Serendipity

This article was published in The Bedan Herald April-June 2012 issue under the author's column, "Big Boom Theory".

Le OJT buddies reunited at TeaLeaf, BF Homes, Parañaque.

IT WAS a memorable summer episode. Instead of slipping my feet onto the warm sand and cool froth of the beach waves, I got stuck walking in and around the metropolis, passing by overshadowing skyscrapers, holding neatly a brown envelope and yes, all my hopes up in this sun-kissed adventure. This is it—this is the so-called “real world” that my professors have been talking about.

The April month was nearing its tail-end and I almost sobbed at the thought that I still didn’t have internship elsewhere. Most of my batch mates had already started their OJTs early on this summer at some of the most credible (or rather, most prestigious) media companies out there—publication offices, television networks, radio stations, PR agencies. I thought: “What’s wrong with me?” I had religiously been following JobStreet.com, emailed my resume to almost all media-related internship opportunities there were, and even did rounds of walk-in to no less than 15 companies before and after the Holy Week. I had also been strongly praying for this, and often tweeted about #POSITIVITY and #goodvibes to attract such—but unfortunately to no avail. Maybe my efforts weren’t good enough.

No, maybe God has some good reason.

It’s our “Final Walk-in” day together with batchmates/good friends Alrenz and Iris (who had been my best buddies in hunting for OJT). The sun was hellish as ever; we were then walking again in and around the city, with a brown envelope in hand which we often substituted as parasols. We printed at least five resumes for this yet another excursion. Feeling sick and tired doing several walk-ins all over the month of April, we found the resolve that this “Final Walk-in” would indeed (again, indeed) be the final walk-in. Gasps.

And so we surveyed Makati and Ortigas, survived the stifling rush hour commute, chopped through people in the MRT, ate Japanese siomai, befriended every front desk woman/guard we encountered, retouched ourselves on our ride in the elevator, and cheerfully submitted our resume—and hopes—to the HR personnel of every company we visited.

The days that came after that were days of mourning and utter frustration. There were still no calls, no texts and no emails yet from the companies we visited. Whenever I hear my cellphone beep, I would rush toward it only to know that the text message I got was just from freakin’ Globe My Rewards (and damn it, that happened many times). “Good things come to those who wait,” I kept telling myself. But man, time is gold.

Honestly that time, I really wanted to give up.

Thank God, I did not. That wouldn’t make me feel any better. That wouldn’t make the situation any better, either. My parents paid P7,820.10 for this six-unit course, which requires students to have 400 hours of internship. If I were to quit, the more I would feel being a loser. So I refused to let the cloud of uncertainty and frustrations dampen my hopes and positivity.

Finally, after some twists and turns in the episode of our waiting, and with the help of those whom I can really call “true friends,” each of us three was granted an internship opportunity somewhere. Mine was in a production house, Alrenz in an ad agency and Iris in a television network. Really, thank God for good friends.

Looking back, this OJT hunt has been such an amazing experience; a blessing in disguise for us. The hours we spent alone hunting for opportunities was one hell of a prelude to our real internship and to the real world. Tired as we may be doing walk-ins, but everything we did in that sun-drenched adventure was worth it and had been a learning experience. We became street smart (or rather, city smart). We learned how to act properly in a corporate setting. We became adept crossing the roads and riding the MRT. Our OJT hunting days also made us know that we’re still weak in making life decisions, and made us realize how really, really hard it is to find a job nowadays.

Those were also times that we realized we are blessed with true friends who would be there first to help you when your world starts to fall apart. I want to take this chance to express my enormous gratitude to CMS alumni kuya Sonny Calvento, kuya Von Gaa and Maris Bete for lending a helping hand in our search for OJT opportunities despite their busy work schedules; and to good CMS fellows Mich Demetillo, Paolo Mabagos, Kat Belarmino, Ralph Salgado, Vance Alfonso, and especially Bea Rillo, for their voluntary support and for fanning the fire of hope in me. God bless these people. From them I found the resolve to be accommodating and helpful as well to the next batch of third year CMS student in finding internship opportunities. Kuya Von was absolutely right when he texted me: “E sinu-sino din ba ang magtutulungan kundi tayu-tayo rin mga taga-Beda.”

Finally, the most important thing I realized this summer is to keep my faith in God against all odds, no matter what. My character, patience and physical and spiritual strength had been put to test during episodes of our OJT hunt; however, I made it a point to always tell myself: “Everything has its own good reason” and “Trust in God also means trust in His timing.” Indeed, God uses the ripples of trials to draw us closer to Him. If not for our internship quests, I would

not realize such these things. I would not have been a better person. It’s the universe conspiring.

It’s serendipity.