How I Purposely Defined My Career

I must admit, when I went off to college I really did not know what I wanted to become. I originally wanted to take anthropology. I've just always been fond of learning about the past and how it has shaped who we are today. And that curiosity has stayed with me until today. The first thing I did when the pandemic was announced was to do some research on how they survived and got back up from the Spanish flu. I super love watching documentaries and history feature films. 

My plan though got derailed and I ended up taking two degrees that were supposed to help me prepare to become a lawyer. I only realized what I really wanted to do when I was in my junior year in college. Too late to shift. I decided to finish my studies and started planning how to steer my career towards what I really wanted. I started taking my masters degree a year after I graduated. 

I firmed up how I wanted to steer my career when we had marketing classes. I super loved the idea of becoming a product manager. I slowly began to understand what skills I needed to develop to become one. Midway through my studies I joined my Mom's company and helped her to export her product. I learned a lot during that time since you need to learn everything when you're a business owner (I was the business owner's only staff outside of our workers). 

Unfortunately exporting our product became unfeasible and Mom decided to close her company. I was without a job and I started selling baked goods to sustain my studies (and Miggy's). I realized it was time to put into action my plan. Armed with experience I applied for two jobs. One was to become a marketing manager for a furniture company and the other was to be a product manager for an exporters directory. 

I failed miserably when I interviewed for the furniture company because I got super nervous when they immediately put me in front of the company president. I went home really sad, but was determined to nail my next interview. My Kuya counselled me to over-prepare so that's what I did. I got the job. 

And the skills list that I made I started to check it off. I never said no to a project, no matter how hard it would be I would just do it and treat it as a learning experience. And that's how I picked up the skills I needed to keep moving forward. I basically treated my career as a huge learning experience while doing something I enjoy. I went through ten jobs until I found one where I continue to learn everyday.

I realized now it was not so much about identifying a "title" you'd want to have on your business card. It's really more about gaining more skills as you go along. My director told me that if I wanted to move to my job I could be a GM already. It's not what I want though since I still enjoy what I do. I think as much as I didn't earn the original degree I wanted, I'm living it and more. And you'll be at the right place when you let God lead the way for you. 

I thought I'd post this tidbit since one of my anaks recently asked me advise about moving forward with his career. And he pointed out that I gave him a good idea to ponder on. I guess my perspective has been this way because my Ate and Kuya told me when I growing up that if you end up working on something you love doing, you'd never work a day in your life. 

#CB//240 #StuckAtHomeDay/270 #WFH160 #StayHome #BeKind   

Changing Jobs and 100 Plurk Karma

No, not me. That thought has not crossed my mind for several years now because I am where I targeted myself to be.

Anyway, the thought crossed my mind because a number of my friends over at Plurk have been thinking about moving jobs. Yesterday I found myself at the  building where I used to work 10 years ago. And that made me think, what made me decide to change jobs throughout the years?

My very first job was as a student assistant/do-everything-you can for a research institute and that's where I experienced helping out organize a conference with dignitaries as guests. My 

beloved boss was a fire-breathing dragon who used to throw around landline phones when in rage. I learned discipline. I quit because I had to finish my thesis and had to manage my time being EIC of our literary publication.

My second job wasn't so bad. I freelanced as a writer for a petroleum company. It was pretty exciting and opened up a whole new world to me. My boss was really great and she kept feeding me (thought I was too thin). I had to move though from her department to the another one for my OJT. I learned job dedication. I could've stayed, but I was advised that there was a glass ceiling for women in the company. 

I took my third real-not-student-assistant-or-freelance job a few weeks before I graduated. I was willing to work even just for the free unlimited calls mobile phone. LOL. It was for a telco and I was part of the first 500 employees (they have thousands of employees now). I was happy working in our sardine-cubicle, sharing a table with 4 other girls. I acquired people skills. I left because they were demanding for us to have 7 p.m. meetings everyday. The job paid well, but it was a choice between quality of life vs. quantity of money. It was my first job heartbreak.

After getting traumatized I helped my parents in their export business while I was taking my MBA. I lived and breathed what I learned in school through our business. I learned the reason why you have to employ people - because you cannot do everything for your business! I learned the value of being a stakeholder. I eventually moved because the orders we got from other countries did not push through because of the financial crisis. 

I worked for several companies after that and thought that I had the worst luck in the world when it came to immediate supervisors. I encountered 2 more fire-breathing dragons who never seemed to be satisfied with anything or anyone. There were days I'd find myself under my table crying, but their screaming-rages, insults and lies never deterred me. Why? Because that was the time that I really loved my job and no amount of kicking waned me from learning more. I eventually left because I thought I might lose my self-esteem. I learned to keep learning.

And just like finding the right person for me, I had full appreciation for the next job. I could not help but shed a few tears when I arrived at campus 3 years ago. Because I had found the right one. And I felt I belonged. I felt I was where I was supposed to be. And so here I am a happy worker. 

Oooohhh this post has become very long! I was just supposed to give some food for thought on why you should change jobs:

1. Don't let it be because you hate your boss. Always try to learn something from them (even if they are fire-breathing dragons).

2. You have to love your job. So if you and your job don't fit. Find another one.

3. It's also not good to move jobs every few months. Best do it every 2-3 years.

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I've reached 100 karma on Plurk! Woohoo!