Y20 2013 Selection Process: Insights from the Interview Round

What does a health science student in Canada, a young banker in Jakarta, an undergraduate student in Bandung and an engineer in London have in common? All four of them are glued to their laptops, opening Skype and participating in the interview round to represent Indonesia at the upcoming Y20 summit in St Petersburg, Russia.

G20 Youth Indonesia will be interviewing a total of 19 outstanding Indonesian young leaders from around the globe. We started this past weekend and will continue until next weekend. They are all finalists competing for the five-person Indonesian delegation to the 2013 Y20 Summit in St Petersburg, Russia.

Each candidate are interviewed by two members of G20 Youth Indonesia plus one observer via Skype call. They are asked twelve questions and assessed on how they defend their arguments, how they present their ideas and how good their English speaking skills are.

This is my second year of working to select the Indonesian delegation for the G20 Youth Summit (now Y20 Summit) and I must say that the interview stage is my personal favorite. I absolutely love having discussions with the best and brightest youth leaders of Indonesia, to ask them questions about domestic and foreign policy and to be asked questions in return. Interacting with these people truly make you realize that there are lots of hidden (and not so hidden) gems in the country's youth. Every year, they seem to be getting better and brigther.

Ariana Alisjahbana is the head of recruitment for G20 Youth Indonesia