Learning your 'inner' and 'outer' self

Inner qualities include your ideas, attitudes and outlook. Outer qualities include the way you carry yourself and the way you talk and dress.

"Some people have the best both and are considered charming as a result," says Asdavut, who holds a degree in art education from Chulalongkorn University and won a male model award from Praew magazine in 1992.

Inner personalities are evident during job interviews, the actor said, citing a friend's example: The wife of a factory owner was insulted by a group of job candidates who failed to wai her because they didn't know who she was. They didn't show respect and missed an opportunity to make an impression on a woman who had influence within the company, Asdavut says.

Showing respect to people, specially elderly ones, does you no harm, he says. "The old bloke wearing a faded shirt at the front door of a big company may be the company owner's father, who knows? You don't have to pay for a wai."

But sometimes people going into an interview focus only on the meeting and the interviewers, forgetting to notice what is happening around them. "The point is to take it easy and be polite to everyone," Asdavut said.

By Aree Chaisatien

The Nation