Mom Says...

Migrating to WordPress

2010-01-15T06:03:00.000-08:00

I hate to leave this lovely Blogger theme but I'm now migrating to Wordpress using my purchased domain http://mom-says.com starting today. I decided to do the migration this early while I haven't posted a lot here on Blogger yet. I've bought my domain last September but it's only now that I get to use it. Thanks to a fellow mom blogger, Mylene, for helping me set it up and host it for only $10 per year.

Hope to see you there on my new home, folks!

Body Shop gift sets from my former bosses

2010-01-09T21:15:00.000-08:00

Last Friday I went to see my former employer to get my certificate of employment. Due to the devastation caused by Typhoon Ondoy last September, my former boss opted to relocate the office in a more-elevated city and is far from our place so I didn't have a choice but to stop working then. I also asked my former boss to stand as my character reference for my new employer and to my delight, he wrote a heart-warming feedback about me. And much to my surprise, his mom handed me a shower cream gift set from Body Shop. A perfect pair to the Body Shop foot products I also got from a college friend (who was also my immediate superior back in radio) during the Holidays. I've been wanting to buy these items for the longest time but they just wouldn't fit my budget.

Even when I was still working with them, my employer's family has always been nice to me to the point of sending me food when I got sick. They had the guard deliver food to our house, complete with fruits, oatmeal cookies, rice, and viand when I failed to go to work due to illness. On my birthday, they cooked bihon for me and believe me, that bihon was our saving grace when we had no other food to eat at the rooftop during that Ondoy-fated day, the day after my birthday. Even though my former employer and his family lost so much from Ondoy, they still continue to be a blessing for others.

I believe there really are angels among us. And my former employer's family is one flock of them.

Pre-employment requirements

2010-01-08T19:50:00.000-08:00

This week was the start of my hectic schedule. I was up by 4 am, cooked breakfast, prepared my daughter's lunch pack for school, double-checked her notebooks and books in her trolley bag, woke up her dad so he could send Bianca to school, yadi-yada. It was only after my daughter has left did I have the time to eat breakfast and hit the road to process my pre-employment requirements - complete medical exam, NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) clearance, community tax certificate, Mayor's Permit, ID pictures (1x1 and 2x2), among others.

The medical exam went well and was done after an hour or so. Then I headed off to Quezon City Hall to get a Mayor's Permit. I got there before noontime but lo and behold! Throngs of people were jampacked in long, snaky queues to get cedula, NBI clearance, police clearance, business permit, and mayor's permit. It's after all a common scenario during the month of January.

I figured it was impossible for me to finish everything I needed to do in just one day there. Then somebody approached me and said he could get my NBI renewed in just 30 minutes because he has insider connections. His asking price for convenience and short waiting period was P350 aside from the NBI renewal fee which was P115. Darn. No wonder why the long queues seemed at a halt, there were fixers in the area. That's too bad for those who were waiting desperately in line despite the acid in their stomach. They couldn't even leave for lunch or else somebody else would take their place and they'd have to go back to the bottom of the queue again.

I decided to get my NBI renewed in Riverbanks Center, Marikina instead where there were much lesser transactions. I also got my community tax certificate in no time (nor sweat) through our own Barangay Hall. The next day, I went back to Quezon City Hall for the Mayor's Permit, ready with the two required documents - cedula and NBI clearance. The queue was still long and snaky but I was done in an hour. The process was fast despite the huge throngs of people (I encountered no fixers here, unlike in NBI at the other building).

Another week has passed. Next week faces more challenges - it's the start of my work week.

Mom is all set to work

2010-01-05T00:15:00.000-08:00

The die is cast.   Yes, I've finally made up my mind as to which company to join.   After thorough research and evaluation, and after soliciting advice from you, dear readers, I decided to join the company that has been in the industry for a longer period of time and whose attrition rate is lower.   Attrition, also known as employee turnover or the reduction in the number of employees through resignation,retirement, or death, is one of the biggest challenges in the BPO/call center industry today.

Whatever the reasons (working condition, stress, compensation package, management issues, salary disputes, competition among companies, etc), high attrition means a red flag to me.  After snooping around online call center forums, I found out which companies have high attrition rates and why.   Though forums may not be the best and most reliable sources of these types of information, I believe they provide some truthful insider knowledge from call center employees themselves.  While other BPO and call center companies are being bashed with issues and angst by their own employees in the online forums, it's interesting to see that "Company C" is being bombarded with positive feedbacks.

Hence, I'm all set to join Company C, the one that offered me the highest starting salary among the three companies that I applied to.  I'm signing the contract tomorrow. Though I definitely love the employee benefit package in Company B, I also looked at the other factors for consideration: 1. Basic Salary   2. Attrition   3. The account to which I'll be assigned (a huge and very stable US telecommunications company in Company C). 4. Employees' satisfaction ratings

I would have wanted to know about the working conditions in both companies, their culture, room for career advancement, etc. but I wasn't able to.   Now that I've decided which company is best for me, it's my turn to do all efforts to be the best for the company too.   I'm now all set to give back.

Career opportunities: Which company should I sign up with?

2010-01-02T10:33:00.000-08:00

If there's one good thing about urban living, it is that career opportunities are within easy reach as long as you're skilled.   Last week, I started my job hunting through the internet, applied online, and within hours I already got calls from different call center companies asking me to undergo their 1-day hiring process.   And so I did.

I went to three different companies, all situated within 10-20 minutes away from our place of residence. On day 1, I went to Company A which is the most popular among the three.   After taking the series of exams, which other applicants tagged as a Quiz Bee for being so long and tough, I qualified for the final interview (I was the last man standing) and was offered a job.   However, the basic salary offered was too low, I'd rather stay home and baby-sit my daughter.

The next day I went to Company B which also made me take a series of exams that included tough Mathematical problems among others, then two interviews. Luckily, I passed too and was offered a neat compensation package. The basic salary was better than that in Company A.   What got me so interested were the medical and dental benefits that would cover me and my dependent from day 1 of my training.   Add to that the fixed shift schedule and fixed days off, plus the two days leave credits per month which I'd start earning from the first month of training.  And half of that is convertible to cash! Sounded so enticing but then again, I wanted to be sure if there'd be something better somewhere.

Company C had a practically easy series of exams but they were tough during the panel interview.   Luckily again, I passed and was offered a job on the same day.   They offered the highest basic salary compared to Companies A and B but they couldn't match the employee benefits offered by Company B.   All three of them offered almost the same amount of allowances on top of the basic pay.

Now I'm torn between Companies B and C.  I've been weighing things out for the past days and I have to decide by Monday, as much as possible.   I'm targetting a long-term career in this industry so I'd like to make sure I choose the right company that I can maximize my time and skills with.  I know what I want but judging two companies that you only know through their website is pretty challenging.   I'm hoping to gather some insider information (about the working environment, company culture, etc) from these two companies but it seems more challenging because I don't know anybody from these two.   I guess I'm left with not much choice but to decide according to the offers presented to me.

If you were in my shoes, what would be your biggest considerations in choosing the company to join?

Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010!

2009-12-31T23:34:00.000-08:00

Hi, everybody! There's no stopping 2010 from ushering in, with renewed hopes and positivity on every aspect - personal finances, the economy in general, family relations, personal endeavors, the environment, peace and order, politics, and what-have-yous.

In my case, I opted to start this promising and exciting new year with this freshly-setup blog, my third blog for that matter.  I intend to "kill" my femmepower.crunchystyle blog due to some personal frustrations. In a few days, I'll be transferring this new blog to the domain I've bought from godaddy last September but until everything is ready, I'll have to use this free blogger domain in the meantime.  And since I'm starting this blog with a clean slate, I'm now looking for blogs to include in my blogroll. If you want your blog's link to show up on my side bar, just let me know by leaving a comment. I love visiting other blogs through my blogroll because it's very convenient to blog-hop from it. So please feel free to leave your link in the comment section. And oh, English blogs only and no adult contents please. Thanks!

So what makes this year promising and exciting for me? Well for starters, I'm about to jumpstart my career again in the call center industry this month.  I'm joining a new company and I'm pretty excited to pour out my passion to work again, just like the way I "lusted" about work and career growth in my younger years.   I'm now up to the challenge of juggling both home and work responsibilities again with so much excitement.

Also, I believe a lot of people around the world are looking forward to positive circumstances this year instead of cringing over negative possibilities.   Some may have vowed to themselves some new year's resolution to make their lives even better and happier this year. What's your new year's resolution?

On the more serious note, I'm hoping for honest results in the May 11 elections here in the Philippines.   I'm crossing my fingers that we, the voters, would eventually come up with the right choices of candidates and that our voices will be heard (and not cheated).   I'm hoping for peace and justice, and that no more election-related violence would happen again like what happened in Ampatuan, Maguindanao last November.  I hope that the Ampatuan massacre case will be tried without political biases, and that there be a speedy resolution to the case instead of it being another classic example to the old adage "Justice delayed is justice denied." I'm also raising my hopes high that private armies in the country would finally be disbanded and that arrogant displays of power by politicians would be dealt with accordingly in the bars of justice (errr, wishful thinking?).

Lastly, I'm looking forward to a better year for each and everyone of you, wherever you may be.   I hope that you and your family will be blessed with the things that really matter most - a gift of good health, happy home, and peace of mind.

Ooops, don't forget to leave your link in the comment section so I could put your blog in my blogroll in no time.   Happy 2010, everybody!