Congratulations Graduates!

Hi guys! I just want congratulate you all for successfully obtaining your college diploma.

I know some of you are still in the state of euphoria. Some are filled with anxiety about what comes next (especially those who will be taking the board exams). It’s but normal. Everybody experiences that. But as a matter of advice, i like to share with you some things i have learned about the real world after college.

1. What you learned in school is actually just 5% of what your job will require. The remaining 95% was not taught in schools and you have to learn it by yourself. That 95% pertains to persistence, motivation, sacrifice, hardwork and consistency.

2. Job-hunting is plain and simple yet very hard to undergo. Don’t look for a "job". Look for a "career". A job is just for money while a career is for life.

3. The workplace is dominated by conventional and traditional bosses (CEOs, CFOs, COOs etc.) who oftentimes suggest, through their actions, that you should fall in line first for the next 20 years before you have a chance to talk directly to them. Lucky are you who will find very inspiring, innovating and open-minded bosses.

4. Theories/concepts that were taught while you were college will remain theories. The workplace imposes you to be more "practical" rather than a "theorist". For example, assuming you are an auditor like me, you discovered an uncorrected 100 million pesos error in prior years and you proposed an entry to recognize such in the beginning balance of Retained Earnings of the current year. Eventhough, the engagement partner may would like to correct such error this year, your client will absolutely not allow that because it might affect their stock price. In the end, you will be "practical" by choosing to simply let go of it than to let go of a AAA client which feeds you millions of pesos each year. There goes a saying that "how can you bite that hand which feeds you…".

5. There are only two types of workers in the workplace - the bitch and the saint. Which one are you? decide carefully as that might affect your promotion.

6. Love what you do and do what you love to do. Before plunging into a job offer, think of this question, "Will I really love this work for the rest of my life?". The greatest men in world are those who chose the work they love. For them, their work is not just a paycheck every 15th and 30th of the month but the love of their life (next to their wives, of course. Am I right Mr. Bill Gates?).

7. The language of today’s workplace is teamwork. So if you are a loner who prefers to prepare his thesis/fesibility study alone like me way back in college, forget about your "own world" and join the friday night madness with your co-workers

8. Last but not the least, apply the virtue of Patience. If you want to get to the top of the ladder, don’t jump from the ground in order to be at least three steps up higher than the rest because the ladder will surely fall and it will badly hurt you and the other climbers. Remember that the fastest way to riches is the get rich slowly. Climb up the ladder slowly and carefully and be mindful of others who are also climbing with you.

My definition of success is simple. Success is getting whatever you want in life without violating the rights of others.

Welcome to the real world.