How to Pass Adaro Legal Services Internship Program's Selection

Well, it has been already a month since I started my internship on the beginning of June. There are still two months left before the end of my internship. I’d like to share with you what I’ve done during my first one month, but firstly I’d like to share on how I passed the selection process.

a. Administrative selection

Adaro usually announce the internship program in advance, so that we can prepare our CV, cover/motivation letter, and letters of recommendation from the faculty addressed to the human resources department of PT Adaro Energy Tbk (you can get this letter in “kemahasiswaan” on your faculty.

Tips for creating CV and motivation letter:

1. Make your CV consists of only 1 page because they don’t have extra time to read hundreds of applicant CVs. Nevertheless, it is not a bad idea to attach certificates related to your CV to convince them.

2. Choose your most attractive experiences and awards. It doesn’t matter if you apply for legal division but your experiences and awards are in the non-legal field. Basically, what they see is not how high your GPA is (but, remember that the minimum GPA required is 3.25 of 4.0) or how often you win in such law competition. They only want to see how active you are and how can you really learn from the activity or the failure that you’ve ever experienced (unfortunately, you only have one chance to deliver all of this in the interview session (only if you pass the psycho test first)). However, if you have a lot of organizational experiences (regardless of your low GPA or the fact that you’ve never wonn such law competition), I’m sure that they will still consider your CV. For you who have amazing GPA or awards, it’s an advantage for you because 99% you will pass the administrative selection! (But not necessarily you will pass the psycho test, because half of my friend that have an amazing GPA and have won may law competition, didn’t pass the psycho test).

3. How about the motivation letter? Several things that should be listed in motivation letter are: what position that you apply for (e.g. I apply for legal services division); why you want to intern in that company (e.g. because Adaro is one of the biggest coal company in Indonesia), why they must choose you (e.g. because you have experiences that make you familiar with team work, tight deadline, and so on). Do not hesitate to express your experiences and the awards you have earned. If necessary, bold the things you want to highlight. Remember that there will hundreds of applicant, so you have to make sure that they remember you.

FYI, I just found out this internship program two days before the registration closed. Fortunately, I have prepared my CV and motivation letter for this kind of internship application. So, I just need to prepare the recommendation letter. Unfortunately, the recommendation letter wasn’t ready on the due date. Nevertheless, I decided to continue my application and explain through e-mail that I would give my recommendation letter as soon as it was ready.

b. Psycho Test

After they declared that I’ve passed the administrative selection, they invited me to join the psycho test in Adaro office that take place in Cyber Tower 2 (please check at google maps hehe). Many people say that to pass the psycho test you don’t have to prepare anything, just make sure that you have enough sleep time a day before the test. For me, preparation is still necessary. The reason is, to pass this test you don’t just rely on your intelligence, but also strategy and speed. FYI, the psycho test literally started from 08.00 AM until 13.00 PM NON-STOP! Huh, it was really exhausting. Most of my friend was confused during the test because they had no clue what should they do with the paper in front of them. Fortunately, I’ve done this test in senior high school and I have prepared for the test a day before, therefore I already knew the strategy and how to do the test. I suggest you buy or borrow a psycho test and/or Tes Potensi Akademik (TPA) preparation book. Here some types of psycho test that being tested:

1. PAPI

It’s a personality test. You are not required to have certain skills to do this test. You just have to be consistent and choose the choices that really describe your personality.

2. Analogy Verbal

For example:

Panggung : Aktor = …… : ……..

1. Perpustakaan : Dosen

2. Keamanan : Polisi

3. Ring : Petinju

4. Musik : Konduktor

5. Bengkel : Motor

The answer is C. Ring : Petinju

Explanation: “panggung” is the place where actor can act. “ring” is the place where “petinju” can fight.

3. Classification Test

For example: a. tomat, b. apel, c. pisang, d. keju, e. kurma

Choose the one that is not associated to others. The answer is d. keju, because “keju” is not a group of fruits.

4. “Ungkapan Makna” Test

You should find out one or more words that describe the group of words from those words.

5. “Aritmatika” Test

E.g.: Dengan sepeda, Sari dapat menempuh 20 km dalam waktu 1 jam. Berapa km-kah yang dapat ia tempuh dalam waktu 4 jam ?

The answer is : 80

How to answer:

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

6. “Deret Angka” Test

2 4 6 8 10 12 14?

The answer is 16

7. Psychometry Test

I don’t know why, for me this test is the most difficult test compared to others.

a. 3D Rotation (Rotasi 3 Dimensi)

b. “Potongan gambar” Test

8. “Menghafal Cepat” Test

9. Pauli test

For me, this test is quite exhausting but not too difficult. Besides of speed, to pass this test you also need accuracy. In this test, you will be given a two sided newspaper-sized paper that is full of numbers. You are ordered to add the numbers from top to bottom. On average, the participants could complete 1.5 pages. The more pages you can complete, the better the results will be.

10. Draw a tree

You will be asked to draw a tree and write what tree it is. E.g.: Pohon mangga. Tips for drawing good trees are available in books and the internet

11. Draw a person

You will be asked to draw someone and write down who the person is, what he/she is doing, write 3 of his/her strengths and weakness. In my opinion, the aim of this test is that how you describe yourself in the future. From some sources I read, there are some tips for doing this test:

1. The gender of the person that you draw should be the same as yours;

2. Draw thoroughly from head to toe, complete with attributes according to the work of the person you are drawing, e.g., glasses, iPad, book, blazer, pointer, and so on.

3. Be creative! You can describe the person that you draw is doing something related to his/her work, such as: doing a presentation, meeting with the client, and so on;

4. Regarding the strengths and the weakness, you can write your own strengths and weakness. And remember, be creative and don’t be mainstream!

e.g.:

Kelebihan: pandai menangkap peluang, perencana dan eksekutor yang baik, cepat belajar dan menyesuaikan diri

Kekurangan: kurang ekspresif, bossy, overthinking

12. Wartegg Test

13. Describe who you are in one paragraph

I don’t have a clue about this test, I just wrote what I wrote on motivation letter hehe 😊

There are still some more tests, but I can’t remember because I have never found it on the internet or books. In addition, you may need to find out about the IST test. Regardless of all the tips I provide, the results of this test will always depend on your individual abilities. So, do not ever stop improving yourself!

FYI, from 25 applicants who passed administrative selection, only 12 applicants passed psycho test and proceeded to the interview stage.

c. Interview

The questions being asked during the interview may vary depending on your interviewer. Based on my experiences, you will not be asked what is Adaro or what is CSA or whatever the other legal matters are. Your interview will literally be BASED ON YOUR CV. Why I capitalized those words? Because I strongly recommend you understand what you write on your CV. For example: “Di CV ini kamu nulis pernah jadi PO pembuatan jurnal ilmiah, coba ceritakan gimana prosesnya? Pernah nulis jurnal ilmiah nggak? Apa yang kamu tulis? Apa masalah hukumnya dan apa solusi yang kamu tawarkan?” Essentially, they will keep asking from every word you say until they are satisfied. Tips: be confident but still humble 😊

Besides, when you are asked something personal, you should always tell it along with the example, because they really like something concrete. For example:

I : Apa tantangan terbesar yang kamu hadapi selama kuliah?

M : ketika berhadapan dengan ambisi pribadi vs kewajiban kuliah dan organisasi. Contohnya adalah suatu hari saya pernah ingin sekali mengikuti sebuah lomba, tapi saya masih punya kewajiban jabatan di organisasi dan di kuliah sangat banyak tugas kelompok dan tidak mungkin saya menjadi free rider. Dan blablabla……

After the interview, we only had to wait a few days for the announcement and finally there were 5 people who passed the selection 😊

As I said at the beginning, they do not really care about how high your GPA is or how often you win the competition (but again, a good GPA and winning competition still important and be a plus value). One of my friends who passed the selection was chosen because she never won even one of the competition that she participated in, but she could show the interviewer how much she had the spirit of learning and she learned from her failure.

GOOD LUCK!