Making apak in APAC

Strange title, especially for readers who aren't from this little tropical country I call home. Don't worry, just read on. You'll get it soon enough.

About a month ago, my father in law, Jun (actually, he's Vicente, but he's called Jun, short for junior, because he carries his father's name ... think "mac" in old Irish names), gave me a tip that a call center was opening its doors to the job-hunting populace of Leyte, particularly those residing in Tacloban City and nearby towns like Palo and Tolosa. Since I didn't have work yet, I decided to give it a try.

Now, before I proceed, you have to realize how hard it is to find work in this central Philippine province, especially for those who haven't been staying here overly long. I've been trying to land a job in the past 11 months, to no avail. So it's quite fortunate that I've come across the tip of ol' Dad, who works for the Leyte II Electric Cooperative Inc.

So in mid-October, I found myself in the midst of other job-hunters, at the third floor of a local hotel. APAC Customer Services Inc., the call center that was hiring qualified personnel for supervisory and rank-and-file positions, had come to town, and it seemed dead serious in its bid to establish a base of operations in the town of Palo, about 13 kilometers from Leyte capital Tacloban City.

I applied for the position of Team Leader despite not having any previous call center experience. Needless to say, I got turned down. Fortunately, they asked me to come back a month later and try my hand at applying for a frontline position, the dreaded Customer Service Representative.

Yes, dreaded. For those of you who have no inkling about what I'm talking about, check out this video featuring a conversation between a Philippine Long Distance Company customer service representative and a client. My apologies for those who don't know how to speak in the vernacular. I suggest grabbing a Filipino friend to translate for you.



Customer service representatives, a friend who works in the business process outsourcing industry says, catches all the shit, ranging from taking rude or obscene calls to getting cursed and cussed on a daily basis. With this in mind on that fateful October afternoon, I was thinking of quitting on my application, right then and there. Unfortunately, I didn't have that luxury. Finding work and landing a job were on the top of my priority list.

So I came back a month later. That was two days ago, a Friday. I got the job! At least I think I did. I got this note saying APAC Customer Services would give me a call to tell me how to proceed with my application.

Does this mean I have my foot in APAC's door? The word "apak" in my title means "to step," by the way.

I tried to clarify this with one of the managers present at the job fair, Nizette Navia. All she said was that I need not worry as "You're SO in."

Wonder what that means.

1 Response to "Making apak in APAC"

Ria Simpson Says :
December 10, 2008 at 12:35 PM

Hey there. Have you heard from anyone from APAC. May letter din ako kasing ganyan. Until now, wala pa ring news.Nobody seems to know anything.

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