jobs - Cerebral Insights

gray areas

In life there are things I consider as black and white; right and wrong. There is absolutely no gray area in between. For example, it is wrong to murder and though I watch dozens of gory films where they slaughter each other 90% of the time, I still won’t consider doing the act myself. Another thing (and I don’t mean to judge anyone with this) is I consider pms or pre-marital sex wrong and even though I long to have sex I will never do so unless I am actually married (so I guess I should hurry up and get married – just kidding!). Also I believe lying is wrong and even in the most scrutinizing moments I would rather remain silent than tell a lie against a truth that could implicate or hurt.

Yet there are also some things in life that are gray and never clear; leaving us with the discretion to figure out whether it is right or wrong. This is true for most things like the opportunities we chose to take or the life decisions we chose to make. Just as I believe that God gave man free will and intelligence to determine which of the countless opportunities he presents to him is for his best, then so I believe that one will never know if such gray areas are right or wrong unless one tries them out.

On Monday I plan to submit my resignation letter (finally!) and at the same time submit my resume to the adjoining company. Of course I still do not know if it is a right or wrong decision since basically the other company may very well fall into the BPO category even if it is a non-voice and completely different job description (med transcriptionist). I do not know if I will save myself from the current stagnation I am experiencing by jumping to this company – I probably will for the first 3-6 months while everything is a novelty to me but beyond that I cannot really tell. I do not know if I will do myself a huge favor by actually getting out of this company I am in before I receive my first 13th month pay.

But one thing I do know. My soul will never rest and will never be satisfied if I don’t try the other path. I am at a point in my life wherein I am free to try anything I chose to do; wherein I have no financial obligations to anyone except myself and wherein if I get into a tight financial spot I can still count on my parents to bail me out. Lucky me right? So why should I waste this golden opportunity stagnating myself in a company or in an industry wherein loyalty results to only miniscule salary increases and wherein jumping companies (otherwise known as piracy) is encouraged – for higher salary or rate that is.

So maybe I am making a right decision. Maybe not. But who can tell unless I make the decision, right?

Gray Matter of the Spinal Cord (the "butterfly" in the middle)

some light inside the dark tunnel

Enlightenment. That was what I somehow felt after reading the Metro article. I’m not even sure who the author was or what edition of Metro magazine it was (I think it was this month’s issue). I was in a hurry reading it as my session in the parlor (I had a manicure – which was sort of therapeutic for me) had almost ended and my mom was already impatiently waiting for me. I perused the article whose title captivated me. I perused it because I could relate to it.

The article talked about quarter life crisis. If we have midlife crisis, it has been discovered that there is also quarter life crisis. This struck young adults as they leave the world of schools and immaturity and enter the world of adulthood and serious responsibility. Of course no one would admit that they were immature when they were in college, not unless one realizes it later on. I, for one, like to think that I have been very mature when I was in high school and in college although when I look back at those times now, I realize my pettiness in the decisions I made.

Continue reading “some light inside the dark tunnel”

job fulfillement

job fulfillment. what is it really?

when i was young, i was idealistic. thinking that i could change lives through my job. not withstanding the salary. i had dreamed of being a barrio worker – a doctor perhaps. so that i could change lives. i believed service would be enough.

now i am more realistic. being in this industry, wherein fulfillment seems wanting. but salary is promising (if promotion is attained) – all hopes and dreams of service has been long erased. memories of a distant past. long forgotten.

but perhaps still awaiting some resurrection of sorts.

Working affords us a different perspective on things than when we were still students. As students, we look forward to holidays as signals of long school vacations and possible mountain loads of school work. As yuppies, we look forward to holidays as opportunities to be paid double for services rendered and maybe paid triple if the holiday happened to be our off and still we rendered our services.

Being yuppies seem to shift priorities from wanting to be on vacation mode all the time to wanting to earn more money all the time. This, or maybe the fact that I want one more day with someone, is the reason why I volunteered to work on a Maundy Thursday. It will be my first time working during the Holy Week. My first time not to be part of the tradition that have enveloped our household for years. Not that I really care much for the tradition or that I am regretting not being part of it – I haven’t really cared for the tradition in a personal way and as such I am all in favor of not being part of it.

Yet it still gets weird considering all this things. And I guess the holidays that I would really regret spending inside the floor would be the Yuletide holidays. It would be a sad day for me to spend those holidays away from home especially if my inspiration from work would also be away on leave. But I guess by that time I would have been promoted to something else and would be enjoying vacation leaves as well. I sure hope so.

On Jobs and Careers – An Update about me

Whenever I see signs that say “Start your call center career with us”, I smirk and wonder about the truth of such words. That was before. Now, I am of a different opinion. Why? Because I became part of the world I never thought I would be part of and I came to know all about this industry.

I used to know this industry as the call center industry, but now that I’m part of it, the more accurate term is BPO or Business Process Outsourcing Industry. I have come to realized that in this time of economic crisis, it is one of the most stable and fastest growing industry. More and more companies are outsourcing their customer services in order to focus more on their products and services and thus increase their profit margins. Thus the boom of BPO companies. And contrary to my former opinion, a career is indeed possible in such an industry for one cannot remain an agent for long. One must not remain an agent for long. Especially since there are a lot of promotion possibilities present.

Yet the downsides are indeed true. There’s the graveyard shift and the heavily smoking culture. But looking pass these, the opportunities are countless.

Enough for the introduction. The purpose of this blog is to update everyone who’s wondering where I am now.

I am a Technical Support Representative for McAfee under a BPO company – Sutherland Global Services and am now based in Camarines Sur. Technical support is quite a challenge and is very different from some of the usual forms of customer service. My responsibility is basically to provide troubleshooting steps to customers with regard to their McAfee softwares. And troubleshooting is mostly a free-flowing thing. It is not something that can be contained in a script. So basic skills necessary are the ability to probe, to listen carefully and to issue correct resolutions.

And since this is a technical account, I was trained on technical stuff. Imagine me, a Biology major, pursuing a technical job. Complete opposites right? But I managed. And now I am thinking of actually pursuing this job to become a Technical Foundation trainer. That means more studies in my part when it comes to techie stuff for after all technology is constantly evolving.

I never imagined in my life that I would go back to my province and pursue a career here. But here I am. I’m actually glad that Cam. Sur has a booming economy and as thus there are a lot of career opportunities here. What I like most about working in the province is the complete difference of the experience from working in Manila. There is no rush hour or heavy traffic or pollution. We have shuttle services to and from the city. Our site is located beside rice fields and we are constantly treated to fresh air and bird calls whenever we go out of the building.

The sight is also something. Imagine passing by rice fields on the way to work. Or seeing the majestic Mount Isarog whenever one goes outside the building. It is really a far cry from the sights I am used to in Manila.

And of course, here in the province, the lifestyle is much much simpler. Stores are closed by 8pm and by 10pm restaurants are closing. Well with the exception of a certain party strip where night people can have time to party. For the past few weeks I caught the 6am shuttle to work (my shift was 7am-3pm) and imagine the early morning scene of the city. It is already 6am but still the number of vehicles are quite few. In Philcoa, 6am is a pretty busy time for traffic. But here, the roads are almost clear.

Everyday, I am constantly surprised by the changes in the scenery of my life now. Everything is really very different.

Well I guess this is life. You never know what’s in store for you. You just have to believe that there is a perfect and wonderful plan for you.