Interview questions

Background
1.
Please share with me, your age, gender, countries where you worked and lived in,
qualification & faculty of studies in school and professional background.
33 year old male. Worked in Houston, Nanjing, Shanghai, Dalian, Singapore. Studied in
Singapore, Holland. Degree holder in Maritime Studies. Marine Professional.
2.

What is your job position in the parent & local company?

Project Manager
3.
Tell me about your overseas assignments, how you feel when you first learned about
the possibility of going to work overseas.
To bridge/ educate/familiarise/ train locals to company culture. Setting up reporting
procedures and work processes in line with headquarter. Excited when i learned about the
assignment.
4.

What was the company's objective and goal in sending you overseas?

Answer as in question 3. Company looking for someone who is familiar with the country who
also speaks their native language.

Decision and considerations on Short-term global assignments

1.

Are you really interested in going abroad? Why did you choose to go?

Interest depends on nature of the job. Exposure.

2.
Do you think there are good opportunities for your career, and to learn from the global
market?
Definitely. Always have to think global.
3.
What are your career concerns, and how committed are you to your company, and
what personal goals do you have for your career?
Personal development and career progression.
4.
What are the criteria your company looks for in someone they are selecting for
overseas assignment? Have to be single with not much family commitment? Please
elaborate further.
Capabilities and how communicable the person with the management are much important.
5.
Will your company encourage you to bring your spouse along with you on your
overseas assignments?
Depends the time span of the project.

6.
Were you given any choice in the matter of whether you want to stay locally or be
sent overseas?
No.
7.
Do you study that country's culture before you were deployed there, do you know
anything about the country's working culture?
No.
8.

Did you prepare for this immersion in another cultural environment? If yes, how?

No.
9.

What did you think when you first heard you were going to __________?

Opportunity have come. Grab it.

10.

Any family issues arising from this overseas assignment? How did you overcome?

No.
11.

What did your family/spouse think about living overseas?

Excellent opportunity.
12.

How supportive were your family/spouse on this matter?

10/10.
13.

What were the reasons for you to take up thre job offer?

Changing of environment. Escape from Singapore office.

14.

If you given a choice, will you turn down this opportunity? Why?

No. If it is work to be done it have to be done,

Challenges of living and working

1.

Was your accommodation sponsored by company?

Yes.
2.

Did you faced any challenges regarding the accommodation?

Nothing major.
3.
Were your salary and allowance enough for your daily expenses? How were you
spending and saving?
Yes.

4.
How often do you get return to your home country to visit your family (if they are not
here with you) and friends
Bi monthly.
5.
How supportive was your company should you have problems arise at work or facing
issues at home back in your country?
0 support.
6.

What were the first few days like?

Tiring and hectic.

7.

It is difficult to adopt to the weather condition?

No.
8.

How fast did you take to settle down in that oversea environment?

3 days.
9.

How you communicate with the people in oversea in the beginning?

Non-formal verbal communication

10.

Do you facing any issues with the language differences? How did you deal with it?

No.
11.

What is the first thing that make you feel surprise or first big aha about the culture?

Not necessary to use formal power on top of people.

12.
Did you have someone who could explain the local culture to you and that you could
confide in?
No.
13.

How did people see you or did you feel you are the special in different culture?

Alien.
14.
Did you have a culture shock there? If not how long you took to adapt to their
culture?
No
15.

Can you describe your relationship with your co-workers?

Amicable.
16.
No.

Were there any thing that surprised you about the way people think or worked?

17.

Do they treat you like one of their own or were you treated like an outsider?

Outsider.
18.
How you solve the problem when you have the different opinions with your managers
or co-workers at work?
Compromising.
19.

What did you think about your overseas assignment and what had you learn from it?

Do not worry too much. Do what you have to do.

20.

Do you have problems with the local cuisine? If so, what did you do about it?

Go fastfood like Mcdonalds

21.
What are the differences between the parent company and the local company?
Example: Decision making process? Style of Management and etc?
Decision making process. And ability to take up responsibility.
22.
What are the differences between Singapore and your home country's working
environment?
Singapore is my home country.
23.
Any welfare, salary package & benefits difference for management staff and nonmanagement staff compare between parent company with local company?
Confidential.
24.
Do you feel stress working in Singapore? As people always commend that Singapore
is a fast pace country where moving are always rushing.
yes
25.
Are there any differences between the employees of Singapore and the overseas
one? If so, What are the differences?
Cant stereotype Singaporeans with overseas employees. Individual hierarchy of needs
maybe different.
26.

Is the quality of life in your deployed country as good as you expected?

yes
27.
Yes

Are your achievements are being recognized by the management?

Overcoming Challenges
1.

What are the most important things you had learned in those first six months?

No one is going to help you if you dont make the first move.
2.
Whom did you mainly socialize with (people from your own culture, third-country
expatriates, or host-country nationals)?
A little bit of both.
3.

How many host-country co-workers did you interact with on an average day?

5-10
4.

Did you feel you had changed as a result of working in overseas? If so, how?

No
5.

What was it like to return back to your home (if the person has been repatriated)?

NA
6.

Did you prepare your cultural repatriation? If yes, how?

No
7.

Do you think that the skills you acquired abroad are useful now in your current job?

Yes
8.

How was it like to make new friends in a new environment?

Enjoyable.
9.
How much did you spend monthly just to keep in touch with your family back home
(should that they were not with you)?
0. Through Skype.
10.
Any issues readjusting back to your home culture after 6 months? Or you needed
some time to it?
No. Once Singaporean always Singaporean.

Conclusion
1.
Fun.

How would you sum up your first six months and your subsequent time overseas?

2.
What advice would you give to a friend who was on his or her way to a foreign
assignment?
Avoid shady places. If you cant drink, dont drink.
3.

If given a chance, would you take up the offer to be posted overseas again?

Yes.
4.

Do you like the Overseas/Singapore's culture?

Overseas culture,
5.
If given the chance to reside and work permanently overseas in the country you were
posted in before, would you take up the offer?
Yes.
6.

What cultural behaviours would/wouldn't you want to see back in your home country?

Nothing.