Sunday, June 17, 2007

In The Office

There are so many things you learn when you're in the office. Like you have to type information in someone's contacts list, or you have to copy links to a file, or encode a voice transcription into an excel file, or just type in a transcription into a word file.

Or at times, learn from your officemates about life in general. They share experiences you've never encountered before. Or they'll share their insights on some thoughts.

You see, in life, we never stop learning. We learn new things everyday, we discover new angles to old ideas, that there was such a thing as this or that. When other people think that what they know is what's important. Well, it doesn't work that way. That idea may be passe already and it needs some polishing and it has to have more than what it already has.

This saying may not be related to what I'm discussing here but as what people say, there's always hope when you're alive and kicking. So, there's still a chance for those people who are living to change their ways, learn from their mistakes, learn how to bend and be humble and think about things in a different light and not to stick to what they believe in.

This doesn't just apply only to the office environment. This applies to every place we know - the school, the home, the church, wherever else you can think of.

Think about it.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Back in Business

Well, hello, there! It's me again. It's been almost a month since the time that I blogged here. I just want to say that it's good to be back again. I mean blogging. There's just one thing. I had a creative writing student but he stopped coming over and didn't even tell me he'd be stopping. That's so grrr! I mean he didn't even text me a day before or what. I even made a powerpoint presentation for the day's lesson then, he just didn't appear.

Some people have the nerve, right? I didn't even charge him anything for the time and effort that I gave him. It's not fair. But what can I do? I'm not an expert on the subject, I just wanted to help. At least, have the decency to tell me that I'm not helping or anything that's why we'd have to stop the lessons.

Anyway, I just got a babysitter last Monday and I plan to go back to work with a vengeance by not taking my days off, if they will permit me. I want to prove to them that I'm not that pabaya with my work. And that the job is really for me and I want to help the firm achieve its goals through my services, if I could really help.

Please pray for me that I will be given the chance to work. I just want to pay back my absences. And make up for lost time.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

In the Office, finally

Hello, there! I'm here now in B&M office and I finally got a permanent job, not contractual, not just temporary, I mean probationary right at the start. I'm so happy that this company took me in and appreciates my talents. That I am worth hiring in their company. What more can I say? I should do well so that I would be regularized in 3 months or so.

I just am so lucky I was one of the chosen ones to be part of the document support centre of this company. I'm part of the voice file transcription specialist team. I'm more of a transcriber and I will get to practice my talent here.

Wish me luck!

Thank you.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Jobs

Today, I made a boo-boo. I told a client that I couldn't finish the job and they almost reprimanded me for doing so. I should've told them ahead of time and that I shouldn't have made promises that I could accomplish the job in a certain period of time. Although I really did want to make the deadline longer but I wasn't certain they would do so. I feel like such a failure at this point. I should've told them earlier and gave them all back because I couldn't do it. I was even told that I could raise my price if it was difficult or something. I wasn't really after the difficulty or whatever it is, I was after the quality of the work to be done. It was really such a terrible thing that I did. I mean I couldn't really get my mind off of it. Well, I learned something - if I have a bad feeling about it, do not accept it. Yes, I learned my lesson. Actually, right at the start, it was really something like a disaster already. I could foretell it was because I wanted to back out already because I didn't have the proper equipment, they didn't want to let go. Number two, I wanted to see if I could do it, the girl was giving me just two tapes and she decided to give me all the tapes. Then, the next day, I called her and told her I don't think I could do it because it was really such a mess I mean the people in the tape were all talking at the same time that it was going to be hard for me to understand and it would take a longer time for me to transcribe it. But she told me to go on with it. I really wanted to back out then. But the girl was insistent.

But now, it seems it was all my fault that I failed. I still went on with the project. I feel so bad about it. It's my credibility that was at stake. And it's gone. But I guess I just have to face it bravely, without fear because we all are humans and we make mistakes. We should learn from them.

And to add to the injury, when I went to the BUREAU OF INTERNAL REVENUE, I had cases that I didn't know existed. My gosh! I still had to pay taxes. I'm just a small fish compared to the famous actors and actresses who really run away from paying their taxes. I just can't imagine my life situation like this.

I'm not a criminal so why do I have to suffer this way? Is it karma? Because I've been so haughty against some people in the neighborhood? Well, whatever it is, it would all be over. Soon.

Friday, May 4, 2007

THE ANSWER

Wow! Finally, I got the answer to my prayers. I really prayed hard for it and I got it. That's what I have been trying to do the past few weeks. Just thinking positive and using the visualizations I've read in several articles over the internet, it really works. That's what the Secret is also trying to promote. It's believing that you have a powerful mind that gets you going, that makes things happen. All you have to do is to concentrate on that very thing that you want and think it's already there. Do this everyday and you will get what you want, without you knowing it's already there, just around the corner. Who knows, might be the next millionaire. Just let me know. It really helped me. I am not a millionaire, I just got what I was hoping and praying for.

Try it. You've got nothing to lose. Just have faith in whoever supreme being you believe in and think about that thing that you really want and for sure, you will get it.

Monday, April 23, 2007

Got a Job, Finally

Well, I must say my prayers were answered. I don't know how, I don't know how it came about. All I know is I have a job right now. I'm in a pr firm in Ortigas. It's actually my first day and I am free to do whatever I want today. Our oic for the day said, "It's a light day today so you can do anything you want - surf the net or chat or what have you." That's a good thing because I'm still trying to take in that's happening around me today.

I have applied to several companies and this one was the first one to call me after several months of waiting. I applied in January but it's only this month they called me, last Friday, to be exact.

Although I'm not really a pr person, I tried to answer their exam as best as I could. I was interviewed by the CEO then that time. It was a good thing that I brought my portfolio then. If not, it would've taken a longer time to process my application.

But as an applicant, even if I wasn't asked to bring my samples of work, I brought it, just in case they needed to see my articles or the way I write. The articles would be their basis as to my style of writing. At least, whoever wants to hire me can see that I can prove I have the writing ability. If I didn't get published, it means that I can't write, right?

As I previously mentioned, I have other pending applications in other companies. I told my daughter that even if the compensation was greater in the other office, I'm still not sure of my getting accepted because they are still waiting for other applicants to come in. And in the other applications, one company is still in the decision-making stage if they would get me or not, while another company put my application on hold because of my priorities.

And here I am right now in the office. I'm with a group of happy people. I hope they would always be happy even if they're busy and stressed out.

I'm still thankful I have been taken in. At least, I'm not a 'bum' anymore, waiting for people to call me at home. Actually, that was the consideration I thought of. I was called twice and I felt that I'm needed that's why I'm here. I also hope I do justice to the job. Wish me luck!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2MqciSMOmk

Saturday, April 21, 2007

In Limbo???


Well, I don't know where my life is headed right now. I'm in between jobs. I'm not sure if I'll be taken in by this company I've applied to. I have to wait for their decision. I just wish someone would hear my prayer and give me the job that I really want. And compensate me well, enough to pay my bills, send my kids to school, and hire a nanny.

Although I typed in another entry that life's been great. Yeah, it has been because of the help that I needed at a time I was in the dumps. Right now, I still have to pray hard for what God wants me to work for. I will just leave it all to His decision, what He wants for me.

After all, He's our Boss.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Application Time

Geez! I was really surprised today because I was supposed to go to a call center and apply as a call center agent and be like a living zombie. Meaning a life without a nightlife. But I called the office of the person who I was about to turn down. And voila! I talked to her over the phone and discovered that I was one of the shortlisted applicants from the email and she wanted me to apply as a writer and be part of their company. And the pay was way, way higher than I had expected. Can you beat that?

Actually, I was turning down this offer because it was a day shift job and I would find it hard to work during the day because of my daughter's time for herself with her friends when she wants to go out.

But I couldn't resist the lady's offer of the job that I would be missing so I decided to pursue my application with them and she gave me an exam, take home exam at that, mind you. Yes, she is quite lenient and patient with me. She told me over the phone that she was impressed with my resume and I assumed that people really wouldn't be impressed with my resume because of the job hopping kind of background I had.

But I do hope and pray that I would be part of the team and I'm also hoping that I'd make good in the exam.

Thank you, Lord, for clearing my mind and making me see that there are other jobs out there that could fit my qualifications and be appreciated by other people.

I hope I'm not being preachy. Well, thanks again to the One above.

See you guys around!

Take a typing test and see how fast you are

 free typing test (c) CalculatorCat.com 

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Looking for the Right Job

I feel so down today. It's one of those days that leaves me uninspired. It's when companies tell you that they're not sure they'll hire you because you're not fit or you have a baby to take care of or that your resume is filled with short-term jobs which makes things really not nice.

I mean I don't know what it means when they say they put your application on hold that you're being compared to someone else's credentials and they'll give an update after 2 weeks. It's as if they're having second thoughts on my personality. It's really tough on me because I like the job and I can do the job for them. I don't know what's keeping them from hiring me. I wish people would tell me.

That's the problem with Filipinos, they can't say it straight to the point. People, or applicants for that matter, would have to guess what's wrong with them. That's how life is here in the Philippines. Unlike in other places. You would know right away why you don't qualify for the job. At least, even if it breaks your heart, you know where you went wrong. And they did not leave you hanging.

It's really sad for me.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Taking Application Exams

Well, recently, I just had another transcription exam. It's kind of unique because we were all tested for this copy and edit thing from PDF to word. It was hard because I thought I was good already in exploring word but when I took this exam, I felt I didn't know a thing. Then, we also had an exam on powerpoint. We were supposed to make a powerpoint out of the file they showed us and had to do some tricks to keep it to their format, not the client's. Then, there was the typing test. As usual, it was typing master. Wow! It was great because I got 88 words per minute there and finished the 10 minute typing test in I think 7:45 minutes. That was really the best part for me. And, the final test, the audio transcription. It was the voice of an executive dictating what the transcriber has to do. It was a good dictation because of the voice quality and the pace of the person dictating. It wasn't really that hard. It was actually fun to work on. I hope I really did my best there. The accent was Australian but it was understandable.

Then, I also applied for this website as an internet researcher. The second phase of the application was an exam. There were three parts - Multiple choice, typing, and an essay. The multiple choice was quite confusing but I hope I made the right choices. Then, the typing. I just had to copy verbatim and type fast. I don't know if I typed that fast though. Then the essay. I read the topic and it was about global problems of hunger, poverty, animal extinction, pollution, as in the problems that we face in the new millennium. I was tasked to write down my solutions to these problems. I guess these problems were problems that would entail the governments to do something about it. Or, some problems like water scarcity could be done by saving water starting from the home. And disease spreading could be stopped by starting from ourselves that we should clean everything before we use them and that governments should also disseminate information about that disease if there was an outbreak. It was really not so hard but kind of general. But for those things to be solved, we can start from our own homes. Then, we could help in the community, then the city and then the whole country. For someone like me, I could do very little if I was tasked to solve those problems. But if we do it as one nation or one world, we could very well succeed.

To top it all, I guess examinations aren't that hard, come to think about it. After taking so many exams in the past, I must say I'm a pro at doing this. They're always just exams. After that, the waiting comes. It's the verdict that makes me tense. Interviews aren't that hard either. I mean, I always have this mind set: that the ones who would interview me are also humans, they're not perfect but they're good in their job. So, don't be tense when you're being interviewed. It's just like talking to a boss or a friend but make sure you know your limits.

Thank you and good day, everyone!

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Life's Been Great!


I say this because I've been blessed with a good life, even if I'm jobless at the moment. I have things to work on to keep me moving. I have a baby girl who gives me strength to go on living, I have my children who keep me on my toes when it comes to using the telephone or the computer and I know they love me very much. I have a family who has fully supported me all these years, who never lost their hope in me that I would make it, not to the top, but to have a contented life.


Then there's someone who's just there to cheer me up, to keep my spirits up and just makes me happy. He knows who he is. Though everything that has happened is also a mystery. Just like in my previous post, it all just happened. It's not the 3 letter word though. It's nothing of the sort. How I wish I could...whatever. It's something so...ugh, I just couldn't explain it. People wouldn't believe it could happen. Neither could I believe it happened. It's something so unusual that it's the first time I've experienced something like this. He knows that. And I really thank him for coming into my life. Maybe without him, my life would be just my kids, my family and me, no him. It wouldn't be any fun.


Not that I'm not happy with my family. I'm happy when I'm with them and when we're all laughing. It's just that he gives that certain kind of happiness you couldn't find anywhere else. Only he could give such emotion. It's unusual because he's not here and yet I could feel him, I could see him in my mind, touching my very soul.


I know people wouldn't understand because it's something so outrageous and crazy and impossible. But we made something possible out of the impossible. It's hard to believe but it's true.


Well, I'll leave it at that. And I hope you guys out there can think about it even if you don't have any idea of what I'm talking about.


It's a wonderful world!

Can you guess what it is?

Well, hello again! It's another day. But it's a nice feeling because I know that someone out there loves me for who I am. I just couldn't put my finger on it. I mean I don't understand how it all happened but it did even if I avoided it, it just happened. I always question why me, of all people. I'm not that young anymore and yet, I still get to do things that young people do. I know you're kinda lost here. I just don't want to spill the beans yet. I just want to keep you guessing. Maybe you know already. But just you can guess what I'm talking about. It's not something tangible. It's a feeling that people think they are capable of. Now, you know.

If you still don't know what it is, well, then, maybe you should experience it first and then you'll know what it's like to be in it. It's fun, it hurts, but sometimes there's that tingle that it gives you. I'm sorry to keep you guessing. I just don't want to be direct at the moment. I should give people that feeling of suspense for once. Because I've always been a direct kind of person that sometimes I get to be tactless and people know me right away. Right now, I want to give out that air of mystery about me.

Well, I hope you had a nice time reading this. It's really kinda weird though. I just want to keep things to myself first. And when I'm perfectly sure about it, that's the time I'd give the word out.

Thanks.

Milay

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Two Days in the Life of an Applicant - Geez!

Well, good day, folks! Today, I went to another appointment in an office in Pasig. I was applying as a web content writer for this data solutions company. I actually didn't know what I was getting into but I tried my best to answer the exams.

The first exam was about writing an article spoiler for a television series which starred Kiefer Sutherland and the other one was to write a biography and something about the characters of a super hero in a television series. The first one took me almost an hour to finish because even if it was that famous on cable, I wasn't watching the series, not even a glimpse of it. The one about the super hero thingy, that, too, I didn't know anything about but thanks to technology, I was able to get information about them and was able to finish the exam. So, I thought the exam would cover just those topics but I was wrong.

I was handed another exam. It was about re-writing this article on Insurance for senior citizens. It was a long article that I had to re-write. It practically took me another hour to finish because I wasn't sure how I would attack the article. I don't know how I get to do it, but I get to finish these tough exams even if I wanted to give up right at the start, like I just want to hand over the exam to the girl assisting me and tell her, "Ma'am, I don't think I could do this. I give up. Thank you for your time anyway." But, no, I didn't. I went on with it and even got to do something about it. When I thought that it was hopeless, that I wouldn't be able to understand what the topic was about or something. The instructions were to rewrite the whole article and change the title to a slightly different slant from the original and make sure that no phrases are copied exactly the same way as in the article. But I couldn't not copy some phrases because these were quotations from the article's sources that's why I retained their thought.

Anyway, just hope and pray that I pass, which is somewhat 50-50. I am not that confident I would get this job. I certainly have reservations about it. But it would be okay if I get accepted though.

But that's not the only job I applied for. Yesterday, I went to this office in Makati where I took audio transcription exams. The first one was quite tough because of the quality of the material and the voices of the speakers weren't that clear. It took me quite some time to finish the task. Maybe it was around half an hour of transcription or so for a 2-minute worth of audio material. That's something, isn't it? When I thought I could do that in a jiffy since I could understand different English accents because of frequent watching of foreign films.

But the problem was I was quite disappointed with what the first interviewer told me. I was too slow for their line of work because the files of audio materials were mostly that kind of quality and the transcriber would have to transcribe the file in real time, if not in just a few minutes, not 20 nor 30, in 3 or 5 minutes only! Can you beat that? I was really so depressed when I found out that I couldn't transcribe that fast. And I was told I couldn't keep going back to the audio material leisurely because I was really time pressured. Or else the files would pile up and they would lose clients.

So I guess, that job isn't exactly for me. And the pay isn't really that much. There would be training and it's night shift and I would receive just 7,000 for the training period. It was something like, hey, I have kids to feed and look after, I can't simply take in that amount, it wouldn't be enough. I was asking for an amount more than twice that given but I don't think they're willing to do so because of the way I typed in the exam.

There were several short audio files then and I thought I did well with them. There was one that was worth 1 and a half minutes. But I finished it in 20 minutes, tops. Gosh, the audio was poor because of the generation loss of the tape because it was taken from an answering machine then passed on to the computer that's why it's not from an original source. Maybe it's not the job for me too, huh?

Wow, this is the first time I tried to write in a blog and this is what turned out. A novel. Well, it's sharing my experience to other people, if they get to read my blog. I hope they won't get bored. Til next time. I'll see you soon! I'll write another exciting snippet of my life here on the Cat in the Bag.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Welcome to my Humble Abode!

Welcome to my new abode! Maybe it's about time I get out in the open. Oh, no, I'm not gay or anything, it's just that I want to come out now in a blog with my crazy ideas that's always going on inside this little head of mine. There's nothing wrong in trying to be a writer, right? I mean I'm a writer and I have published articles but that doesn't mean I'm the greatest. These days, there are a lot of good writers around. We just don't notice them.

I'm not sure if I'm a good writer though because my vocabulary is not that high as in I just use very simple words that people could understand unlike an entertainment columnist who writes with high-falluting words that I wouldn't understand. Maybe you could say I'm one of the masses. But I really want to express myself in very simple words. That's why you wouldn't see me using all those very formal words people use to say something. Uh-uh, not me, okay?

I'm your typical, old-fashioned and simple writer who gets the word across - no matter what.

Next time, I'll upload my picture here so you could see who Milay 68 is.