camerata

I am in the December 2011 cohort of recently submitted applications.

I just wanted to compare and contrast my experience with Camerata's original post, in a  couple of areas.

Like Camerata, I turned my application in during late December. I did not go myself - my processing agent submitted the packet for me.  It was reviewed for completeness - she told them that I was missing the report of criminal background check from my home country  - in my case, the USA - but that i had requested that document.  They accepted my application with this deficiency, simply noting that i should bring that document in, once it arrived.

About five weeks later, I was called in for my  first interview.   Basically, the information in my entire packet had been reduced down to one two-sided piece of paper - which was part affidavit of fact concerning my personal details, and partly declarations by me - concerning the facts being true, and my understanding of the process steps. The official asked me most of the questions in checklist fashion - in Thai.  A few entries on the draft were wrong - at the end, she went away and corrected the errors - and brought back the corrected document.  I then had to sign the affidavit at the bottom of the back side.  I was then sent to another part of the office to be fingerprinted - two complete sets.

Then - nothing further happened until last week, when an invitation letter was sent to my office, directing me to appear for  an interview at 9:30 am on 14 March.  So - that is what I did.  I went alone this time, bringing my passport, work permit, and the invitation letter. .  I picked up a queue number, and waited.  When they called my number, I went to designated booth - they took my invitation letter, checked it off against a big ledger book, and then asked me to return to my seat in the waiting room. After about ten minutes, an assistant in civilian clothes motioned for me to follow her.  She handed me a pink square of paper with the number "15" on it.

I followed her, and ended up in a small room with two officials at desks, and two sofas to seat the applicants - plus one chair in front of each official's desk.   There were seven applicants in the room - very tight fit.  One in each chair, dealing with the officials, and five seated on the sofas.  They  call your number in sequence, and you go sit in front of the woman Sergeant Major, who has a big ledger book.  She asks you many questions about your age, nationality,  home address, employer, etc. - all in Thai.  She also takes your passport and compares it to the ledger book.  She then has you sign your name in the ledger book, alongside the pre-printed answers to all the questions, which you just answered.  What  figured out was - this entire step is simply to weed out "proxies" that have been sent to represent applicants.   Evidently, some applicants have sent "ringers" in, in place of themselves, to "ace" the interview.

You next move to the other desk, where the officer (I think a Colonel) takes a photo of you, and then prints the photo onto a stack of about ten sheets.  The sheets are interview score sheets - with rows and columns in a matrix , with headings at the top and left.  I noted from the conversation between the two officers that i was the #10 American applicant for this year.

They then take away your pink number slip, and replace it with a blue number slip - same number.   You are then led down a hallway to a waiting room - which is full of applicants.  As I said, I was number 15 - and there were about ten people in the room when I got there. While i waited, about another seven applicants came in - and the same number were called out ahead of me. We spoke among ourselves a bit - of the 15 applicants with whom I crossed paths, one was an American lady, one was a German man, another two were from Singapore - and the rest were split about 50/50 between Taiwanese and Indians.

They called out one applicant about every seven or eight minutes.  When it is your turn, you go out - hand your number slip to an attendant, and they place you in a chair right outside the interview room.  The applicant who preceded you then exits a door down the hallway - and the attendant motions for you to enter the near doorway.

You go in, and there is a long set of tables placed end-to-end together, with a white tablecloth over them all  - this is along the far wall.  Then there is a single table facing the long table - this also has  white tablecloth - and a chair behind it.   This is where you will sit.  The space between your table and the long table is about four or five meters.   At the far left end, there was video camera set up - they videotape the interviews.

Seated at the big table were seven officials.  Three were in tan uniforms - the other four were in civilian coat and tie.  Two (in uniform) were women.   Only the two women, and two of the men ever spoke to me.  The other three just sat and observed and smiled.

They have the interview scoring sheets with your photo on top, from the earlier step.  They go through a series of questions in Thai - and they are making scoring notes all the time.  My guess is that there are ten scoring categories, and they award up to ten points per category.

The question included simple personal details - what's you name, where do you live, where do you work, what is your job position.  Then they asked about my family (I applied on the basis of business, but I have a Thai wife and two sons).  As I am a business owner, they asked me to explain about the activities of my business. They then asked me about where I'd traveled in Thailand - and then asked me if I liked Thai food.  I said yes - and they then asked me to name Thai menu items that I enjoyed.  So - I named about four dishes - and one woman then asked me if I liked fish.  I said yes - and a man then asked me to name a few types of Thai fish.  I could only think of tub-tim and pomfret  - so I named these.  They were still waiting for more - so I then said that I eat the fish, I don't talk to them, so I don't learn their names.  They all laughed, and dropped the subject.  They next asked me about my charitable contributions - and I have none.   No points there - but they maybe gave me a point or two for saying that i gave money to my wife and to my employees, and encourage them to "tamm boon" - and I think Thais know better than me anyway, where to put charitable money to good use.  They next asked me about what i did on my free time - I told them i work mostly, but i do play pool (9-ball) on a league team - they found this acceptable - and that I used to breed Siamese Fighting Fish (since they seemed to like fish!).  They seemed to like this answer.

Then - it was all over.  They motioned for me to depart via the far door.  The whole interview lasted maybe seven or eight minutes.  They were very friendly and polite - I think they are used to people being very nervous and frightened.   They smiled and laughed a lot.  I had to ask them to repeat some questions  that I did not understand well  - and they immediately asked in a different way, using easier words.  So - they adjust the interview to your Thai language ability - making adjustments at the edges.  And - if you are answering, and you stumble for a word - they will suggest a word, within context - to help you along.  But - I think it is certain that you must speak at least a reasonable level of Thai to get through this interview step.

One note:  Although i do not normally "wai" Thai officials, I did wai at my entrance, and at my departure - before sitting down, and after standing up.  I am convinced that this is a scoring point - and there is  no reason to give away easy points.

You walk out of the interview room, and you are finished.

SS