THE UNFAIR REALITY

When I graduated from college, it came to my mind the next step I will be taking after a year. With the course I took up, I planned to land a job in banks, auditing firms and multinational companies. Such a great feeling, envisioning myself wearing a Sahara top (long sleeves), a pair of slacks, loafers and a nice tie, carrying my own laptop bag on my shoulders and heading my way to Makati. Even the fact that the MRT has always been mobbed during rush hour, I don't mind.

Much more the feeling when I passed the CPA Board Exam. I can't explain the feeling so overwhelming that I was really in hysteria when text messages lauding me for the achievement flooded my cellphone. The moment gave me a better picture of what will I be after the next few months. Passing the exam, I thought, assures me of myriad of great opportunities and I felt that my dream position is only half an inch away to my grasp but slowly, the euphoria brought me to the realm of obliviousness of the tragic twist of reality.

All set! From the docs to the get up. Leaving the house with a smile painted on my face, I practiced answering some interview questions. I still can't believe the moment. “Here I am!”, I told myself when I arrived at the MRT Ayala Station with the unwavering cool composure. Moved when I saw the mob of people I was just envisaging before. Just so perfect! I met with my batchmate, he passed the exam too, cause we planned to apply together and decided to aim first for auditing firms. As we head our way to Paseo, we bumped into one of our JPIA alumnus and so excited, he treated us for a lunch (I never thought pizza and iced tea could be a great lunch.). We chatted along while digging in to the pizza of Pizza Hut and opened was the topic of our plans, so we told him everything of our 30-minute what-to-do (we just made our itinerary that time we met). But in the middle of the conversation, he told us the horrendous scenario that really struck me, a sort that made my picturesque vision vanish.

“The firms have been observing a sort of a Quality Control on their hiring”, he said. At first, I worried not since it is a good practice to take up to for the benefit of the company itself. I thought it is JUST an advantage if you possess those descriptions but I was wrong, I found out. Deliberately, most firms hamper many applicants from taking their application exam. You pass your resume, so what?! They would just tell you, “We will just contact you for the schedule of the examination. Come back with the other credentials.. blah.. blah.. blah..”. It's apparent that they are just giving the applicants false hopes. Letting them to aspire for the company well in fact, they don't have even a single chance to be hired. It would be better to bullshit the aspirants directly on their faces, “YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE, ASSHOLE!” Craggy but far better off than the glibs. Just a thought, where the hell those companies put the resumes of the PREJUDGED applicants. Maybe, they use it as scratch papers for their working paper drafts? Some maybe uses it when there are coffee spills on the floor to wipe it off? Or the worst, they just throw if off in the trash cans. Three points! Horrible.

I pored over on the thought that had me numb physically and mentally. I'm neither a Laude graduate nor a product of a prestigious school and more that I am not a Board topnotcher. Am I just a pitiful board passer with nothing to brag on? My colleague didn't bother since he was a double major graduate, Accountancy and Management, and he got a grade of whopping 90% in Auditing Problems of the board. Bit by bit, I started to succumb on my dreams. We went out of the restaurant with my enthusiasm so down. We prowled around Makati for our aims, passed our resume, told with smooth tongued words and went out of the building. That's it! The odyssey ends. Such a nice day, isn't it?

I arrived at home with down feelings still. Imagining those companies I aspire for far beyond my reach. My inner self started to lament but no one is going to take heed. Trying to figure out what had just happened the whole day.

I power on the computer to search for other companies. I thought, those is just 1% of the menagerie of good companies here in the Philippines. It's no good sulking in one corner and dwelling on things you can never change. Is it really unchangeable?

After days, I heard nothing from the firms. I felt bitter somehow but it would just lead me into nothing good. So I just built the proper equanimity again and played on the words “I'll eventually find a good job.”. I'll be an asset to the company who will hire me, my promise to myself. These words devoured the melancholy besetting my mood and I started to realize “Indeed, it's the UNFAIR REALITY. So FUCKING what?!”