Job Hunting (Mis)Adventures

And misadventures they were! Like what I said 13 days ago, it deserves a stand alone post so here it is...

Mis-adventure number one:
The 3 (Ms. Greekie, Ms. Stewart and yours truly) of us agreed what we'd be wearing "informal casual" (if there was such a thing), i.e. jeans and nice top to distribute our resumes in the corporate jungle called Makati. With all the one way streets in that city, I knew that we'd be walking throughout the morning. I would have worn flats but silly me didnt have any that would match my get up...I really couldnt wear my sneakers since I was wearing a button down pink polo shirt and the only flats that I had in my shoe rack were sneakers. Further, we were going to different law firms which might eventually be our future offices...really didnt want to be remembered as the girl who submitted her resume in jeans and sneakers...In short I was trying to look the part of an aspiring young associate. Hence, I made the very bad decision of wearing heels. And you guessed it, my feet and legs were more than ready to give up and fold on me at the end of the day.

Mis-adventure number two:
My aching limbs and feet were commensurately compensated that day since I received an sms for an interview the very next day from ____ firm (name withheld just for the sake of withholding it...mwahahaha). The only problem for me was that I had to wear heels again when my legs and feet havent even remotely recovered! Not wanting to aggravate my pain any further, I decided that I'd just bring along my heels and change into them before I walk into the firm's office. It was a very good plan if only I had flats to wear to get to the firm. I would have opted to wear my thong sandals but since I was going to wear pantyhose stocking, I had not other choice but wear my Nike slip-on rubber shoes. Nevermind that I'd end up on fashion police's most wanted with wearing that along with my black skirt and violet turtle neck top accessorized with pearl earrings and necklace! Keber na lang ever sa mga taong nililingon ako nung araw na un!

My misadventure didnt end there. It was, as they say, just the tip of the iceberg. As usual, I miscalculated traffic that and was going to be late (I wanted to be in the office at least 10 mins. before my appointment for interview) if I didnt haul my a$$ as fast as my aching limbs could carry me. The elevator of the building that housed the firm only went up to the 7th floor. The firm was on the 8th. So with time running out on me, I just went ahead and changed my footwear in the stairwell that led to the 8th floor, smiling at the woman who came out of the emergency exit that served as the entrance to the floor I was going to. The anxiety and stress that I went through just to get there on time were all for naught as I was called into the conference room around 15-20 mins later by none other than the woman who saw me changing shoes.

Ang buhay nga naman, parang life!

It went downhill from there. To be truthful, the interview felt like it was just a dry run for the real thing! I kept on buckling. I was finding it hard to put together comprehensive sentences to convey my thoughts and answes to her questions. I was totally unpreapared. And like my former, highschool teacher said, "If you fail to prepare, then prepare to fail."

Mis-adventure number three:
With the phone still silent way after that disasterous first interview, I did round two of distributing resumes. Having learned my lesson, I now wore flats (which I had specially bought for the "occassion" from DV) to our second hunt. I dont know if it was my feet (which incidentally was called by my mom back when she still bought me shoes, well she still does even today, iron feet because of the rate I could "destroy" my school shoes) or just the length of the walk I took around the Makati CBD (you see, I started from Ayala Ave then to Paseo de Roxas towards A.I.M. and then continued on to Amorsolo, moving towards Cityland 10 which was right beside RCBC and then traversing the length of Valero St. to get to Chattam House (corner of Valero and V.A. Rufino), Herrera Tower & Equitable Towers and finally ending up at Villar St.(Citibank) after dropping off one of my resumes at BDO plaza, almost at the corner of Makati Ave and Paseo de Roxas where Ms. Stewart "rescued me and my aching feet, again) but my flats died on me (as I exited Herrera Tower...good thing that there was a Mini Stop at the building's basement which sold rubber slippers in my size 9!) but not before getting back at me and giving me blisters!

Mis-adventure number four:
This one, which I hope would be my last one, isnt as bad as the others abovementioned but its just as funny. Culling the lessons I learned from my previous misadventures, I arrived almost 2 hours early for my interview at the firm where there's IFOs. I used the time to formulate answers to some of the 100 questions legal interviewers ask that Ms. Greekie found on the net & sent that night before to help us prepare for the interview. While we were waiting for our interviewer to call us in, I thought that my breathe had staled so I decided to eat a Clorets candy, with the thought that I would throw it out when I was called if I havent finished it by that time. I was just half way through the candy when our interviewer came out and asked who shall go first. The non-smiling reception suggested "first in, first out" meaning that I go first since I was the first one to arrive there. With my mind switching to serious interview mode, I totally forgot about the candy in my mouth. I only realized that I still had it in my mouth about 3/4 into the interview! I guess the interviewer didnt mind it since I got a call back from them. Now, Im crossing my fingers (along with everything else that can be crossed) that I'd finally get that last call from them.