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Showing posts from December, 2006

14 Call Center Interview Questions & Answers

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The call center industry is one of the fastest growing in the country these days. As recently as ten years ago, there were only a few call center agents and the word call center was hardly ever used in the country. Today, almost every family has at least one member working in the call center industry. The reason for this boom is partly economics. In the Philippines, low paying jobs are very notorious and while call centers set up shop here because of the low labor costs, Filipinos decide to work for the call center industry because it pays higher than average wages. Consider this: if you are an average worker with an entry level position, you probably are getting paid seven to ten thousand a month; meanwhile, an average employee in the call center industry with an entry level position will get around fifteen thousand pesos a month, plus free dental and health benefits (HMO). Call centers also will pay your SSS (Social Security), PAGIBIG (home building fund), and PhilHealth (health ins...

Year End Productivity Report

Its 11:30 PM, December 30 th . just a few more hours till 2007. I am currently listening to Mig Ayesa's Baby I Love your Way. Man! This guy can sing. I can listen to his very soulful and amazing rendition of this song forever. Listening to this song got me to thinking about 2006. All my accomplishments, trials, and failures. Here is a summary of the things that happened to me this year Jan- I created a much more cleaner design for Noypi Writers . I also started to gain weight after losing more or less 20 kilograms. Feb- it became apparent that I was going to gain back all the weight that I lost over the past few months. March- I transferred Noypi Writers to a blog because it proved hard to maintain manually. April- My friend encouraged me to go to the gym with him. May- After a few weeks, I surrendered and hated my best friend for insisting that I go to the gym. My body was sore 'till June. June- Back to duty. Back to NCM . We now have duties in the Operat...

Many Injured Due to New Found Wealth

The stock market hit a near 9 month high as it closed for the year yesterday. The peso meanwhile surged 7% for the year. All these factors ushered in a lower than expected inflation rate for December which is pegged at 4%. Amidst these good news in business, we are seeing the development of a not so good news. According to the DoH, 205 heard-headed Filipinos have been injured due to firecracker accidents. But still, is this 80% increase in firecracker related injury an indication that the improving economic state of the Philippines is finally being felt by the masses. I don't see any other reason why the statistics would suddenly go up. I mean sure, the DoH has slowed down its campaign but would that mean that Filipinos would forget what they were thought just a few years ago? After being shot in war torn Iraq, would a tourist go back there again? The way I see it, new found wealth should be coupled with some teachings by the government. Just like China is now facing the prob...

Terry Lim Cua: First 2 Millionaire of Kapamilya, Deal or No Deal

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For the past few days ABS-CBN has been hinting on a two million winner on their game show Kapamilya, Deal or no Deal (Philippine version of Deal or no Deal). The first winner of 2 million in the game show was finally named tonight. Terry Lim Cua, a bank teller (who earns 9 thousand a month) is now two million pesos richer. The man who was always a failure in love finally found luck in the game show. terry's game started out badly. All the big numbers appeared early on the show. But in a drastic turn of events, all small numbers came out in the next rounds. As the game was nearing its end, people were cheering and chanting the words: two million! The banker was clearly not happy with the way things were going as shown in the background. At last, Cua decided to fight it all the way. kris was a bit disappointed that he didn't take the final offer of 'the banker' which is a million pesos. She claimed nobody would give you a million. Apparently, Terry b...

Mau to Become a Kapuso?

Mau Marcelo, the first Philippine Idol has been rumored to be wooed by GMA 7 to be a Kapuso. According to sources, GMA (which has the greater penetration in the Metro Manila area) is interested in Mau because she has captivated the hearts of some Kapuso. If this rumor is true, this will be a win-win situation both for GMA 7 and Maureen Marcelo. We all know that ABC 5 (the network handling Mau) has not yet proven to have the ability to make a talent popular. In the past (during Philippine Idol), ABC 5 couldn't even use their radio station to broadcast Philippine Idol. We all saw how ABS-CBN pulled no stops in marketing Pinoy Dream Academy. GMA 7 meanwhile, can use Mau to rival the Birit Champions of ABS CBN. We wish Maureen Marcelo, the first ever Philippine Idol the best of luck. Be it on ABS CBN or GMA, we hope Mau will be successful in her singing career.

Reluctant Nurses

Recently, the upsurge in the demand for nurses abroad brought about an unprecedented increase in the number of nursing students. The number of nursing students rose to the extent of overtaking 50% of a University's population. The top Philippine Universities even saw professionals going back to school just to cash in on the nursing rush. The sole reason that so many are jumping on the nursing wagon is MONEY. Cold hard Dollars. if you ask today's nursing students why they want to be a nurse one day, two answers are prevalent: to be able to work abroad and to earn dollars. Sure one or two hypocrites might tell you they want to become a nurse because they want to take care of people but majority are really in it because they want to be rich. Other nursing students are in it because: 1.) Their friends are all taking up nursing 2.) They are undecided on what direction to follow in life, so they take up the course ng bayan 3.) Their parents forced them I for one am one of th...

On Finally Realizing what Christmas is all About...

It's the 24th of December. Only around two hours before the clock strikes 12. We have just finished eating our Christmas dinner. *Sigh* Christmas is not what it used to be. Gone are the butterflies which would usually set in on the eve of Christmas. Gone is that anxious-nervous feeling as I listen to the firecrackers getting louder by the hour outside. Worst of all, my brother is gone. Yes, that is exactly what is missing this Christmas. My brother. Right now, he is somewhere in Manila answering a pathetic American's call. Folks, I have come to realize exactly what Christmas means through the absence of my brother this Christmas. Family. For so long, I have never realized it. I thought it was the presents, the food, and the loot. But as it turns out, Christmas is all about the most fundamental foundation of our society. I finally get it. It was all about our love ones in the first place. The merriment would never be there without the people doing it. Well, around an...

Where have all the Parents gone?

It's Christmas 2006. The boy living next door is again going to spend Christmas with us. Why, you ask. Well, his mom and dad apparently can't make it back to the Philippines for the holidays. His dad is an engineer in Abu Dhabi and his mom is a nurse at a Saudi Arabian hospital. It has been years since his parents came back home. Communication was usually through text messaging and the internet. The boy is living a good life though. He has a swimming pool in his front yard, two maids, a huge house, and more money than he could ever spend in his entire lifetime. But the boy is sad. His only companion inside his huge empty house is his ailing grandmother. Do you think this is a tragedy? No folks, this is a statistic so real that you only have to peek at those 'from rags to riches' type of people next door to get proof. According to some sources, more and more Filipino households are without a parent these days. Some go as far as having only an extended relative living...