CAREER VALUE #1

Seldom that we witness an institution or company that works with trust.

A conventional workplace monitors you from time to time, making sure that every seconds of your hour is solely for work purpose. Internet access is very limited, even blocking different social networking sites. Your time card serves as your attendance. Off site training is very limited, in-house is preferred. That's how it works.

Trust is always an issue to those employers who are profit-based operation. But for those who are working with greater endeavor, trust is an expectation. It is given right away, expecting you to do the right thing.

"Mahihiya ka na lamang sa sarili mo kung sakaling gumawa ka ng mga bagay na taliwas sa mabuting kulturang nais ibahagi sa iyo."

NEW JOB

The long wait is finally over.

I am going to start a new job at a new company at a new place. Everything will be new.

In two days time, I will officially step my foot on their well driven path. And I am pretty excited.

THE WAY I USED TO BE

I was a man of conviction.

I was a man with great vision.

I was a potent force that rigorously gyrating to blow up.

I was a planner.

I was an organizer.

I believed I had an eye for details.

I was always on the move. I was not an all-day-sitter.

I meant to be great.

I had a big dream.

It was a dream of a lifetime.

It was me before I faced the real world, before I entered the corporate world and before I forgot who I used to be.

*      *     *     *     *

Two years since I graduated from college.

I did things that were predictable.

I joined a company meant to earn a living. Well, that is the primary purpose of getting and working for a job. Otherwise, what the heck should I do with my life!

I am staying with the first company that I joined. Without any choice I guess, fourteen months has already passed.

I could feel that I am stuck.

I lost my passion.

I could not hold on to my purpose.

I could not see a better career direction.

I feel dumb. Well, that is the result of anti-neurotic practices of just letting things happen as you are told so. Not really 100%. A major blame should be thrown at the culture of human stagnancy. But no one cares except yourself, right?

This will just be a stop. (Yeah! Some kind of a bus stop.)

A one of hundred steps to reach for something higher.

*      *      *      *     *

After watching this video, a flickered in my inner passion was sufficient to do something.

I need to find the old Alvin.

The passionate Alvin. :)

The visionary.

The planner and organizer.

The remarkable one.

(This is my space so bragging about myself is allowed. Hihihi!)

LIFE IS A CUP OF COFFEE

RIGHT PERSON FOR THE RIGHT JOB

March 24, 2010
1:55 PM

An HR Staff called me to do an interview.
I was puzzled. Why me?
But I was excited.
And I just said, "Yes".

2:15 PM
The HR Staff faxed the applicant's resume together with the Interview Guidesheet. I could not do a face-to-face interview for I was located on the satellite plant. Phone interview was the only means.

I studied the resume. Carefully checked the work experiences and technical skills. He was applying for Production Supervisor.

I found the answer to my question "Why me?".
We are on the same specialized engineering. The same college where we finished the degree.

2:20 PM
The interview started.

First, the most frequently asked questions during job interview.
Second, stringently interrogated about the work background that will be of good points parallel to what we are looking.
Third, situational questions regarding his past and present career achievements, disappointments, human-related and personal issues.
The interview lasted for 30 minutes.

*     *     *     *     *

What were my thoughts while I am doing the interview?

"Hire people who are better than you are, then leave them to get on with it . . . ; 

Look for people who will aim for the remarkable, who will not settle for the routine."

— David Ogilvy

IT'S ABOUT MINDSET

"If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall in the ditch."

 - Jesus Christ -

This month has been a roller coaster ride for the production department of the company. Not really an exciting ride but more of a gruesome domino effect destroying the momentum of the production, or better yet destroying the morale of the workers?

I don't see it that way, neither the few employees who know the real deal of the situation nor the few laborers who are in the right mind to understand what is really happening in the moment.

So what was the quake that hit and shaken the department?

Usually, March kicks off the start of the lean season for our product. This is also the time when the Finished Goods (FG) Warehouse is trying to recover their stocks in order to stabilize the goods that is resulted from the peak season's demand. Unexpectedly, the peak season's demand is stable until this month which is a good indication of stable market and higher sales. Good for the company and hopefully good for the employees!

As it turns out, the FG has a low buffer stocks which resulted to a hand and mouth process of delivering goods. Worst that it gets, incomplete and delayed delivery has been observed. So profit loss is expected but for sure it's just minimal.

What were the contributory events that lead to this?

THE FACE OF SEVEN BILLION

The Special Series: Population 7 Billion of National Geographic released a very interesting article about the most typical person in the world.

How it was made?

The composite image was made for National Geographic by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China. A collection of photos over the ten-year course of using several national technology research program helped them to create the image of a 28 year-old Han Chinese male.

The most typical profile of the most typical person are :

• 13% Speak Mandarin as their first language.
• 19 % are Chinese
• 33% are Christian
• 40% work in services
• 51% live in urban communities
• 82 % are literate.

Do you look like him?

Well, here in the Philippines, he really looks familiar in the Streets of Ongpin, Binondo, and around Sta. Cruz, Manila.

Now, I wonder how a typical Filipino looks like? Whose face will represent the 100 Million Filipinos?

WHY ARE WE LIVING?

Many times that I asked myself about this matter. Why am I living?

In a bird's eye-view, the cycle of life is very basic. You are born, grow, live and die. If you believe in reincarnation, you are born in other way. You grow, live and die. Our existence has been vindicated by lots of explanations, from scientific to religious views, from mundane beliefs to the very core of social interpretations. But who knows the significance of our existence?

Are we govern by a specific law that determines our everyday life? Do philosophy create the meaning of our existence or our existence mold our philosophy?

Life is full of irony.
We live to die.
We feel happiness to distinguish it from sadness.
We experience comfort to know suffering.
We love to be hated.
We sleep to wake up.
We create to destroy.
We love to feel pain.

*     *     *     *     *

We are living to fulfill a journey. But who plans our journey?
We are living to experience life. But is it necessary to experience life?
We are living to change others' lives. But who says that we should change others' lives?
We are living to find the meaning of our existence. But what is so special in finding our significance?
We are living because we are part of a life cycle.
We are living because we defy our own journey and our own purpose.
We are living because we are worthy to live.

*     *     *     *    *

First time I saw the trailer of "Adjustment Bureau" starring Matt Damon and Emily Blunt, I was thrilled by its plot and the idea of challenging what is planned for you by understanding and following your free will.

Are we living by following such divine plan? Or are we living by our own free will? That we are creating our own journey. That we are choosing our destiny. That we are responsible for the life that we are living.

*     *     *     *     *

I am living because life is a grace that I should value more than the meaning of my existence. I am living because I chose to live.

ANOTHER BUDGET MEETING

Last Friday was supposed to be the Budget Meeting of the company for the year 2011 (although, it should have been scheduled before the end of 2010). Managers were discussing about the Sales Forecast so as to project the annual Production Schedule and as per the needs arise adjustment in terms of labor and machinery can be prioritized in the budget.

Much of my dismay was the aggravating disappointment expressed by the President. He expected a more elaborate and deeper discussion of data and proposals. After two hours of running into circle of instructions and expectations, the meeting was called to adjourn. Meeting rescheduled. 

I may not be in the right place to discuss or to express my ideas in that management meeting but I can't help but to take notes on how things were done on the upper level of the company. I am negatively amused on how they assessed things and issues right through.

• They talked about EFFICIENCY. Efficiency in terms of production and delivery lines is something to be stringently dissected. It will serve as the determinants for a more productive activities of the company. Purchasing of a new machinery with a pre-determined quality and addition of labor force can be few of the possibles aftermath if efficiency is determined correctly. But in the case of that meeting, everyone is talking about 100% Efficiency! Is it possible to have a 100% efficient delivery or 100% efficient production? Unfortunately, no one will argue and take stand that his/her process is 100% efficient due to the fact the anything discovered or invented has rooms for improvement to reach a nearly perfect efficiency.

• Misleading BASIS and FORMULA. The first presentation on the meeting concerned Finished Goods Warehousing and Delivery. The manager talked about the capacity of his warehouses and delivery trucks but one thing he kept on insisting is his 100% efficiency. As part of the audience, I was skeptical to accept the data he provided. I didn't even got the chance to ask him on how he came up with such figures. But thanks to our President, he gave it a blow. He asked questions after another. He highlighted few tools to use. With that scenario, clearly the manager did not know what he is talking about yet he was so persistent on clarifying the figures just to make it believable.

• Intellectual interpretation of data. This was my major disappointment to the said management communication. Sitting on the left of the President was our Comptroller. After the first manager presented his data, the President asked the Comptroller on how he will interpret the figures. I don't know if he really understood or he really took time to study the data but his answer was so lame, such an elementary interpretation. Right through his face, the President told him to have a more elaborate and deeper interpretation due to the fact that he holds such high position. Indeed, it was such a strong blow to the Comptroller's ability that on the most possible way will have a negative impact on his capacity. As far as my insights were concerned, he should have been more proactive and opinionated. He should have done his assignment.

In my perspective, the management holds the power in the company. They have the ability to move people in a better direction.  They have the position to nurture the company and help the President to think strategies that will have a bearing in  achieving its full potential.

Well as for the small people like us, we are hoping that they are in the right state of mind to lead the company towards a greater success. They have their ideas and we also have ours.

THE VISITOR

He was an unexpected visitor in that very good afternoon.

I was busy doing my job. Finding what could really inspired me to continue to this organization. And then I found the answer in that very good afternoon.

I was hanging by a thread. I already made up my mind that once an opportunity knocks on my career door then it is a major career move. But in that very good afternoon, something came up unexpected. I just wanted to see more of the big plan. I wanted to be part of it. I wanted to stay to witness a drastic change for development.

The visitor shared a piece of his vision. A vision that dictates a new realization that there is a huge box of expectations waiting to be opened in two years time. It was a relieve. I was wrong to be too judgmental. Nevertheless, that very good afternoon was rewarding.

I was overwhelmed when I learned that the visitor and I shared something in common.  We wanted a technology-based production that can surpass the quality standards that we want to implement.  We were in agreement to a certain issue of the organization in terms departmental and unit reconstruction. I connected to a certain level of rational thinking with the visitor in that very good afternoon.

In that very good afternoon, I was visited by the President.