I think I bombed in my interview

I went for my interview at the MFA yesterday. The funny thing is that they put you in a room before meeting the panel. I think it was suppose to calm you cos there is a lot of plush sofas and books. But the annoying thing was the elevator music that was piped into the room. AND IT WAS ON REPEAT!! How is a person suppose to concentrate with the "Sounds of the Forest" rendition of Pachebel's Canon playing in the background. I am sure that it was not intentional but the music does add stress to the candidate. ("All the better to soften them up for the kill" ... hahaha).

So anyway, I think that I bombed. They were asking questions like:
- What is the challenge for Singapore and Malaysia's relationship, given the assumption of their interdependency?
- What are the challenges for Singapore and Malaysia and the policy response for Singapore?
- same for Indonesia and Singapore.
- Does the Doha Round have any relevance to Singapore?
- Is Singapore's strategy in bilateral trade agreement good?

These I fumbled along and gave answers that are generic and non-comittal. And somehow, I ended up mentioning "International Trade and Openness" in a lot of my answers. I sounded like some Free Trade Liberal activist.

And then the other generic questions:
- Why did you go o/s?
- Why did you do your masters?
- What boooks / journal do you read besides the Straits Times, CNA ...?

These I could handle. Basically, it was blah blah blah about exposure and wanting to learn more and "I read the Economist". But the last answer backfired when he (Director of SEA) asked "So what books do you read?". Blink Blink ... The most recent book I read was a compendium of the SWORD OF SHANNARA series. Definitely not the type of book that can help in Singapore's foreign policy. UNless, Singapore is under attack by the evil Warlock King and they are in need of the Sword of Shannara to SAVE THE DAY. But I doubt that.

So comes the crux: "Since you are only graduating in Dec, you cannot start now right?" RIGHT!! So when I graduate in Dec, then I will be considered again for the position vis-a-vis the future Dec batch of candidates. Ie. DON'T CALL US. WE'LL CALL YOU!!!

The good thing about the interview is that it was only 30 mins long. And I got to watch SIN CITY with Nimales after that and I had a Banana Spilt from Dome (I finished it all by myself :D He had a Nuts and Oats Sundae - the green tea ice cream was good too). The show is good. Every looks either menancing or hot or weird. Which is how the comic book was. And the cinematography was excellent. Very Interesting filming style. And I love the Black and White and some random colours to accentuate. Go and catch it. You definitely will not watch something like in a while. Escape from the lame and the mundane.