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.