work history

I only have one thing on my mind after graduating in college; and that is to land my first job. I remember obsessing over the classified section on the Manila Bulletin, cutting the advertisement of potential employers. I must say that it was baptism of fire that even though I graduated with honors; I have to experience the real world which is full of rejections and uncertainties.

I am grateful to my boss and colleagues on my first gig. The plan was really to teach, but I don’t have any experience yet so I ended up doing office work. It was not that hard; and I was thrilled that I can study some of their courses for free. You see, when I was younger, I always dreamt of studying in their school, but financial constraints made it impossible. You can just imagine my joy when I finally been able to do so and earn money on the side.

Six months on the job and I was offered by my cousin to work in a production company that produces fashion shows and model search competitions. I thought that it would really be fun and exciting to work with her; and it really was. I was a marketing assistant and even now I surprised myself how did I survive doing that for nine months. The shows are glamorous on stage but it took blood and sweat to produce it. I admire my bosses in producing such shows that required creative genius and relentless PR. In retrospect, those are not my strengths; that is why I was not such an indispensable employee in that company. I also did not enjoy the shows because I was always on the sidelines or backstage. I was just thankful that I was less shy, more fashionable, more experienced and stronger during my stay with them.

After staging two successful shows, I decided to go with my guts and concentrate on teaching. English teachers had been in-demand abroad so I thought of gaining teaching experience on elementary level. While completing my 18 units of education, I was given a chance to teach grade one and two students. I would never win the Best Teacher award when it comes to my temper. I am not proud to say that there are instances that I acted not worthy of an educator. But God knows how I tried my best. And most of my stay there was pure fun. Being with children was an enriching experience and my co-teachers are the best teachers in the world. It took a lot of hard work and patience to be a teacher. Those are the qualities that I learned during my tenure on my first school.

In as much as I was happy there, we have to work every Saturday. At that time, I decided to take my Masters which I can only do during the weekend. I took that as a sign that I have to move to another school. My second school was bigger to the previous one and closer to my home. I handled grade two students. I enjoyed teaching despite the problem students that I encountered. But what I noticed was that I did not connect to my fellow teachers, especially to my boss. It was not a surprise when my boss told me that it is unsure if they will hire me again for the next school year. That only means that I would be fired.

Thank God for the call center industry! I trained to be in a Technical Support group. I definitely enjoyed the training on the English language. The technical side was another story, let me just say that that I have to retake the exam just to pass it. It was horrible! But the trainers had been considerate that they still sent me to the Operations. Taking calls of the clients had been really a nightmare. I just realized that I can be a technophobe, so what was my business troubleshooting the Internet of people on the other side of the globe? I once described myself on that time as a ‘headless chicken running around in circles”. It was that bad.

I decided to take a leap of faith and resign. My last salary from that call center was used to pay for my tuition fee for the LET review in PNU. I already finished my 18 units of Education and I dared to take the board exam. During that time, I am already aware of the educational shift called On-line English teaching wherein you would teach your foreign students using the Internet and telephone. So while slaving away on studying for the test, which I eventually passed with a respectable score, I also tirelessly applied for a job. After several hit and miss, I finally secured a job in a Korean company called Xepesys Inc. and for almost five years,I never looked back, until now.