Wednesday, March 31, 2010

My Twin Sister is already a Cabin Crew!

A few hours ago, I just found out that today is the last day of my "twin sister" in the office since she is joining Cebu Pacific as a cabin crew. My co-workers in my part-time job call her as my twin sister. According to them,  we both have Lucy-like (Lucy Torres) physical attributes and they call me little L2 and they call her L1, ; ).

We're not friends though since she's from a different team and her station is like 10 rows away from me. However, we smile at each other every time we meet in the pantry, hallway or elevator. One time, her teammate mistake me for her in the elevator. We also dress the same way and we both have this trademark of always wearing nude and flat sandals, ; ).

Even though I didn't have the chance to speak to her, I hope she does well with her new job. And I'm still hoping I'll follow her soon and get the chance to talk to her. This time around, it would be in the airport in our uniforms, ; ).

And I would like to congratulate my good friend Grace for making it to the final interview of Air Philippines. I will be talking about it soon in a separate post. Grace, it's your time to shine!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

On Persistence

I don't know where I got this one but found it a  few days ago while cleaning my desktop. I hope this will inspire us all, not just in our dream to fly but to life, in general.

The results will come.

Though each effort does not bring an immediate result, keep going. The results will come.
Every achievement requires many efforts. Those individual efforts combine with each other to bring the desired result.

So keep going. Keep adding one effort on top of the ones before it.

And all the while, learn. Learn what works and what does not, and adjust your efforts to become even more effective.

Keep going, keep learning, keep working and keep getting better. Every day, every effort brings you closer.

Persistence is the way you prove you really want it. Persist, and you will have it.

-- Ralph Marston

Monday, March 15, 2010

Brewed Musings

Last night, I had one of my boyf's pep talks in relation to me not getting an email from IPAMS for that Emirates prescreening.

Over cup of coffee, he enumerated things that he thinks I should improve on. I went home last night a little bit hyper (maybe it's the coffee) and ended up staying awake the whole night so I decided to do some freelance work instead.

Thanks to the boyf for the enlightenment and to those fellow Cebuanos who got the email, I really hope you get in because I know how it feels to want it so much and not a day passes without you thinking of that dream.

And I heard there's another QR OD this April in the city. Isn't it great? But as what the boyf told me last night, chance favors the prepared,  ; ).

Sunday, March 7, 2010

The Emirates PreScreening - Cebu City

originally written on March 5

Yesterday, I had my first taste of how it is like to be pre-screened by IPAMS for Emirates (EK) Assessment. It was officially my 8th attempt (3 for 5J, 2 for QR, 1 for PR and 1 for AirPhil ) to chase the Cabin Crew Dream but my first for the said Airline. There were no EK representatives yet as it was supposed to be only a pre-screening day. I've waited for this moment for almost a year since IPAMS usually do their screenings in Manila.

Weeks before the screening, I was a little bit undecided on which day I should attend the screening; whether on the first or second day. I decided to go on the first day thinking that a lot of aspirants will be coming over on the second and last day instead.

When I got there at around 1000 hours, there were a lot of aspirants already and when I got my priority number, I was already # 100+. After the numbers were given to us, we were instructed to go to a local employee (not from IPAMS) who made us do the reach test and who also obtained our height and weight. We were then instructed to go back outside and wait for our numbers to be called. Good thing The boyfriend was with me and stayed until lunchtime. I also met fellow aspirants that are already my friends; Nikki and Ruth. I also saw familiar faces from previous airline applications. Grace was and early bird so I didn't have the chance to see her. Talk about another Grand Reunion? =)

The waiting experience was a little bit grueling since it was really humid outside the Cebu Capitol Peso Office. However, I keep on telling myself that this waiting part is a test of patience on my part. Patience is one of the important qualities that a cabin crew must have right? I imagined myself on an airport standby instead, recited Hail Marys, conversed with The boyfriend and had a little chitchat with the other applicants when he left after lunchtime. I waited for around 4 hours before my number was called since Miss R and the other lady from IPAMS had to stop the interview process for their lunch break. Did I already mention that IPAMS also had interviews for other posts like cashier, reservations agent, etc.?

For the afternoon interviews, Miss R kinda modified the screening process. She assigned the other lady to concentrate on applicants who applied for the non-cabin crew posts. For cabin crew hopefuls, she instructed a PESO employee to group us by 5. When it was our turn, the PESO employee then ushered us to Miss R's desk. At this part, I didn't know she was the Miss R.

I smiled when I sat down with the other 4 aspirants. Miss R then instructed us to give a short introduction of ourselves like work experience, educational background, family background, why we want to work for Emirates as a cabin crew.

 She randomly checked our CVs and called us one by one to do the brief introduction, I was called third and smiled while sharing a little bit about myself to Miss R and my group mates. However, I wasn't not that happy with the way it turned out since Miss R has to stopped me from talking and she had to fix my blazer's collar!! What a bomber! I was in a hurry in putting back my suit when my number was already called so that pretty much explains why the collar was a little bit not in its place. It is interesting to note that there were 4 nurses in out group  including me and the other one was already working for this hotel in Dubai for 7 years ( I think she said Al Jumeira). After we all spoke, Miss R then told us that the original assessment date  (March 27) is moved a week earlier (March 20). She also told us that their might be a QR OD this April but she is not sure of the date and venue as well. She then asked us if we have questions. I asked her about the number of aspirants they are going to invite for the assessment. She told me that their target is to invite 100 aspirants for the one-day assessment. I was a little bit relieved since the chances are high but I suddenly realized that there are also male wannabes. Another fact is, there were around 250 aspirants that day and another 200+ aspirants on the second day of assessment perhaps. I even recognized one Miss Cebu 2010 contestant among the crowd.
Another thing that concerns me is this little but somehow recognizable scar in my forehead. It was not properly concealed. After the screening, I went straight to school to submit some paper works for my Masteral Class and then went home. While I was on the cab, I realized that Miss R was not really that intimidating and horrifying. I envisioned her to be very strict, picky and has the usual "Miss Michin" look. She was exactly the opposite; she is very warm and accommodating. 

And then it suddenly hit me that the five of us in the group were not physically assessed! She didn't check out elbows, knees, arms, legs and face. At the back of my head, I asked myself if I should be worried since it might be a sign that Miss R wasn't that interested at all in our group! I sulked for a couple of hours, watch Big Bang Theory to somehow lift me up and prepared for my part-time job that night. Before I went out of the house, I prayed and asked for a sign if I should be getting that Email invitation and continue with my FA dream. While riding the pedicab to the highway, I saw somebody wearing a "Fly Emirates" shirt and it was already dark but the shirt sort of "shouted" at me and said " Hello, I'm the sign you're looking for! No need to sulk!" For a moment there, I was elated.

And also, a week ago when I asked myself if I should or should not go to the assessment, I prayed for signs. On the same day, while doing some research for my freelance work, an annoying pop-up box appeared and voila! It was an Emirates ad! I clicked it and it was some sort of an Emirates Airline quiz that will qualify as a raffle ticket for a Vacation Getaway courtesy of the airline. And later that day, when I went out with the boyfriend, I saw someone with the white  "Fly Emirates" shirt and he was walking towards pass me. My heart skipped a beat and thanked God.

Today, on my way again to my part-time job, I saw another guy wearing the "Fly Emirates" shirt while I was again on the pedicab thinking if I'll get the Email or not. It was not the same guy I saw yesterday though and it was red this time. I asked myself, is this really it or are there really a lot of Fly Emirates shirts in the ukay-ukay stalls? Hahahah.
I'll have to remind myself that in order to have this dream materialized, there should be no room for doubts. That little hint of doubt will surely cloud all the positive vibes.

So here I am, waiting for THE EMAIL. I know I'll get it before March 15, 2010. I will.