CAREER. LIFE. SUCCESS.
By Jayjay Viray
The Filipino Measures Up
The year 2008 is significant for our company JobsDB Inc. as it commemorates its 10th year in the industry. How time flies. Interactive recruitment was basically a new term ten years ago. Who would have thought that it would open more avenues for employment?
In celebration of its 10th year anniversary, the JobsDB headquarters in Hong Kong organized a gala night on July 26 at the Shangri-la Hotel. Twenty-five of us from the Philippines went to Hong Kong. After a decade of hard work, the different regions met and mingled in a night of laughter and tears of joy.
I felt so proud of JobsDB Philippines. For me, it was a night that celebrated the best in the Filipino. Allow me a moment of sentimentality as I say that we, in our own way, have shown who we are and what we are made of among our colleagues from different countries. We take pride in our integrity, industry and solidarity; it matters little that we are not yet at par with our regional neighbors when it comes to economic status. One out of the highlights of the event is that four out of the nine employees who were awarded for their years of service and long-held loyalty from the different regions were Filipinos. They are the people who have been with the company since it started. In the case of JobsDB Philippines, nine years is the longest time.
As part of the program, some of the regions like Thailand, China, and of course Hong Kong were requested to perform on the event. It was not a competition. Nevertheless, we took it seriously. All presentations are impressive but I believe ours created the greatest impact based on the big round of applause and positive reactions we received from the audience. We are the only country where the participants were all representatives – in this case, managers and supervisors. And, yes, it included me. Honestly, only a few of us – probably two or three - could really carry a dance step, well. But such weakness didn’t hinder us from presenting a good show. We rehearsed almost every night for almost a month, weekends included.
Yes, we could have taken it lightly – it was just a dance, after all. We could have sent our junior staff to whip up a number in behalf of us. Or we could just have done a march like the other countries.
That dance in its own modest way, I believe, represented the Filipino spirit. We are a musical people. We do love to celebrate. And, yes we work and put in the hours. And regardless of the bad news about us that seems to land on the world press, we exult in the goodness of life and are grateful for the blessings that come our way.
Images of the Philippines – our history, our tourist spots, our cultural practices – flashed on video during our ten minutes in the spotlight. And unabashedly, proudly, our number started and ended with the Philppine flag being brought in and out of the stage in all her glory.
It was our own unique way of saying to our colleagues from other countries, “We in the Philippines are proud of who we are – and we do measure up.”
(Jayjay Viray is the Country Manager of JobsDB Phils, Inc. Log on to www.jobsdb.com.ph for job opportunities. For feedback, email feedback@jobsdb.com.ph
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