From the Introduction of Is There A Job Waiting For You?

UNLESS you beat the average of 199 other applicants competing for the same position, you won’t get the job. You’ll be joining the world of the unemployed. Nevertheless, you shouldn’t get depressed and disappointed, for you are just having your first taste of the real world.

But you need not apply if there is already a job waiting for you, right? Trust me; regardless of your status today, this is possible. Whether or not you are enrolled in a first-class school, this can work for you as it had amazingly worked for me. It’s nice being hired without getting into tight competition. I have been there and done that. And I’d like you to know how I did it.

I consider myself one of the blessed few that didn’t have to go through the often hellish process of applying for a job. In fact, it is the companies themselves—and there are several of them—who call me and ask me to work for them.

Is it just plain luck? Partly, yes. Is it destiny? Perhaps. Is it choice? Definitely! And if I did it without realizing that I was already doing it, why can’t you?

Two years ago, I started my career in public speaking. I got several golden chances of talking with young people from provinces all over the country, mostly student leaders and campus journalists.

During that period, I had the opportunity of listening to their sentiments. And believe me, they really had something urgent and unsettling to ask about our education and our country’s employment system.

One question all of them asked was this: “Is there a job waiting for me?” And whenever they asked me this question, it made me sad. I could have immediately answered, “No, no there is none,” but it would have broken their hearts for sure. I could have immediately said, “Yes, there is,” but if I did, they would have blamed me because they surely would have joined the ranks of the unemployed.

I therefore left their question unanswered and offered them this advice instead: “Never look for the answer because you wouldn’t find it. Better look for the reasons, for they would automatically give you the answer.”

“Is there a job waiting for you?” is a question I never had to ask myself, for all the while I knew for sure that there was one for me.

I was still in my fifth year in engineering, in fact, when Malacañang Palace formally appointed me as technical assistant for youth affairs. A year before my appointment, I worked as a volunteer in the Youth Affairs Office. I was in my fourth year when I became a correspondent for the country’s oldest- running newspaper, The Manila Times.

“Is there a job waiting for me?” Today, this is still the same million-dollar question that young people always ask. And this reality bites: Even among outstanding students, 9 out of 10 say, “No, there is none.” All they can do is to say that they will “cross the bridge when they get there” and hope for the best.

And so, since I was fortunate enough not to get to the point of answering that tough question myself, I must tell young people this: Skip that question altogether and never mind sending that job application as well.

A mentor of mine told me that helping other people become successful increases my own chance to become successful as well. He said that making a person better than I am is good for that person, for his family and friends, and for me. Very simply, he taught me how to share what I have with other people and he made me realize that all of us, whether we like it or not, are connected.

My task in this book, therefore, is to share my personal philosophies, my biography, and views on life—my successes and failures, decisions and indecisions, joys and pains, triumphs and failures— and how I managed to survive turbulent times.

One important lesson I want to impart in this book is “anticipation.” If young people would only learn how to discern the future, then it would be good for the country as a whole.

In my case, I am able to see many things before they actually happen by simply analyzing past and current events. In fact, there are many problems that we would not need to solve if only we could see them before they can become problems.

This motivational book is a compilation of my experiences and the lessons I’ve learned from success- ful people I’ve met, how I made my dreams work by working “inside-out,” how I dealt with the reality without abstaining from my idealism, and how I took control of my destiny by avoiding taking so many confusing directions.

Young people, I think, should no longer be just the hope of this country. Each and every generation of young people must be the realization of this hope that has been long overdue.

And with the depressing and increasing number of the unemployed, the most courageous act and the smartest step is to learn how to make jobs wait for you.

The Author
17 | August | 2005 Manila, Philippines