravi, Aaron, Lokman and myself are from the GDP. Sharon is our campus recruiter and Medy is an intern with the MD’s office, he is also going to be employed by Oracle in the coming months through collaboration with IDA.

So anyway, Ravi and I were conducting the presentation and the informal sharing session. It was so surreal, presenting to the group of students, which reminds me of all the presentations that I had done in SMU.

I think the whole sharing session went well. I must say that the questions asked were quite standard and I particularly like the questions WenBao asked privately. I think these are pretty safe questions to be addressed in public, so for the benefit of everyone, I will try to remember and address these questions here.

Ravi and I back in SMU

Question no 1: What are the qualities to be chosen for Oracle GDP/ What do you think are the success factors to be chosen for Oracle GDP

I think these 2 questions were asked separately but I am going to put them both together as I think they address the same issue. What the questions are really asking is what makes a candidate stand out and be selected for Oracle GDP.

While we can debate what are the qualities that will make a candidate successful in the interviews, I will touch on only 3 qualities, which I think are necessary for work in Oracle given my 6 months plus working experience here.

The first quality, which is very important, is the ability to work in teams. Having this quality also indirectly means that you can work with people, having the necessary EQ skills to engage with people, contribute meaningfully when necessary and finally, lead or serve depending on the situation. This is obviously important, given that Oracle is a large, global MNC, which one will unavoidably work with another human being in the whole course of his or her work. Hence, I feel that teamwork is a very important quality to be demonstrated during the interviews.

The second quality would be to have an independent and self-starter spirit. Again, I would want to highlight the fact that as a large, global MNC, many resources exist within the internal web portals of Oracle that you can use to achieve and excel in your work. The only issue here is that Oracle works in a self-service culture, expecting everyone to work without “spoon-feeding”. This allows the company resources to be freed from “spoon-feeding” to revenue generating processes and ultimately for the benefit of the company and employees. Hence, if one expects to be “spoon-fed” and be hand guided to do their jobs or career, they will be in for a rude awakening here in Oracle. This is only business, so grow up and start managing your own life!

Finally, the third quality I believe is important is to be able to manage change. There are many changes constantly occurring within the business landscape of Oracle. Hence, we have to manage change quickly and rapidly to be both relevant and competitive. If you cannot stand change, it would be hard for you to survive in the business here with Oracle.

Again, I have to stress that these 3 qualities are by no means exhaustive and are only my own thoughts of what are the qualities needed for a successful career in Oracle. Notice that I didn’t talk about having perfect grades (I didn’t get straight As by the way) so I would think that the kind of graduates that Oracle is looking for would be people with a sense of business savvy and a driven focus towards business and technology. Once again, I am not the campus recruiter so these are only my own reflections.

Question no 2: How successful do you think Oracle GDP is for you?

While I guess there are some areas I would like Oracle GDP to improve. Nevertheless, I think it is somewhat successful in my opinion.

This is because I believe Oracle GDP has allowed me to firstly, join a MNC leader upon graduation, secondly, work in the technology industry of which me, being a business student, would be assumingly hard to join, and finally, receive support in terms of training of product knowledge and critical soft skills.

Oracle GDP has allowed me to fulfill these 3 goals of mine while at the same time, allowed me the flexibility and independence to strike out my own career.

Question no 3: Do you intend to stay in Oracle after the GDP? (After 2 years?)

Now this is a very tricky question! I think the significance behind this question is that whether Oracle is a good place to stay beyond 2 years.

Now my answer is…

It depends.

Well, isn’t that true? I mean, who knows what’s going to happen after 2 years? I might want to take my masters or try a different role at a different place or even stay on after my final placement in the department so, I think it really depends on the situation after 2 years.

As for whether Oracle is a good place to stay after 2 years, I would start by saying that there are areas that I would like to change (Like giving us 50 days of mandatory, paid leave) but generally, it is a friendly and nice place to grow one’s career.

Furthermore, I would like to stress that your “colleagues” would most likely be the cream of the crop and have at least 5 years of working experience, since Oracle only hire the best and they don’t take in fresh graduates except through the Graduate Program. So by staying in Oracle, we will have a readily source of knowledge around us. I don’t think this environment can be readily found in other companies.

Finally, I have 10 other friends with me in Singapore and 32 other graduates from other 6 countries! Where in the world can I get that many friends to work and strive together?

I think I have spoken too much. I can also only remember these 3 questions. Anyway, if you have any other questions, feel free to contact me!

First things first!

First of all, Merry Belated Christmas, Happy Belated New Year and soon to be Happy Chinese New Year!

Unbelievably, we are now in the midst of January. What ever happened to December?

Anyway, this means… (Drum rolls please!) Our first rotation will be ending soon!

Well, see, the reason why we didn’t blog for the past 1-month wasn’t because we were lazy or hibernating away the cold but most of us were away on holidays. The other half that didn’t go on holidays got to cover the duties of the half that went on holidays so even when we were in office, we were really busy. At the same time, all of us were worried for our next rotation (Typical, like how we worry for what to eat tomorrow.) and there were some talks on this issue with our managers.

Now isn’t that a good enough excuse!

Well, the New Year promises to be a whole new exciting phase for us in Oracle Reds, as we will be doing our second rotation. So, stay tuned for more updates! I promise I will write more!

Season Greetings!

Keep Smiling

Editor’s note: This blog post was originally posted on the internal Oracle Graduate Program blog after the Grads from China completed their foundation program. We will like to thank Ken for allowing us to repost his blog post. The team at ASEAN believes that a lot of us could relate strongly to the emotions and reflections made in this post. Enjoy…

Written by Ken Shi, FY09 Graduate Trainee, China

I knew there would be an emotional scene at the end of the Foundation Program, but I had never expected to see so many tears. I, who didn’t shed any tears when I graduated and said goodbye to classmates I spent two years with, cried my heart out in front of so many department heads and managers when I said goodbye to the trainees I met only two months ago. Those incredibly amazing two months were just too great for us to say goodbye to.

So the honeymoon is over. Everyone quickly wipes out the tears on our face and starts a new journey in different places at Oracle. But as an old Chinese saying goes, “Everything is difficult in the beginning.” Truth being told, I didn’t like my first rotation that much. Countless cold calls, countless rejections. My heart sank again and again when the customers at the other end of the line kept saying “no, no, no”. I even doubted if I could take it anymore.

Encouragement and support from my managers, my buddy, my colleagues and my dearest trainee pals come just in time. I recalled what Vanessa said about the three key traits to be successful – proactiveness, positivity and resilience. Heidy reminded us to learn from failures. My rotation manager kept giving me advice and push and told me to forget about failure and face when making cold calls. My buddy, who by the way is a role model I’m trying to learn from, shared with me tips on successful phone communication. My colleagues showed incredible patience coaching me. And of course, my dearest trainee pals never stop giving me an encouraging pat on the shoulder.

I guess being grateful is not enough. I should stop complaining, work extra hard and do my job not merely well but really great, because there is just so much information to take in, so much knowledge to acquire and so many things to learn. Every cold call should be taken as a good opportunity to practice and learn rather than an assignment only.

When I pause and ponder upon the ending of this essay, once again I see the smile of a very good friend. Every time I see him smile, I want to smile too. His name is Kuan Kuan, which means big or broad in Chinese. I’m sure that he has a big heart, because he always keeps smiling no matter what happens. We made friends with each other when I travelled to Daocheng in Sichuan Province this National Day holiday. The road to Daocheng was probably the most rough journey I had ever taken before—the bumpiest, longest and most winding coupled with high altitude (a lot of parts over 4000km). People complained a lot, but Kuan Kuan smiled all the time, because he believed that the view at the end of the road would reward all his efforts.

The path at Oracle is probably not as challenging as the one to Daocheng, but I do hope that I can smile like Kuan Kuan for now and for ever and find the beautiful views along the journey.

By the way, Kuan Kuan is a baby lion doll I bought at the street of Kuan Xiang Zi when I was in Chengdu this October. Cheeeese!

Rich man, poor man, beggar man…

I hope this article will give some pointers or directions to those who are wondering what to do after graduating.

Being a recent graduate myself, I can understand the pain, frustration and confusion in making the next big decision of your life; your first job. I have sent out countless resumes, been to a handful of interviews and browsed through forums for an answer to my first job and perhaps to fulfill my destiny. (Ok, it is a little far fetched to think about fulfilling my destiny but you get the picture.)

It is with that little experience, still fresh in my mind that I hope I can share with you to help you make that critical decision.

You should also relax because this will not be any form of commercial for the Oracle Graduate Development Program.

There are really 3 points that I want to share. They are:

1. Finding out what you want to do in life. Be realistic and have a long-term view.

2. In knowing what you want to do, it is good to start with the basics!

3. Start planning now!

Finding what you want to do in life – Be realistic and have a long-term view

I am sure most of us got this question very early in our lives. Countless well-meaning uncles and aunties would have start their conversation with us through finding out what we want to do when we ‘grow up’.

Do you want to be a rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief, doctor, lawyer or Indian chief? (For those who have no idea what I just said, you are obviously in a different generation from me. This is a kid’s game where you hold the wrist of one of your friend’s arm with your thumbs firmly on the underside of the arm at the exposed wrist. With the calling of each occupation previously mentioned, the thumb takes a step to reach to the underside elbow. When the thumb reaches the underside elbow, the occupation called out will be your occupation.) Apparently accountants are not mentioned because they are not as glamorous as Indian chiefs.

If it is any comfort to you, I was also facing the same question. Being a graduate with a major in Finance, the call to join the market was always on my mind. Furthermore, there was also constant pressure to join 1 of the 4, and slug it out for 3 years to earn 3 letters and justify my degree in Accountancy. In other words, I was also at the same crossroad. In my own opinion, I find that the path one should follow is really with regards to the question on what one wants to do in life.

While the question on what you want to do in life will somewhat steer you towards the right direction, I will like to add an additional condition in answering that question. Quoting Steven Covey’s 7 habits of highly effective people: ”Begin with the end in mind.” In other words, I feel that it is important to have a long-term view of your career and choose a job for the future potential benefits it brings. I believe it is important to have a long-term view of ones career because honestly, I have heard of people committing career suicides by constantly jumping jobs for better pay during the market boom and finally ending up with no job simply because they have no experience, no specialty and simply too expensive. Don’t settle for short-term gains and end up with long-term losses.

Start with the basics

Besides knowing that you have to have a long-term view of your career, you should also be realistic and understand that it is much more beneficial for you to make small incremental movements in your careers. If you truly desire to be a leader of an organization or a manager in the future, then I implore you to start from the basics and know exactly what your company is doing before managing it. Want to be a consultant? There are other paths to go into like learning more about operations and sales other than to plunge right into McKinsey, Bain or BCG. Don’t ever ignore the basics of sales, marketing, finance or even events management because they give you the experience and lessons needed to become a better manager/consultant/CEO/CFO in the future. It is perfectly fine to build your castles in the clouds, but work on the foundations on the ground! Also, Rome is not built in a day and neither should your career be. The sooner you become realistic, the quicker you can make a better decision for your career.

Start now!

Finally, my last advice is to start doing your career planning now. You can never be too early to start planning what you want to do. The earlier you get yourself started, the faster you can remove choices, which you know you will never do in your entire life. For example, I never thought of being a waiter or a cook simply because I am clumsy with holding cutlery and plates. Another way you can start planning now is by talking to more people (Networking is the next most important thing in your life other than knowledge.). Find out more about other industries, check out different career paths and join career talks. Sometimes you may be surprise how the glamorous job you once thought of doing is actually a position to buy coffee for the whole department.

In conclusion…

So to conclude, this one of many series (I hope), remember to ask yourself the question on what you want to do in life, bearing in mind that a long-term view is far better suited for this question. At the same time, be realistic with yourself and start your career by take small steps to achieve your goal. For the immediate future, you should know more about those career choices you thought of doing and speak to more people. Remember to also go for more career talks. While I can’t guarantee that you will be successful in fulfilling your ‘destiny’ if you take these pointers into consideration, at least you can live with your decision knowing you thought things through. In this way, I believe you won’t be that far away from your goal. Good luck!

Lucky to be in Oracle GDP

To those who are not (yet) part of the GDP, my name is Eleanor Nasrudin. One of the 7 graduate trainees here in Malaysia. Here i am about to write my personal views and thoughts about what i see in GDP as to probably compared to other graduate training program / management training. 

Some of you may or may not have seen the huge collection of photos the other fellow graduates and i have posted on Facebook, but personally I have received many of my friends envying the good times we had there. Photos could only tell as much, but the real memories simply remain in our minds and hearts.

There are evidently various management training and graduate programs throughout many companies namely HP, IBM, British American Tobacco, etc. But I personally feel that I am blessed to be able to join this wonderful journey with 43 with my GDP colleagues and friends from not only Malaysia, but also other ASEAN countries as well.

Prior to meeting them I did not know what to expect – their diverse personalities, backgrounds, interests, views, etc. But it was truly a pleasant surprise how we can click so well so fast. I remember recalling this with Ben and he mentioned that we’re indeed the Dream Team. I couldn’t agree more. To explain this is to me, beyond words (though perhaps Oraclesan can.. very well) hee!

We sang to the same song, we danced to the same music.

I like to reminisce about the great times we had together, especially after passing by the ‘famous’ Sheraton Imperial, or having a bite at Yellow Cab, or simply singing to Bon Jovi’s It’s My Life. Believe it or not, i still replay the videos of us I managed to record sometimes before I go to sleep. lol

This bond, this ‘amazing-ness’, this alchemic(?) effect of GDP FY08/09 is most certainly (hands down!) one of the best life changing experience I have ever gone through. Am not saying this simply to promote or publicize, am saying it from the bottom of my heart.

I have yet to discover the meaning of true friendship, but the journey was made much easier when 42 kind souls entered my life since 18th June 2008. We still chat, we still write emails to each other, we still send snail mails to each other (thanks mook and ardi), we write funny comments on each other’s photos, mocking each other like we used to back then and we even take the time to call each other all the way to another country! 

now that’s us. the Oracle Graduate Development Program FY 08/09.

proud to be one.