Mauie Flores

One of my recent writing projects for WikiPilipinas is the 2010 Wiki Past 10s which is essentially our list of Top 10s in 2010. One of the articles I edited was about the Top 10 Overseas Jobs for Filipinos in 2010. Here's the list that we came up:

1. Health care workers
2. Domestic helpers
3. Seamen/Seafarers
4. Equipment operators and laborers
5. Skilled workers
6. Engineers
7. Teachers
8. Administrative and clerical workers
9. IT professionals
10. Hotel and restaurant staff

Since it appears that health care jobs still dominate the list, you may want to check out medical job sites for job opportunities. Of course, you will need to be a medical professional for that. As for me, I'll just stick to being a freelance writer/editor. I hope I won't ever need to leave the Philippines for greener pastures.

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In this tech savvy world, almost anything can be done online - even getting a degree. Getting an online degree is very convenient and has little difference compared to getting a degree in traditional classroom. I should know, I have enrolled myself in an online graduate degree a few years back.

I do believe that we can always make ourselves better with continuous learning. This is why I find it amazing that even fire fighters can enroll in a Bachelor of arts in fire service administration online. Contrary to most people think, fire fighting is not just aiming the fire hose against the fire and fighting it with water. Fire fighting is a profession and management skills also need to be learned. This online course can enrich a fire fighter's career and open up more doors for career growth.

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I officially became a work-at-home mom when the school break started this year. I left my teaching job and chose to work-at-home so that I can skip going out everyday and arriving home late at night. I already have vision problems as a complication of my diabetes and it becomes especially difficult to see at night. I also had frequent spells of nausea and the daily travel from home to work made my immune system weak. Working at home not only solved these problems but also allowed me more time to manage my household and take care of my son's needs.

How do I do it? First of all, I started to monetize my blogs. Once in a while I write paid posts that pay me a modest amount. I also earn a little through Google Adsense. But these earnings do not even make up the major chunk of my online earnings. I do online web content writing, reviews writing, and data entry jobs. Currrently, I am juggling my time between blogging and my two freelance writing projects. I can say that the pay is good enough for me considering that I do not pay for transportation plus the other perks of working from home.

If you are interested in doing what I do, here are some things you should know:

• Have a Paypal account. Paypal is an online payment facility that most clients use in paying. Set up an account and link your local bank account for you to receive your dollar earnings in Philippines pesos. You will need your Paypal email when registering in online earning sites.
  
  
• Register your job provider profile in oDesk. A major percentage of my online freelance writing projects are from oDesk. I find the site very secure and this is where you should go if you want to avoid scamming online clients. Prepare an impressive provider profile and take the certification tests to have greater chances of being picked. Apply for jobs and choose between fixed price jobs and hourly jobs. For hourly jobs, you will need to install an oDesk software for work time logs and screenshots.
  
  
• Invest in a reliable computer and hi-speed internet connection. Just like in any business, you should be ready to invest a little. In my case, I bought a laptop with really high specs so it can surely accommodate the bulk of my online work. I am still running on SmartBro though as we do not have DSL providers in our village yet. I am fortunate that my internet connection seldom gets wonky and, when it does, I still get to use my wireless phone as a modem.
  
  
• Assign a work area at home. Although I can work in the kitchen and in bed while multi-tasking, I still have an assigned work area where I do serious writing tasks.
  
  
• Be ready to respond to calls and emails ASAP. Be always online on Skype and Yahoo Messenger. To be more convenient, specify your work hours and our time zone in your cover letter so clients will know when to contact you.
  
  
• Be wary of scammers. Although there is a small chance of encountering scammers in oDesk, you will still need to be on guard especially when you are accepting fixed price jobs. Since there are no time logs, oDesk does not guarantee payment for fixed price job transactions. What I do is that I only choose to apply for fixed price jobs of oDesk Verified Payment Method clients.

Freelance online writing can be a lucrative job but a great deal of time and energy should be invested. What I earn is not that much yet but it's better than earning nothing while at home.

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Our backpacking trip to Vigan and Baguio last March gave me the opportunity to study a little Spanish through a PSP game called "My Spanish Coach". Traveling light compelled me to not bring my laptop and it took me away from my online activities for a week. It was a blessing in a way because I had the chance to bond more with my family, especially with my boy who got interested in the game, too.

I was already studying and completing sentences about food and places in the game. When we are not playing the game, Ralph and I try to exchange simple sentences in Spanish. My son has a more retentive memory than me and it became easy for him to speak simple sentences in Spanish. He's learning Spanish faster than I have that it would look like I bought him some learn spanish for toddlers videos.

Once we got back from our trip, I had to go back also to reality and to my piled up tasks. I didn't get the chance to play the game and learn Spanish words again. I will find time to do some once my schedule permits me to. It's never to late to learn a new language. It may seem useless now but there may be opportunities in the future when I can use my knowledge of the Spanish language.

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I gave up on online job hunting a couple of years ago since I put up our tutorial center. It still is best to be your own boss even though there are more responsibilities that come with it. Most people are not as lucky when being an employee is the only option.

I was not able to unsubscribe myself from the online job hunting sites I joined in the past. That's why I still receive job alerts in my email. And because I do not open these kinds of email lately, they often get classified as spam. These job alerts are not only local but international as well, like the one that was looking for Austin resumes. Just click on the link if you are interested.

Are you looking for a job or finding a new career? Try job hunting online because it is still more convenient than buying newspapers.

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I was at the flu vaccine seminar last Saturday when my aunt-in-law called me up to ask about the shutdown of Intel Philippines' Cavite plant. I sadly confirmed the news to her. She was overly concerned about her friends and other neighbors who were working for Intel. I assured her that these people will be properly compensated for sure. Yet, I still feel bad because Intel Philippines is such a big part of of lives. My husband was part of the company for nine years. We had so many good times while he was with the company. Somehow, I felt relieved that he was able to move on to another company (a global beverage company this time around) in 2005, just nine months shy of his supposed to be 10th anniversary in Intel.

Still, I feel that there is nothing to be completely happy about it. We still have close friends who did not have the options to find another job before the company announced the shutdown. We expected that it wouldn't be during this year. Most people who have stayed still hung on to the hope that things will be better. I am so worried about our friends who still have existent car loans and housing loans and those who are sending children to school. They have bought their homes in Cavite to be near to the plant. What should do they do now? Approximately 1,800 employees will be affected. The Penang plant and also two wafer fabrication plants in the US will also be closed down. I guess there will be a surge of new members of the "Intel Outside" group.

As I said, Intel has been a huge part of our lives. Even now that my husband is with another company, the values and culture that he learned from Intel still remained. He even instilled their "Safety First" policy in me. We have so many properties that we may call "Katas ng Intel". Sitti (our Honda City) was acquired through the company car loan program. Our eight-year old HP desktop computer was given by the company during the good times in 2001. Every employee got a desktop computer package for their home use.

Reality bit my senses today when I read that Texas Instruments will be laying off 400 of their Baguio plant employees . I think it is about time for people in the semiconductor industry to think about other options before it's too late.

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