another year is on its way. time flies, really. i remember the year 2007 exactly the same day, i didn't know what was ahead of me. i resigned from a brief 2-month stint in a company and i wanted to go back to my first job which is media. at that time, i wanted to go back to my former work because the people were just so nice. but in reality, it's not that easy. i left and i can't just go back because i wanted to. so scrap that idea. the next step was to still be in the industry. i was interviewed in one of the biggest and competitor of my former but didn't like their terms. i was again interviewed to a smaller one but was waiting for a call. then suddenly got a referral from a former officemate to my present job a month ago.
it was new year's and it only took 2 weeks to process my application. i thought to myself, am i that qualified or they just really need manpower due to the fast procedure. i think it was both. haha who will not forget the infamous question of the then head of the group... "if you're an animal, what animal are you?" shocked as i was i said pointblank, "i'm a tiger, smooth but fierce." the terms were okay. i was not another trainee and the salary package is at par. so i got hired the day before my birth date, january 21, 2008. it helped that i have friends from college there but the atmosphere was just different. every organization has its own culture so i had to adapt. i was like a foreign specie in a new habitat. it was really a big adjustment on the first month but the coming months i liked it. i liked my job. i had full responsibility as a media buyer. i now understand my job because in my former i had the great opportunity to learn the fundamentals but lacked the application. i was able to apply all that there. i then knew how to go around if ever there's a "sabit." the job description entails to be an investment banker, stock broker and an accountant all in one.
i was really working. i was not anymore keen on parties, events, giveaways, raffles and vip treatments which i used to. i felt i got matured at work. even my behavior changed. my account demands to be the best that you can. i was so into work because it demands me to be. it's endless. i went multi-tasking to the highest level. it's like i was this whole different person when i was at work. serious, competitive, bossy, sometimes bitchy, negotiator... it's great that i was able to experience all those. it molded me.
there were cons as well if there were pros. it's the usual day-to-day agency life. you wake up, go to work with people you didn't choose. do client calls, have some PR with old and new suppliers, deal with finance people, answer e-mails, prepare lots of reports and clerical work for your superior to check. then have lunch with people you consider friends while others gossip about other people. it's like show business in a lesser captive audience and you're actually in the system ala matrix. and like in any corporate fashion, politics is simply clamorous. (it's now clear to me that i have experienced it, what my eccentric professor in art appreciation back in college was lecturing.) then after the break, you go back to work again. in the evening, i was overtime most of the days. well i go out after work but that was only once or twice a week. then travel home for an hour and sleep for 4-5 hrs a day. the cycle goes. i didn't see much of my family. that's why it was an issue to my mom. i was tired as hell. mom wanted me to just pause and think it over. that's when i decided to leave.
are you in the matrix?
the nice thing being in an advertising agency is its less corporate vibe. in media, it is corporate but not too corporate as our client's where it has to be power dressing or too less corporate and laid back like in a creative agency where creatives can simply wear anything. we can wear jeans but not shirts and flip flops. dresses too. it fits my personality really. i sure am going to miss the corporate drama, the fast lane life, the unplanned gimmicks of work friends, the streets of makati, new acquaintances, my pool of networks and my totally different life. i risked a career to be with the family business. i loved the fun, hectic and chaotic agency life. we'll never know what may happen in the coming years. i'm not saying i'm finally done with it. for now i am staying put to where i'm supposed to be.
No comments:
Post a Comment