The Precious Moments on Earth

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Thursday, July 24, 2008

12:16 PM

Interview...interview...interview...

I've just gotten home from my interview with NParks this morning. But I'll write about it later. Let me just write about the 1st two interviews that I've had this week.

This week Tuesday, I had an interview with NParks for the position of Conservation Officer and with MOM for the position of WSH Inspector. It was a lucky thing that both interviews didn't clash.

My interview with NParks was in the morning at the HQ, which is at the Botanic Gardens. I'd already surveyed the area and found out how to get there. And boy was it tiring. There was a lot of walking. I had to walk through the gardens to get to the HQ. But if you were to take a cab or drive, then you can just drop off at the HQ itself. Anyway, it was about 15 mins worth of walking.

I was interviewed by 4 people, plus 1 HR. They were alright, I guess. They kept talking about how hard the job will be, because you'll be working in the forest, like catching poachers and telling people not to do illegal things, searching for lost hikers. They also kept mentioning that you'll have to face with a lot of creepy crawlies and lizards. All those things I don't mind. You all know that I'm not afraid of bugs and all right? But the drawback is that you have to be on call practically 24/7. So sometimes, you may have to work at night and through the weekend. And I can't because I'll be taking my part-time degree course 3 times a week and I have Mendaki on Saturday and my religious class on Sunday. So how am I going to accommodate this job?

But I never told them all these things of course. The interviewers always want to hear "yes" from you. Still, I could get a feeling that they could sense that I wasn't really up for the job.

Then, in the afternoon, I went for my interview with MOM, which was at the WSH Department at Kim Seng Road, near Great World City. It went so much better than the one with NParks. I was interviewed by 5 people, all men. Well, it is a male-dominated job. But I wasn't really intimidated by them because they were quite friendly. I could sense that they liked me, I think, but I made a blunder of one of the questions. It was when one of the interviewers asked me what have I studied in WSH in school. I totally forgot to read up before I went to the interview. And I had kept reminding myself to do so for the past 2 weeks. Anyway, I said "tunneling" and then I said something about every once a week a safety officer will come by the construction site to give it an OK. When there were no smiles at that answer, I knew that I had messed up. And then, I apologized because my mind was blank.

Man! That was the one question where I could have impressed them, but I screwed up. On the way back, I thought back on what I could have said, and discovered that my second answer wasn't totally wrong, but the checks were done for scaffolds and not the construction site as a whole. And then I kicked myself for not mentioning about "risk assessment". How can I forget that? I did a project on it!!!

I really hope that I'll get this job. Because luckily, the working hours are pretty fixed. But once a while, once every 2-3 months, I'll have to come down at night. The job is OJT, so I don't know whether they'll send me for courses and such. And I'll get to see dead bodies. This all sounds like police work to me, which is different and exciting!

Then today, was my interview with NParks again, but for the position of Parks Officer. There were 2 interviewers, plus 1 HR.

They were much friendlier than the previous NParks interviewers. The job is great. I was actually attracted to it. Your main responsibility is to care for the parks, but you may get to do other kinds of jobs as well, especially when there are events coming up. The drawback however, is also the events. When there is an upcoming event, everybody will be very busy and you'll have to work at night and through the weekend. And they usually have programmes on Saturdays or Sundays, so your weekends may be compromised as well. Man! Why do they have to do this to me??? But again, I told them that I was OK with the working hours. (sigh)

Come 4th August, I'm going to have another interview. And this time, it will be with the MarineParade Library for the position of Library Officer. This is actually one of my top choices. But if MOM accepts me before I go for the library interview, I'll take it. And anyway, I'm not sure of the working hours at the library because they open till night. So I'll most probably have to work then too.

Dammit! The jobs that I really like can't fit my schedule. I just hope that I'll get a satisfying job because at the end of the day (Mr Tan...hehe), all you want is to have a job that you are happy with.