Job hunting (part 2)

Have you read the first part of my article about my job hunting experiences? Have you thought about those times when you were looking for your first job? How did you feel about it?

In the first part of my article, I stopped at the part where I didn't receive any calls or invites for interviews. During those times, I felt a little depressed. I thought that it would be easy to get a job after you have graduate but I was so wrong. For some people I know it was easy but it wasn't the case for me. But that didn't stop me.

The next option was to do walk ins. Although it wasn't really advisable since I know some establishments only uses the resumes of some people as scratch papers. Yes, that is the truth. We have been a witnessed to that in the hotel where we had our practicum training. But for the sake of letting my parents know that I was serious on getting a job, I submitted my CV in all the hotels in Ortigas and Mandaluyong City. I only walked the whole area because hotels were just a couple or more blocks away. Under the scorching heat, I did that even if I know that they wouldn't notice me since it was for my first job plus the fact that some of the veterans in the kitchen department during my time were not a graduate of culinary arts. Back then you will only get absorbed by the hotel where you had your OJT if someone admired how you work or you have a backer. I do not know how it is nowadays but I am actually happy to see that there are hotels who now accepts people who graduated from culinary arts just like in Sofitel though I do not know if it also applies to fresh grads. But did you know that none of those hotels called me? I was so heartbroken but I have already expected it in the first place.

I did a lot of walk ins when I was looking for my first job and half of it was with my friend A. I would always ask her to come with me even if she still doesn't feel like looking for one. We even went to SM Megamall for the job fair. Our experience during that job fair was not that good. Yes there were a lot of companies who would interview you on the spot but most of it were from business process outsourcing (BPO) companies. When we graduated, call center jobs were booming but because we wanted to stick with our career path, we didn't submit our resumes to any of the companies in the job fair.

There was also a time when my friend A and I walked the whole stretch of Tomas Morato and gave our resumes to each of the restaurants there. Until it rained and we didn't have any umbrellas with us so we stayed in 1 coffee shop and waited for the rain to stop. We didn't want to stay in the store without ordering something and we decided to add our remaining money so we can buy a sandwich and a drink and we will just share it between the 2 of us. After we have finished eating, we also handed our resumes to the staff. LOL. Smooth right? And it was actually my first company but not in that branch but I had my first training there. Eventhough I was called months after we have submitted our resume, I was happy to reminisce the time that A and I applied in that coffee shop during my training. By the way, I have already mentioned earlier that I usually do walk ins with my friend A right? Remember my first panel interview where there was 1 interviewer and 5 applicants? It turned out to be A's first company.

Both of our first job was with a coffee shop. The funny thing is that we even started the same month of the year. Though A had an on call job during Christmas season at a hotel. Her mom accompanied her to one agency for hotels. I don't know how many days she worked as an on call but when my mom found out about that, she also wanted me to apply in that agency. I told her that I am not comfortable in working as an on call especially that there is no possibility that I would get hired or be absorbed by the company plus it was in Manila. Then when my mom interviewed A, she found out that there were times that A's schedule was graveyard. That was the reason my mom didn't forced me anymore in the agency where A applied to.

While I was waiting for a call, I exercised regularly and had a proper diet and that was the first time I lost a lot of weight. But even if I toned down, I still lack in some areas like in interviews. LOL. Anyway, since this is getting a little longer, I have to cut it for now and continue it tomorrow again. I never realized that I had a lot of job hunting experiences not until I shared it with all of you. So I hope you could also tell us what your unforgettable job hunting experiences in the past were.