You see, it is a number game!

I am a veteran of job hunting. Immediately after graduation from college, I applied to not less than 100 companies. It may sound crazy but I got the last laugh. Out of that 100 companies around 20 responded. You see, it is a number game. The more resume you send the higher the chance of being employed. Of the 20 that responded, 5 landed me to an interview. Now, I've been to three companies, mingled with a lot of people, hardened by good and bad experience. My toughness is a direct results from being bloodied in the arena of work. Now I will share to you what companies are looking for an applicant which were collated from my journal:
Top Qualities Sought by Companies
1. Communication skills. You better polish your English. Whatever type of work, the skill in written and oral communication will not let you down.
2. honesty/integrity. Your grades will be your ticket to be hired but having an integrity will keep you promoted. Whom will you trust? A summa cum laude grad who steal time and money or an average guy who finish work with quality (thinking that his name is his only possession).
3. interpersonal skills. A worker who can relate well with other people is priceless. We are suckers for those who care.
4. motivation/initiative. A person who do his job even without asking. Is that you?
5. strong work ethic. Only one key be Christcentric and this ethic will follow.
6. teamwork skills. There is no place for loner in a work setting. If you want to do it alone be a hermit.
7. analytical skills. You can not escape the Math thing. Everything involve numbers.
8.flexibility/adaptability. When I mean flexible, I mean adopt to every situation.
9. computer skills. It's 2007, it's a requirement!
10. detail-oriented. You should practice it everyday. Utilize your skills in time-management.
Remember it's a number game. The higher your qualities, the more chance of you earning money.
Good luck!

ALC

My Birthday Wishes

It's my birthday on January 9. I am nearing mid-life. According to some this is the right time to assess a life, when you are in the middle. To check if you are a blessing or a curse to others. Even Confucius told bluntly eons ago that those people who reach mid-life and are despised will find it difficult to reverse the contempt of others. This will serve as a caution. There are lot of people in their 60's that regretted the things that they didn't do when they are in their middle age. But they can not turn back the hands of time. This I don't want to happen to me.
The real challenge now is to make my life a real gift to others. To avoid the curse of turning into a tiny speck which when blown away by the wind nobody notices anymore, because of being non-contributive.
Here's my wishes:
1. Health for me and my family. I am very much aware that physical and mental weaknesses are ambition killers. They destroy the will to win. I have to make sure that my family is healthy.
2. Enough money when I retire. I am an optimist by upbringing but to rely only on SSS pension is to invite poverty on my retirement years. Worse, SSS may not be there in the year when I retire.
3. My past, present and future students to have a job or create their own job. I am always praying for them and do everything possible to make them employable. To see them earn money and help their family is for me a real accomplishment.
4. My COMSCI faculty to always think that teaching is a gift. To teach less deeply is a mortal sin on our profession. In the corporate world, you work what's define in your job description and that's it. In the academe it's much more than that. How many students you have a semester? 200? 300? That's the number of souls and brain you need to shape. That's the gift that is not available in other profession.
5. Sacred Heart College as an academic institution to survive for the next hundred years. This is a college that serve the poor and will continue to serve it as long as we keep the vision and mission burning.
6. Philippines to have a political, religious and economic leader who love the country more than themselves.
7. For the highly skilled Filipinos to have the opportunity to work with a decent wage so that they will not work anymore outside the country.
These are my birthday wishes.

ALC
1/9/2007

Year 2027

For my colleagues, my brothers and all my blog readers around the world, may the lesson of this story bother you

ALC

It's the Year 2027 and the retirees of Lucena City, the capital of Quezon Province Philippines, were suffering from little or no money at all in their age when they need money most. The retirees were facing extreme poverty, yet no help was in sight. So the head of SSS and GSIS Lucena announced that they will meet all retirees in Lucena City Hall and it will be devoted in discussion on ways to increase the pension money. The SSS and GSIS head's srong beliefs became infectious, and the retirees from all barangays in Lucena City grew excited as they happily anticipated the money that they believe will surely follow the meeting. Word quickly spread, and that meeting, retirees from all over Quezon Province packed the town hall.

The SSS and GSIS head looked upon the retirees, whose faces were full of eagerness. Their clothes were neatly pressed, their gray hair done, their shoes shined. They believed in the SSS and GSIS 's ability to make money, and they had faith that their prayers for additonal pension will be answered.

But the SSS and GSIS head never started the meeting. Instead they told the retirees to go home. "You do not truly believe that you will have more money", the two heads said to the astonished gathering.

"Why do you say that?" an old woman asked.

"Because," the head of SSS replied, " if you did not believe in financial planning 20 years ago, you will not believe what we will say today".

Feeling dejected and oppressed, the retirees trekked in their respective homes and weeped.

They pound their chest and say "If I only..... spend less and invest more.....

ALC