So let’s say you’ve made it into the foreign ministry or equivalent in your country. Congratulations! Chances are, you had to overcome quite a few trials and tests. If you’re a Singaporean foreign service staff reading this, then even more so.
I have a secret to tell you – I never went through the assessment process. I can’t remember why but I know that once I cleared the Public Service Commission (PSC) interview process, that was it. Moving on….
I remember my first six months in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Singapore very well. It was quite a rough and tumble time for me as I struggled to adjust. I am more than happy to admit that I was neither smart nor capable enough to understand what it was I was supposed to do. So I fumbled my way around, stepped on a lot of toes, and all round suffered.
But that does not have to be your experience. There are a few things you can do to make the settling in period a lot more tolerable. First of all, accept your Jon Snow status. Yes, that Jon Snow from Game of Thrones.
Three words.
You’re welcome.
There are folks who take to the job much more quickly than others. They didn’t study international relations – I don’t think there is a degree that can really prepare you for the job. But what they did have was a willingness to learn from their supervisors, Director-Generals, and even the slightly more experienced peers. They would ask questions when they were not sure about something. Being willing to ask questions is half the equation though. The other half is also vital, namely, being able to understand the answer given to you.
Then there is the ability to learn from mistakes, and the resilience to get up after falling. I think this one is especially important because there is an unfortunate tendency for some supervisors to flip out over mistakes being made. I can’t even begin to count the number of times I had to deal with a tongue-lashing. It was part of what made the initial process hard.
Even worse though, when I was a supervisor myself, I did lose it on a couple of occasions. And I regret those occasions. I don’t think such outbursts are unique to the foreign service or the public sector. Pressure can do a lot of things to a person.
But it does not make it alright. If you find yourself at the receiving end of such behaviour, you have to either adapt or move on. There is no wrong with moving away from a negative environment.
If you’re wondering what I chose, the answer is I didn’t because I was bonded for six years or so. Thus, I sucked it up and continued muddling through.
There was the Foreign Service Basic Programme (FSBP) which ran through Sep 2005. I had a lot of fun during that programme but it’s fair to say that I was less focussed on learning. But I did make a lot of good friends though.
But aside from the FSBP, the training is mostly on the job. I found myself lost a lot of the time, and I developed many poor coping mechanisms. However, it was not all bad. I had to take some time off for National Service Reservist training in March 2006. By that time I had worked for about seven months or so, and suddenly I was off for about three weeks to relearn how to handle weapons and other.. stuff.
When I returned to work, I found that I somehow understood stuff a little bit better. I can’t explain it, but I think that during the time away from the office, my brain consolidated what I had learnt and undergone during that initial period. And so I felt like I knew what I was doing.
Anyway, my main point is, keep an open mind, and try to learn as much as you can in the initial period. Don’t be too caught up with the environment you find yourself in, and build a support network among your peers. My FSBP support network was so awesome and a lot of those friendships have endured to date.
That’s all for now, I’ll be posting more tips on surviving those first few years in HQ in the next one.
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