Answer from a greenhorn and dragonboating

Answers from a Green-horn

I interviewed an Intern today. Yes, a young boy 4yrs my junior.

His application flowed thru to Marketing dept via HR & my boss forwarded his CV to me, asking if i'd wanna consider another pair of hands in the dept (since we are only on half strength in Dec). I called our dear boy in for an interview. Oh well, since the young lad had no practical/ applicable work experience & is merely in his 2nd yr in varsity, i thought maybe i should just have a very simple chat & allow him & myself to get to know one another better.

I asked several questions, including his interests, what are the goals he'd wanna achieve outta this practical work experience & what he understands abt "marketing". I don't know if he's nervous or simply too green with interviews! It was so tough to get a response from him. He's stumpped most of the time! I started the interview with "So share with us what do u know about Stanchart." & guess the response! "It's a bank!"

Look, i am not expecting a seasoned lad hardselling himself to a potential employer but hey, one can easily check out a brief background abt the organization on the Internet! This guy is 23 yrs old!!!

Dragon-boating

I went for my last marathon update meeting today & spent an entire hr debating with Sports Council on the recent dragon-boat accident in Cambodia. Seems that 3 outta of the 5 deceased dragon-boaters were due to participate in the 10KM marathon. The dragon boat team wanted to commemerate their comrades by running with special bibs featuring the date of the tragedy. It's hard for a layman to understand why the Bank took a negative stand against the request. Despite that I admire the dragon-boaters for wanting to run on behalf of their unfortunate friends who had passed on, we gotta manage commercial vs empathy. Afterall, we really don't want publicity about the dragon-boating incident to overshadow the event. If that happens, so what if we make it to the front page of the papers?? Yes, the marathon is all about the spirit of running for a cause - either yourself or for someone. The determination, courage and partnership builds the backgrd for the event. But in this situation, can't afford to take the chance. & this conversation went on for an hour!

What a day!