I have attended the interview three hours ago, now sitting at Kailash (Kailash Pokhrel- my friend from Janardanam days)'s rented room in Gurgaon and trying to pen down the experience of the interview that I never wanted to attend.
The last few days were terrible since I wrote my last blog-post. After the Prashant Kishore thingi, NISG took a crappy turn. One fine morning (after repeated followups), they informed me I should receive the email offer letter the next day. On the next day, they informed that NeGD CEO himself wants to interview me via Skype. This was quite unusual as he only interviews the Principal Consultant level people. In the meantime, I got the offer to attend YP interview at NITI Aayog.
I was reluctant. Firstly, the repeated experiences and most recently the NISG thing do prove the point that I am nowhere close to getting a job and the astrologer has been right all along. Secondly, NITI Aayog is not going to pay for the traveling and lodging cost. Thirdly, the scope of role of YP is likely to be very limited and the salary component is also very low. Hence, attending this interview is like coming for a purpose that I don't believe, spend own money, less chance of success and even after success no intention of tasting the fruit of success.
But I dodged all the logic I mentioned above, because it has been more than a year and I need to get a damn job. Also, OSD in NITI Aayog is like a dream job and I can get a sense of the organization if I be here for the YP. Also, I offered NISG HR a proposal for face-to-face interaction during my stay in Delhi.
So, here I come! I stayed at Kailash's place as I left my suit and shoe here last time. The interview was at 9-00 AM. Though I was apprehensive about being on time from my experience of NISG interview and Commonwealth Scholarship interview, I didn't take the chance. And, I was right this time.
Yojana Bhawan that houses NITI Aayog is quite close to the Patel Chowk metro station. On entering the first gate of the bhawan, the CISF personnel was 'Saikia'- I spoke in Assamese. There was flow of interview candidates and we were asked to sit in different specified rooms right at the main entrance point. On entering the conference room designated for myself, I saw around 25 people sitting with equal proportion of genders. I believe there were three panels, each consisting of three members. In my panel, I was the first candidate. Soon, they called the names of one girl (corporate lawyer from Mumbai) and myself and escorted us to a different room. There we waited for around 10 minutes before I was called to face the interview panel. As I was the first candidate, the panel members were fresh and eager. There were two gentlemen and one lady. I greeted good morning to all of them.
1) The middle man started - tell us about yourself
I included parents' profession and information of sibling for the first time in my description.
2) The lady asked- you worked with Ministry of Information Technology- what kind of work you did.
I explained them about SeMT and NeGP. It seemed they never heard about these terms.
3) The middle man asked after seeing my resume- you run three non-profits; what do they do?
I took a pause as I didn't remember what are three names I included (ALWAYS CHECK RESUME YOU SUBMITTED). Nevertheless, I started with the library, talked about Xomidhan and ended with Xahitya. In Xomidhan, the third person (who came out to be the main guy later) asked about the business model. I told the expenses are very minimal.
4) The lady asked about the 360 degree performance review paper.
I explained citing RFD (Result Framework Document) quite a few times. She got confused; she was asking how RFD will measure performance of ministers. I again explained. She did not know much about RFD and also she was not much aware of the 360 degree feedback model. I was searching ways how best I could make the lady understand. I realized I was not behaving in a calm and composed way. Somehow, I was getting tensed. This didn't happen in the NISG or Twitter interview.
5) Now, the third person started. From this point onward, the other two just became listeners. He asked whether I did many coding in Microsoft.
I explained about ITSM and told that I was not involved in much coding exercise.
6) Then he asked what are the courses I attended in MPP
Well, I was structuring my answer with political philosophy, but he asked me to get straight to the points. When I told Economics included both micro and macro, he showed displeasure on the course. While listening about Science for Public Policy, he seemed confused. I tried to explain , but he didn't give much attention and focused on the word evidence-based-policymaking.
7) Tell me different kind of evidence techniques.
I cursed myself for not even opening the notes once before this interview. From my memory, I told about experimental and quasi-experimental methodologies. The interviewer was also seemed in hurry as if he was trying frame a question.
8) Give me one example of quasi-experimental technique
Difference-in-Difference (DiD)
9) Explain me what it is
Damn, I didn't remember anything. I took 'incentive to teachers' example and explained RCT. He was focused on DiD. I tried to explain something. He exposed me completely by very pointed question by comparing with RCT. He was asking again and again. I told I have not been able to explain properly. He told I had failed miserably in explaining. I tried again and cursed myself for not opening the notes even once. This is the problem of reluctant activities. I am sorry.
10) The third person was indeed a learned man. He explained the whole concept to me, introduced causal effect too. I admitted my fault, I was red faced.
11) Luckily the third person continued- tell about your paper on Role of Social Media in government.
I was bringing Shillong traffic police into the scene; he intervened and asked me to make the answer general. Why government should use Social media. I gave him four points -- to make government accessible to citizens, to get feedback and involve the citizens in decision-making process, to spot a trend of usage over period of time and finally to build a circle of like minded individuals. (I could have talked about cutting cost and save time- now I think).
12) He was telling there are timing issue. Instead of taking opinion of thousand of people on a policy, he can simply call the experts.
I told that is violating the essence of participatory government and what Modi is doing via MyGov portal. He didn't seem much convinced. I also told that the above four reasons will be applicable at different phases of policy making and resources can be distributed over time.
13) Suppose I am the Communication Officer of NITI Aayog and need to form the Social Media team- how many persons should I recommend?
I told there should be two teams- one for regular updated from different departments and the other for specific policy/project when a department wants to take feedback from the citizens and spot a trend.
14) The third person had nothing to ask. He asked the other two whether they have anything to ask. After a long time, I looked at the faces of the other two members- they were completely at a loss at our conversation. Naturally, they informed I can leave.
By 9-41 AM, I was free. I took a round of the building searching the rooms of Bibek Debroy and other members. I found their rooms and became happy. I also spent around 15 minutes in the library. First time, I saw a library inside a government ministry in India. I was trying to understand the mood of the place- a very typical government setup. I didn't like much (except the library). I was feeling guilty for not able to answer the DiD thing. In fact, this guilt gradually rises to such extent that I punished myself by not going to Parliament Street to see the parliament; instead I came home, cooked food and now writing this blog spot.
Expectation: nothing much. If Digital Indian turns out to be positive, I will not go for YP. If Digital Indian turns out negative and I don't get shortlisted for YP as well, my self-confidence would touch the rock bottom. Also, in case I get called for OSD, I need to prepare like hell. Anyway, good bye for now. I am feeling relieved (from the guilt conscious) after writing this.
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