Expert Interview Coach Siew Ling Hwang Shares Her Story

Hi Siew Ling. Thank you for your time. So first of all, you have a very unique career choice and we are intrigued by it. Could you tell us more about it?

Sure! I am an interview coach which essentially means I spend every day helping people of all ages prepare for their interviews. The area of interviews is very niche, but I coach across different ages and types of interviews. My clients range from kids as young as 10 years old, all the way to adults who are preparing for the pinnacle of their career. The types of interviews I coach for include local and international school interviews, Direct School Admission (DSA) interviews, scholarship interviews, internship interviews, university entrance interviews, Mini Multiple Interviews (MMI) and job interviews.

What do you enjoy most about being an interview coach?

What I enjoy most is helping others find their voice and making a difference in their self-development and career development journey. The crux of what I do lies in providing clients with the skills and confidence to convey their story, aspiration and passion to others. The ability to convey your thoughts in an effective way is something that can make or break that interview as it is essentially a game, with a very restricted amount of time. The paradox is that you may feel like you are placed under a microscope, but you still need to be able to chat as if you are having a conversation with a friend. This is significantly different from regular public speaking, where you have prepared your content, and you are in control of what you have to say. The interview is a game where control is not in your hands, time is of essence, and you have to let the interviewer get to know you through the answers you provide.

What is most misunderstood about what you do?

Many assume that interview coaching means that I provide answers to my clients and have them memorize the lines and regurgitate it during their interview.

This is something I never do. Succeeding in an interview is never about learning “ideal” answers and it is definitely not about changing who you are just to suit the situation. The best answer is one that is authentic and sincere, and no one else can do that better than the candidate themselves. Many assume that there is a “perfect” answer. I have clients who come to me after having been trained by others to regurgitate answers and then realize that they are not succeeding in their interviews.

Interview coaching for me is a very personalized process where I observe and listen to you and then place myself in your shoes. What this means is that I strive to understand how you speak and think, and together with knowledge of your past experiences, I take you through a journey of reframing your narrative and focal points. Depending on what is necessary, it may also involve sharpening your speaking style, finding new strategic angles of thought, encouraging more self-awareness and deep reflections, building your confidence, but always in a way that is reflective of who you are as a person, not who I am as a person.

There is no one size fits all. Every person has a different personality, different strengths and weaknesses. Every organization or school have different requirements, and every interview have different objectives. So, the entire process must be adapted to the client for it to be an effective one.

Coaching kids and coaching adults must be fundamentally different. How do you deal with this?

The key is always about understanding the client and bringing out the best in each of them. I enjoy stepping into the shoes of every client, regardless of age and seeing things from their perspective. It is not so much about the difference in age that matters – I do have young clients who can interview better than some adults! What is crucial is to understand that particular client’s strengths and what needs to be coached in order for the client to communicate clearly and effectively.

However, when it comes to the interview objectives, there are clearly some fundamental differences. For young children, the interview may largely be about conveying their enthusiasm, interest in learning and being an active member of the student community. For those interviewing for areas such as scholarships, it may be about their fit of their character and values to the organization as well as their future ability to contribute to both the organization and the community. For executives, it is more industry dependent but by and large, it would be about their fit to the organization, what they bring to the table and how effectively they can use their past experiences and skills, to drive the organization’s objectives further.

We understand that your own career path has taken on several different turns. How has this influenced you?

Retrospectively, I have come to realize that the different choices I have made along the way have culminated into a skill set that is very useful for me as an interview coach. One of the skills I greatly lean on now is the ability to understand people from a wide range of industries. I need to be able to see what the role entails quickly and efficiently so that I understand the nuances of the job role, the success factors and then frame that against the client’s narrative. So, I would say that it is not just my career path that has made a difference but also my choices earlier on as a student. For my A Levels, I chose to do the triple science course (Biology, Chemistry, Physics) and then in University, I graduated with an Honours degree in Economics and Finance. My time as an Investment Banker, as well as a career in the area of Investments, also means that I have been exposed to very large variety of different industries, in a range of geographical areas. I have also been an entrepreneur, running my own businesses, which gives me a great amount of insight into many different aspects. I have also served in both the civil service sector as well as been part of large corporations.

I did not think too much about my career path earlier on, but I have come to realize that it gives me an edge as an interview coach now. It allows me to understand many different industries quickly, and to grasp what is important to the client.

What do you think are your key success factors?

The key one would be my passion in helping clients find their voice. I very much enjoy the process of being able to equip an individual with the confidence, skills and tools that allows them to convey their hopes, plans and aspirations to others. Even if the client is naturally introverted or shy, the ability to communicate well can be harnessed. I also enjoy finding out what makes a person tick and what is the x-factor that gives them an edge. Everyone has one, it just needs to be discovered. This is particularly important for executive interviews.

Secondly, I am very focused on one niche area, which is interviews. This means that I have an exposure to a very large range of candidates, who undertake interviews with different schools and organizations. This gives me insights, nuances, and details of the interviews conducted, particularly those that happen in Singapore. Take for example the DSA interview. I currently personally coach every child that signs up for our DSA 1-on-1 Interview Coaching as well as for any DSA workshops we run. Over the last 5 years, this comes up to a few hundred candidates whom I personally meet, coach and talk to. The experience that comes with it and the knowledge of the ecosystem, allows me to continuously sharpen my own skills in coaching them well.

The third factor would be my personal philosophy behind interview coaching. To me, the objective of interview coaching is to provide the client with a life skill of being able to communicate their thoughts well, even under a high-pressured situation. It is not about the outcome itself. Yes, it is important to celebrate the success of being able to achieve that new job or enter the school of your choice and I do celebrate those moments with you too. But what I deem as the most important success factor would be when the client realizes that they have the confidence and ability to verbalize their thoughts well and this leads to not just being able to ace that one interview they were aiming for, but they have now equipped themselves with a life skill that opens many doors. Especially for young clients, this can literally change the trajectory they take and provide them with the platform to achieve what may not have been deemed possible before.

Siew Ling Hwang is the founder of Discovering Potential. She specialises in providing Interview Skills Coaching to youths and adults. Her experience includes both workshop coaching and 1-on-1 coaching for clients that come from a wide range of industries and age groups. Siew Ling has coached students for university, internship and job opportunities in a wide range of industries as well as scholarship interviews including PSC scholarships, SAF scholarships, MOH scholarships, MOE scholarships and others.

Siew Ling also coaches executives, including C-Suite Level executives from various industries including pharmaceutical, healthcare, business analytics, digital marketing, art history, fashion and design, retail, journalism, interior design, digital transformation, market intelligence, oil and gas, cyber security, fraud assessment, information technology, management consulting, logistics, law, aviation, sports coaching, risk management, academia, engineering, finance, accounting and many more.

Her qualifications include: