Work, work, puro na lang work!

Now that we have finished the first draft of our thesis and it seems that, yes, I'm going to graduate after all, I can now ponder things that would inevitably come up after graduation.

Like employment. To work or not to work (immediately after graduation, that is)? I have friends who've waited until July or August before they started looking for jobs, and this, for me, is a good idea. Why work when you have all the free time to take a rest, have a vacation anywhere? But after attending the UP job fair, the pressure to find and have a job immediately greatly increased. Though I want to give in to my gluttonous need for rest (sleeping, watching, eating, and wow--reading--all day), every day from hereon until April is an opportunity for my parents to tell me that I'm finally graduating, that though I'm not expected to help out full-time, I'm at least expected to help out in any way I can (sounds vague, right? The operative term here's "help," which could mean anything from paying up utility bills to supporting my sister's college education). I don't mind helping out, because that's what I intend to do anyway. I guess they just have to give me time to adjust to my new 'life' before the full weight of responsibility sinks in.

Plus I'm not optimistic about my chances of finding work. Nakakainis, the way recruiters would stutter when they hear the course "Communication Research," realizing that they don't have job items for that course, or worse, they don't even have an idea what CommRes is all about. I remember talking to a call center employee, inviting us to apply for them. When I told them my course, he looked so surprised, he only said, "Oh, you can apply as a call center representative, blah, blah, blah..." Grrrr. Sabi na nga ba e. I left him there, sorry na lang at nagpahalata siyang di niya alam course ko.

Last Monday, I went to Makati with Jenica and Joanne for an employment exam for Accenture. Funny how the exam made me feel like a high school student taking a college entrance exam. After the exam, which took almost 2 hours for us to finish, the three of us ate lunch at Glorietta, and had a blast laughing at our silly answers to some of the questions. Who would've thought that words like 'stationary,' 'extraneous,' and even 'adroit' would become oh-so-difficult items in the test? And I really dig the flow chart exam, or whatever they call it. We're hopeful, but not that hopeful. We're hoping we'd make it at least up to the first or second interview. Sana.

Sometimes the pressure is not so much about applying for work, but having work instead. After graduation, who among the twenty- or thirty-something companies you have given resumes to would actually call you for an exam or interview? And who among these companies would actually hire you? Gaya nga ng sabi ni Jo(anne), "pa'no makaka-apply ng trabaho e wala pa ngang tumatawag sa mga companies na binigyan natin ng resumes nung job fair?"

Hay, magtanim na lang tayo ng gulay.