Dear Editor,

I would like to share my experience regarding the interview process for the CEO of the newly established Ministry of Sports and Recreation in which I was shortlisted.

I have outlined my deepest disappointment and utmost dissatisfaction in my letters to the chairman and the interview panel with the way my interview was communicated to me from the very beginning by the Public Service Commission and how the communication was handled pre, during and in particular, by the interview panel post-interview.

It was difficult to comprehend and accept the decision made immediately after the “never happened” interview to exclude me due to the failure of the Zoom link set up by PSC interview coordinators to connect me to the interviewing panel and without even given another opportunity to be interviewed.

Importantly, absence of any communication from the panel for several days immediately after the failed interview. After a long agonising wait for three days without a word from the PSC or the interview panel, I eventually wrote to the chairman for some answers regarding the status of my interview.

I’ve invested much time and effort in preparing my application, cover letter, curriculum vitae and registered supporting documents to ensure that all essential requirements of the position are fulfilled as advertised on the Public Service Commission website.

To be told you are excluded from the interview without even getting interviewed is extremely hard to fathom, to say the least. I even offered to fly over at my own expense for a face-to-face interview with the panel, if another Zoom interview could be arranged.

Why am I sharing this? I hope with my very best intentions that no one else will suffer this dilemma in the future. And it’s up to the Public Service Commission to address this in a professional manner and put in place solutions to prevent this from happening again to someone else.

For the sake of these important government positions, those shortlisted are given every opportunity to stake their credentials in fairness in the final interview on why and how they are the perfect fit for these roles. After all, you want the most qualified person to be appointed on merit and not by favouritism or otherwise.

Finally, I wish the appointed CEO the best of luck. And to the panel: Ua fa’akakope foi kou mea ae le fai mae’ae’a, e iai foi isi auala e fa’akigo ai interview ele ga o le Zoom. E le valea foi gei kagaka.

Lalau Pauli William Pritchard Fong