One of the scariest thing that young Bruneians face is the interview at the Public Service Commission or in Brunei speak known as Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Awam or better known as SPA. Get through the SPA interview, fortunes in the civil service awaits you. Or at least that is what's on the mind of everyone who applies for a job in the government service.



It's been quite sometime since I last interviewed anyone at SPA. I used to do it when I was the Deputy Director about 10 years ago. The one thing I noticed is that most people who were being interviewed mostly seemed ill prepared for it - some were very prepared for the wrong thing. There is this perception that if you remember the full name of the Minister or the list of Permanent Secretaries and Deputy Permanent Secretaries or the Director of the department or the Ministry that you are trying to get into together with their full names and titles, you are going to get the job. Wrong!



Our people selection system is not the best.…