i thought i've already decided. i was going to leave my current company and go search for a new one. pronto.
i have accepted the fact that i may be unemployed for sometime and that money would be hard to come by. that's the biggest challenge i would be facing especially this
coming holiday season.
i once read that "you'll know you've made the right decision when you picked the harder choice and your heart is at peace" (from youngblood 3, i forgot the
title of the essay and the writer... sowee...) and i believe it.
the last company i was with,i stayed for 2 years. it was one of the best (if not the best) company in the BPO (business process outsourcing --- "call center")industry. i left when i felt that i have already gotten everything that i can from the job. in tagalog, wala na. yun na yun. todo todo na. naabot ko na ang lahat ng
pwede kong maabot sa posisyon ko nung panahong yun.
add this to burn out (from doing the same thing over and over again for 2 years), fatigue, lack of sleep and health issues (i developed hypertension during those
times and it still haunts me to this day), my desire to go back to school (i'm an undergraduate), my options of going abroad (the future is bright, you know) and you
will get the sum total of why i left.
anyway, nung umalis ako dun, mabigat sa dibdib. mabigat talaga... as in.
after 2 years of working hard, trying to establish myself, making a name for myself, knowing the product/service by heart (i can still remember our service and how we present it to our customers) and dedicating two years of my life to it, hindi ako
makapaniwala na natapos ang lahat sa isang papael at isang pirma ko.
isa pa sa hindi ko mapaniwalaan ay kung gaano ako ka-"at peace" sa decision kong yun... mahirap, oo. alam ko na matatagalan bago ako magkapera ulit (45 business days
bago ko makuha yung last pay ko) at alam kong mejo kakailanganin kong magtipid. eh dun pa naman ako hirap na hirap... hahaha
walang feeling ng defeat. walang disappointment. walang feeling of inadequacy. pero ang nanay ko, malungkot. hahaha
i guess i was blessed in having a family and a circle of friends who, after saying "ba't ka nagresign? sayang naman", never judge me and respected my decision. so did
my team lead who, quite frankly, seemed to be happy to be rid of me... hahaha
nung bandang huli dahil nga alam ko na pa-resign na 'ko... hehehe
i was unemployed for 8 months after that. my friend lavinia said that it might've been my karma for letting go of something i shouldn't have. i disagree. because
during that 8 months, i only went to job interviews like 3 or 4 times so i think i didn't miss out on that much.
during the 8 months that i was unemployed, i lost a lot of weight. i got my hypertension under control, i got caught up with my favorite tv series, i was able to
watch my DVDs (by then i had a lot that i haven't seen) and i was able to reconnect with my friends and family. i really made sure that i was relaxed and was enjoying
every minute of every day. i was in unemployment heaven.
so now when people ask me how to lose weight, i simply answer: "stop working". they laugh but i'm serious. no work = no money. no money = nothing to buy food with. no
food = losing weight. makes sense?
anyway, it took me eight months before i finally decided that i need to have a job. so i took what's left of my money, printed a fresh batch of resumes and went job hunting.
i was supposed to apply in a company in the same building as my previous company (i was employed in a company whose fortress hails in robinson's equitable tower, 24th floor. go figure) but during that time, the other company was looking for someone else. i didn't fit their needs during that time. i fit half of it, though... hahaha
so i went someplace else. i wanted to apply in a center located in raffles bldg (hint: this company recently changed its name. the previous name, as far as i know
was from a spice and they had the word "solutions" after the spice). so i went to raffles bldg. where the guard graciously told me that the HR department of the said
company is in Discovery suites (yet another clue!). i thanked the guard and made my way to discovery suites.
after crossing the street, i spotted a colleague from 2 years ago. i stopped and asked him where he's working at the moment and he just pointed to the building where we met and said "bumalik ako dito.". my only question was "hiring ba sila?" "ewan ko. try mo sa 8th flr." he answered.
it was then that all the memories of this place came back.
hanston building.
i was here 2 years ago. when i was here, i had a bf (ui... haha) and this is where i had my first taste of "outbound". i wondered if they'll take me back. i bravely marched to the elevator and pressed the up button. when i got to the 8th floor, i saw.......... no one. only a few people were applying. i guess nothing's changed... =p
in the lobby, i was waiting for my initial interview while listening to the other applicants talk about their former companies, their reasons of why they chose to
apply in this particular company and a few more topics i didn't care a bleep about.
i was in bella mode with my big dark glasses acting as a screen so i was spared the torture that is "small talk" with complete strangers. thing is, when i'm going through an interview, i tend to alienate everyone in the immediate vicinity (except for the interviewer). i run through my answers to common questions so i wouldn't
stutter or buckle during the interview itself. of course i do this in my mind, lest everyone thinks i'm crazy.
so after rehearsing my lines about 5 times in my head, i tried to entertain myself with the people around me, without them knowing. at least two of them were talking
(more like boasting) about a class/seminar that they have been attending (and paying for every session) for the past week or so. they were all newbies (call center
virgins, people who don't have any experience in the call center industry) and was actually talking a big game.
i wanted to see what they're worth (just to see if the freakin' seminar works) and fortunately, i was called with 3 of them for the initial panel interview. i was psyched. not to belittle anyone, but my confidence was very high that day. i was ready for a battle.
during the interview, i was called first. i was asked to introduce myself and say something about me. chicken feed. i can answer that question while doing an art project, one eye closed and sipping coffee. i recited my speech and smiled. the interviewer was obviously pleased with my answer and proceeded to ask me 2 or 3 more
questions about my resume. then the others were asked to introduce themselves and say something about them.
"i'm hard working" said one. wrong answer. for me at least. how can you prove you're hard working? his resume was empty. no work experience at all.
"i'm honest" said the other. alright, who isn't?
"i'm dependable" said the third. i need money, can i depend on you?
there were other answers straight out of my grade school good manners and right conduct textbook. things you can't prove (when asked to) or provide evidence that you
really are the things you claim to be. and accent and pronunciation are also not that good... even to me who hasn't been in the front line of the action for 8 months. i knew how proper pronunciation sounded like.
my answers were more practical. i said i was a smoker and if the interviewer asked me to prove it, i would have light up right in front of her. there are other ways to introduce yourself other than creating the illusion that you are a goody two shoes who won't do any harm to the company. what are you? a saint? last time i checked, they were all dead.
later on, in the lobby, while waiting for the interview results, the others started talking to me. and since i knew that exams were the next step, i was out of bella
mode.
"'eto ang galing nito eh" said guy number one. i was humbled. i smiled sweetly.
"oo nga. ang tahimik pero ang galing pala" said the girl.
"kabadong kabado ako tapos nung nagsalita na 'to lalo akong kinabahan" guy #2 said.
what can i do? i needed the job and in my opinion, i could have done a lot better.
i smiled at them and told them that it was all in the mind. and it takes a lot of practice to introduce yourself the way you want others to see you. and i've had a lot of practice. i told them to continue practicing and never lose hope (when the dreaded envelope finally came --- the one that confirmed they didn't pass).
i went on with the hiring process and was lucky enough to be hired and for a pioneering account none the less.
it was the icing on the cake. or so i thought. i was given the cherry after i signed the contract. my schedule wasn't going to be a graveyard shift (a shift that starts in an ungodly hour and ends when the sun is all ready to burn your skin). my shift was 4pm -1am. i like it.
so much for that. more stories of this adventure on my next posts. although, you can find some stories about this job in previous posts.
i apologize for not writing sooner... i'll be writing again soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment