To all the new graduates and new board passers, I pray that the Lord will bless you with a joyful heart full of patience. (GEOLOGIST, icri)
Since graduating last 2016, I've been on a constant roll of looking for a job suitable for my profession. I've written tons and tons of cover letters, filled up dozens of Personal Data Sheet (PDS) and Work Experience Sheet (WES) and printed out an amount of documents that is probably equating to at least 10 trees (not joking).
To be honest, I've always targeted the public sector. I think that a job in the government works perfectly for me because of my noble dream of serving the general populace. But time and time again, I am being punch in the face by the reality of our "PADRINO SYSTEM" and the "IT'S NOT WHAT YOU KNOW BUT WHO YOU KNOW" adage. My heart is always breaking after every interview because even though I know I have the professional experience and the number of training hours needed in a plantilla position, the other guy in the room with no experience but have the necessary "recommendation letter from that official" will surely get the job. I'm tired of charging everything to experience and I've worked really hard to get where I am right now and I think it's unfair that others have it easy.
I initially came from the private sector because I am an "illegal" scholar of this company (read SDMP terms on RA 7942 and its IRR on who you should get as a scholar for DMTG). So I've worked there since 2014 since I was an undergraduate geology student up until I got my license on 2017. It's an eye-opening experience and a terrible one, if I might add. I'm not being ungrateful or anything but sometimes, the wrong company will purge the remaining hope in you that there could be change in this country and the system. I've learned a lot from them but it's not working out for me and I am almost always sick due to stress when I was working there. After I got my license, I know that I can finally have the change I wanted.
Sadly for me, 2018 was the reaping year (I dunno if this is the term) of Gina Lopez's reign as the Secretary of DENR. The mining industry is at its lowest. There is no hiring on private sectors (although not really my target) for entry level geologist (although not really entry level). It's a good thing that I've taken my on-the-job training at one of the regional offices of Mines and Geosciences Bureau and I got in on the pilot Embedded Program of Secretary Roy Cimatu.
I was accepted and I hoped for the best. Sadly, just like what the Thanos meme said, "Reality is often disappointing". (I'm sorry if I don't know if this was really mentioned in the End Game. I did not watch that because I refused to be a part of the bandwagon fans because I'm not.) Here I am, sitting in my office desk writing this, instead of actually writing my two pending reports. I AM AT MY WIT'S ENDS. Administrative and enforcement problems are always present. I am underappreciated (not really a problem but I just mentioned this for those who care for that kind of thing at work), paid late almost all the time(I dunno why but HR and Finance always say that they are busy to process our DTR. So what then? We don't eat or pay our bills then because you guys are busy?) and most importantly, I am a contractual with no employer-employee relationship. I am one of those so called "consultant" nowadays because the government decided to eradicate the "contractualization" TERM instead of the culture. Anyway...
Being a geologist in this country sucks if you graduated and got your license on or after the term of Gina Lopez. I tell you, it's almost a worthless profession irl. I dunno why. I ALSO SUGGEST TO GET YOUR PADRINO IF YOU WANT TO HAVE A JOB IMMEDIATELY. Man, I admired that one new grad who knows a USec and was shortlisted for a high paying position with us even though he has no experience or training hours.
AJA!