IN my very first stab at adult employment, I was a newbie teacher/lecturer.
The salary was so minute, I can hardly remember how much the university paid me. Judging from the last offer they sent me only some three years ago for a teaching position again, it was probably just a few hundred pesos per hour. But it was the late 1980s, and I just took on the job as a challenge. I wanted to prove to myself I could get a group of young students together and talk to them about Basic Photography for three boring hours, one day a week.
At the same time, however, I had already applied to a great many number of companies—thanks to our university’s efficient placement office—and took grammar tests, IQ tests, and went on dozens upon dozens of interviews with human resource directors.
To be honest, I hardly thought about the starting salaries offered to me then. Maybe because I was still living at home with the parentals, and had a safety net of sorts if the job didn’t pan out the way I had hoped. But it did cross my mind that there should be some opportunities for growth and advancement in those companies I interviewed with. I asked myself questions like, “Would I be happy selling off-the-rack clothes or writing about it?”
Back in those days, graduates were still conditioned to think of their long-term prospects in a company, unlike today’s youth who manage to flit from one job to another in this so-called “gig economy.”
I eventually answered a call from a newspaper that had just closed, which later reopened under a new name but with basically the same editorial management. So I left the teaching job at the university after one trimester, and moved on to my exciting life in journalism. (I still fantasize about teaching again, but perhaps in my senior years, when I have less things to do.)
For a basic salary of P5,000 a month, which was apparently already a high rate for cub reporters then, I got to interview cabinet secretaries, bank executives, sugarcane planters, and other decision-makers talk about issues that affected our daily lives—like agriculture, the environment, and land ownership for farmers.
So finding out from social media how a new graduate from one of the country’s highly ranked universities turned down a P37,000 a month job offer for an entry-level marketing job because “it was too low,” I was shocked like most in my generation. Her reason for turning down the job was because she thought that with her educational background, she deserved at least P60,000, according to the employer who shared the anecdote.
What many kids don’t realize these days is that employers no longer just look at the applicant’s education, but also his attitude toward work and their values. According to JobStreet PH, as late as 2018 graduates from Polytechnic University of the Philippines were most preferred by employers, followed by those from the University of the Philippines. Ateneo de Manila came in third, with the rest being University of Santo Tomas, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, Far Eastern University, De La Salle University, Technological Institute of the Philippines, University of San Carlos, University of Cebu, and University of the East.
Why? Take it from my niece F, who works in one of the largest financial institutions in the country: “They’re masipag. They work hard and don’t have to be told what to do. They just do it,” referencing PUP graduates. Whereas, many from the so-called triumvirate of once-top schools for employment, “mahilig mag-kape and mag-chismis,” said another company executive to me. “Even their parents call us to complain, claiming their kids are working too hard. Why daw pinapapasok ng Saturdays?”
I know many parents only want the best for their kids, because they remember how it was like for them when they were first starting out from college. But they must remember: It was exactly because of those challenges and difficulties that they are what they are today—successful and financially-stable, with the ability to give their kids the best education money can buy.
In this dog-eat-dog world, where competition to the top of the career ladder has become stiffer, education just doesn’t cut it anymore. In fact, employers will tell you that they also appreciate if the graduate has had some kind of work experience; it doesn’t matter if it’s just a job working in a parent’s company, or shoveling fries into a paper bag in a fast-food joint. The work experience builds character, and gives the employer an idea just how far the graduate will go to better his life or his family—great motivations for work.
A good, basic starting salary is important for any new graduate to consider when looking for a job, of course. But having the proper work ethics, as well as looking at the growth and learning opportunities offered by a company is equally significant.
Money is a tool. But a great work experience will make one a better person.