“It seemed that human sorrow was always based on regret and pain in the past, and that neither time nor location nor history made much difference.” — Abdulrazak Gurnah, Gravel Heart (2017). By Rey Moreno We distinguish. We discriminate. We love ranks, hierarchies and categories. It’s them versus us. Love your own kind. Belonging and identity define us;… Read More »
Many job seekers spend their time and energy focusing on job searching factors beyond their control, namely how an employer designed their hiring process. Regular readers of this column know I stress the truism that employers own their hiring process, not the job seeker. Hence, rather than criticizing an employer’s hiring process, job seekers should work with it.… Read More »
“Zen” is derived from the word “Chan,” which comes from the Sanskrit term “dhayana,” meaning “meditation.” In Zen practice, zazen or meditation plays a central role that allows a practitioner to experience the so called “ultimate reality or the absolute.” It is a practice that encourages deep meditation and understanding of reality beyond conceptual thinking. Zen had a… Read More »
Life in Canada is both enjoyable and anxiety-filled existence. For Filipinos, it’s a kind of family-centered living; we will do everything for our family. We go to work, go home, sleep and work again. In short, our life revolves around our families. Our survival instinct always comes into play when our family’s welfare is at stake. Most of… Read More »
One of the things the Philippines boasts of is being able to communicate in English fluently. Whereas neighboring Asian countries are still during learning the language as they opened their doors to the world, Japan, China, South Korea, and so on comes to mind. As such, foreign businessmen and tourists find it easier to consider travel to the… Read More »
The Chair Mann, Phnom Penh The Philippine Secretary of the Department of Education and Culture, Sara Z. Duterte, who is also the concurrent President of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) visited Phnom Penh last week. President Sara paid a courtesy call to Minister Hangchuo Naron, the Minister of Education, Youth and Sports of Cambodia. In… Read More »
Whoah! There is such a thing as conscience after all. Or is there? The website of the United Nations, under the U.N. event “International Day of Conscience April 5” contains these timely thought-provoking words… “The task of the United Nations to save future generations from the scourge of war requires transformation towards a culture of peace, which consists… Read More »
American professor, author, and podcast host Brené Brown once said, “Empathy fuels connection.” Empathizing with someone, especially with their concerns, is how you build strong relationships. Interacting empathically with employers is a competitive advantage since few job seekers do so. All hiring managers have concerns. The times you weren’t hired were likely because of a concern(s) your interviewer… Read More »
Puzzled and frankly bored as to why much of our high school Philippine history material covered battles and wars waged against the Spanish colonizers, I asked my history teacher why so? Her profound answer was: As foreign invaders, the Spaniards treated Filipinos as second-class citizens in so many, many ways — calling them indios and ladrones, for instance.… Read More »
Physical goods or services are commodities. All commodities exist to solve a problem. For example, apples—a raw agricultural commodity—are a solution to solving your hunger. As a job seeker, you’re offering employers a commodity, your labour power, in exchange for a wage. In other words, at the risk of offending sensibilities, you’re seeking to serve as a commodity to… Read More »