I remember it was late 2009, we we’re fresh from getting the board exams and I was with my friend Joanna Alvaro and Kristal Adoracion. We were so hot on the tracks to find employment, just to make the days count before we can get our licences and volunteer at a hospital somewhere. They suggested that I was the most experienced with job applications, and maybe at some point I was, so they decided to tag along. Before graduating college I was already honed with working part-time at call centers and online Korean Tutorials. You could say that I was the jack of all trades in the field of students looking for extra jobs. I wanted the thrill and the extra cash. I really don’t know how I pulled it off but I made it to finish Nursing School.

We applied to this company, and I was very fortunate to be accepted as a trainee. We we’re the first few  hirees and I was amazed how the training went. I discovered that there was really more to the internet. That was 2009 and Facebook was unheard of, at that time we were already being trained for Social Media management and it even included Plurk; not sure if people still use it.  I was able to learn more about backlinking, SEO and and even a little finance; maintaining the clients assets and liabilities through the use of Power Books. After painstakingly undergoing the training, paid at very low per day wage, I was handed off to a graphic artist as my first client. I already had a warning that this client is not your ordinary average joe. He was at first very nice and we got a long very fine, after spending time with him for almost a month I was typically so stressed that I lost so much weight; that included the stressor night shift that I had to endure. Everyday was a battle, and I was basically trying to be awake every time. I even missed my post oath taking celebration.

One gloomy night I went to have a nap on lunch break when suddenly I woke up realising that I was asleep for more than 30 minutes inside the office pantry. I was devastated to look at my watch and realise that I overslept. I went back to my office table and saw that I had missed calls from my client. He finally got hold of me and said on the phone, “Irvin you better get your head out of your ass!”. After that shift, I was called by our American supervisor and told me that they were letting me go. It was a moment that I actually was ready to accept; on that day I received my ID and office uniform, and on that exact same day as well, I had to let go and realise that I was not going to have my first day of work wearing them.

I went home and told my mom about it, and she just quipped, “you will find another job”. Of course I wanted to earn and applying to be a nurse volunteer was not my current cup of tea. I painstakingly provided all the necessary documents for the release of my separation pay and asked help from my mom. I purchased an old worn down PC from a local surplus Korean Shop. It was a Compaq that had 512MB Ram and 250GB of hard disk memory, it also had  a very slow Pentium 4 Processor. With that set I wen to Globe and applied for a broadband line. I was literally taking a risk; unsure if I will get a client, I searched online and on that day maybe sent over 50 applications from different job posts in www.onlinejobs.ph.

Olivia Henken’s debut album The Ride

I then was able to work as a content writer and social media manager. I also worked at a CD Manufacturing Company in Chicago; I was one of the Graphic Artists and I remembered designing and Album Art for Olivia Henken. I found out just this afternoon that she was actually a part of the top 12 for The Voice USA, that is pretty cool if you ask me.

It pretty much took off from there; my career that is. I was so passionate to do a good job for my clients, to prove that I had something in me, that well my head is not really in my ass, that I just needed the time. I grew up and realised that everything had to start at some point, and even if you get to be fired on your first real job you will realise that it should not define your whole career. I think that is also a lesson you can basically apply to life in general; if you fall down, you don’t stop and sulk about it. Instead you rise up and pick yourself up, and even if the getting up is very hard, it pays off very well and it will mean a lot more to you than those who have not really failed at all. The journey becomes more than just an experience, it sort of becomes your fuel for passion.

So after a day of getting off work because I decided to start on my personal site, I realised that I wanted to share my thoughts once again and revive my old self who used to blog a lot on Friendster. I guess if I was given the chance to go back four years from now, I would have not wanted to have not been fired, my life would have been so different.

Kintsugi is an art form where broken ceramics are joined together by gold. This amazing way of appreciating one’s brokenness is a noble art form. This way of expression is very important for everyone to know, at some point in your life you have to expose your scars, your struggles because then you will realise that your brokenness does not only make you look stronger, but will also inspire other people to realise that when there is hope, when there is courage, there is always triumph.

To end this entry my friend who was with me during the job application was our top notcher. That company I worked for closed down almost a year ago. And yes, I have not been fired again.