The interview

I have just spent the last week supposedly interviewing over 70 ESL teacher candidates for our two new schools in Hanoi.I say 'supposedly' because we advertised on a Thailand Internet site and initially 30 people were invited to my initial meeting and 10 showed up, despite the fact that they all confirmed they were coming. I set up about 7 interviews every day and typically about 3 people show up. My directions cannot be that bad (or could they?)

Daniel is right when he says any North Americans living in Asia and looking for work must be whacked, including myself, I guess.Two men in their forties came in, telling me, in their own words, their sob stories. One has a dying wife and is desperate to make money and the other has a three thousand pound visa debt. Because I am dealing with visas all the time, I could not believe that any visa could possibly cost 3000 pounds. When he saw the incredulity on my face, he explained it was a VISA credit card bill!

Another man who I just spoke to with a PhD in educational leadership told me that another interviewer berated him for dominating the conversation. This was after 25 minutes of him talking non-stop about his present job, Thai politics, students in general and so on and this was before I asked him one question. It was incredible. I wanted to tell him the other interviewer was absolutely right but I could not get in a word edge wise. Luckily the next appointment came and I pushed him out the door. What a nightmare.

I guess my test of whether or not I want to hire someone is their ‘likeability factor.” Do I enjoy spending time with them listening to their stories and so on and am I disappointed when the hour is over? Perhaps that is not fair, but I presume that is how most interviewers do it. You will not necessarily get the best people for the job this way, I suppose, but at least I will have a dinner companion when I visit Hanoi.

For example, there were two black men who I absolutely loved. One was a former Hollywood producer who was articulate, erudite and fascinating. His latest venture was to run the Bangkok Film Festival and another brilliant black guy who was phenomenal with computers. I am sure they could not only talk education but also deliver, as opposed to the PhD guy who actually sounded quite articulate (although quite boring) and I am confident a very poor teacher.

There are also the Asians and Africans whose working conditions in their own countries are so poor they have to move to Thailand where they barely make a living wage but I guess it is better than where they come from. These are really desperate people who keep writing and phoning begging me for a job the day after the interview. I told one guy that if he even responds to my e mail asking me if he has the job he would be automatically disqualified. I have to keep moving forward looking for the ideal candidate.(s)

Anyway, someone is knocking on the door. Got to go. Hope this interview is better!