It's in the stars...and stripes III - The new recruit?

27 April 2005

This time around, I didn’t wear my kinda ‘lucky’ uniform for the interview.* Instead, I had on a dull grey blouse under a no-frills black pantsuit. Bland and so ho-hum, the combo was just perfect! I only needed to summon that deadpan, dead serious face skilled number crunchers liked to put on when coming face to face with their similarly unreadable clients. But no, I won’t go that far. That was not me, anyway. I intended to remain cool and cheery even under extreme pressure from the looming roasting and grilling I was about to go through.

In the guise of going out for another client assignment, I disappeared from my work area a good two hours from the 3:30 pm interview. I went to Raquel’s area on another floor and dumped my laptop in her locker. I would just come back for it later.

By this time, I was trying to feign an appearance of calm and confidence. If Raquel only knew that my knees were practically shaking….

PwC office was just across the street. Having ample time, I managed to walk leisurely.

Angela was there, in the flesh, to welcome me. She was very warm and congenial. I liked her in an instant.

After some time, the moment arrived. Angela introduced me to Haresh from PwC-San Jose and Pete from PwC-Washington.

The interview with Haresh had gone well, I think, precisely because he didn’t ask a lot of questions. He was more like a father reciting a list of to-do’s for her daughter who was about to be sent off to a university in a faraway state. I was just nodding the whole time. :)

Pete was a different story altogether. First off, he had this eerie resemblance to David Caruso of CSI – Miami! And his eyes were rather piercing, like, “you cannot hide anything from me”. Get the picture? On top of that, he ushered me to sit beside him! It was such an unusual arrangement.

Initially, the atmosphere was rather formal but as the discussion wore on, with myself meeting his gaze the whole time, I just found myself getting comfortable with him. He was pleasantly surprised on some nitty-gritties I squeezed in my CV. I was silently thankful that he noticed them. J After that, everything was a breeze. I was not even asked a single technical question! No SOX, or US GAAP vs IAS vs IFRS, etc. Thank heavens for that. I was visibly relieved and I thought he saw it. But I didn’t give a damn. I think this, too, went well. He said they’d definitely get in touch in two weeks. He even gave me his business card. :)

I didn’t get burned, just lightly ‘grilled’ and ‘roasted’. Just the way I like it. :)

I didn’t come back to the office, instead, I went straight to Pacific Coffee for a shot of cappuccino. I needed time alone to absorb what I initially thought was a thoroughly delightful incident.

Then suddenly, in the middle of the hustle and bustle of what I could see were similarly situated yuppies musing about the good life this city supposedly owed them, I found myself asking if going to the US was what I really, really wanted.

It was so not in my plans, wasn’t it?

The thought was potentially treacherous…

But the interview… the interview went great, didn’t it?


* I have this office uniform from my previous employer which I wore a couple of times in a couple of final interviews for two different companies on two separate occasions. In both instances, I got hired.

It's in the stars...and stripes II - Build me up...buttercup?

Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars. - Les Brown

21 April 2005

It was exactly two weeks before I saw Angela’s name in my mail again.

I would be interviewed on 27 April for a possible assignment in San Francisco, San Jose or Los Angeles. With the email came the perfunctory employment application that I need to fill up and bring to the interview.

Angela informed me that should the stars be in my favor, I would be granted a full H1B visa sponsorship for an October 2005 start date. This last line did it for me.

Once again, the dam broke loose. A torrent of thoughts and images fought for space in my brain. Having been let loose, my mind was slowly but progressively rendering reality as I knew and lived it as nothing more than an illusion.

Goodness. My imagination was already shooting for the moon. To think that I still had to hurdle the interview.

So God help me.

It's in the stars...and stripes I - The accident that was most welcome

I have always believed that all things depended upon Fortune, and nothing upon ourselves. -George Gordon Byron


7 April 2005

I was rushing out of our office building to eat a late lunch when I literally bumped into Jean. I didn’t recognize him from afar.*

He not so much as yanked my right arm, led me into a corner and showed me a letter he received from PwC-US stating that they’d be scheduling an interview with him when they come over to visit Singapore from 27 – 29 April to scour for foreign talents (read: OCWs!!!).

Hmmm, I didn’t know that. Nobody told me they were actually coming over. In any case, working in the USA didn’t quite figure in the equation of my dream-in-progress, if there ever was one. :)

After showing me what could be his ticket to greener pastures, he made me promise not to squeal on this happy development. Not just yet, anyway. Sure.

While he was into it, he said I should also give it a shot and send my CV to Angela, his contact in PwC-US. Sure.

I almost forgot about that meeting with Jean had I not ran into his name in my Inbox as I was searching for my client’s email. I don’t know what came over me then but I just found myself stopping midway from what I was doing. I hurriedly opened my CV and updated it. I neither cared to glance at the revisions nor did I think up a neat cover letter. In thirty minutes flat, my CV was on its way to poor, unsuspecting Angela. A few minutes after clicking on the Send button, I realized I only remembered Angela’s email address from memory, I mean, I just saw it from the email Jean showed me.

That was 6 April.

The following day, I received an email from her telling me that she was scheduling me for an interview sometime between 27 - 29Apr!

It was kinda fast. I was kinda thrilled! Honestly, I had doubts on my chances at the outset. I thought I was too late. Apparently, I made it just in time.

I debated with my neurotic self on whether I should tell a handful of friends about the very promising event. I mean, what if, after all the excitement, I didn’t make the cut?

In the end I did tell them as I knew they’d always be there whatever the outcome of the upcoming interview might be.

* How could I? Burdened as I am with nearsightedness, I still stubbornly refuse to wear a pair of eyeglasses or contact lenses.

PG chronicles III - Seizing the day

Carpe diem is an obscure Latin phrase I always associate with Dead Poets Society. I think it means living life to the fullest and getting the most out of each day.

Well, in true seize-the-day fashion, our second day at PG was marked by loads of activities and unexpected encounters which I could choose to view in two opposing perspectives - one of bragging rights (yeah, yeah) or one of dreadful panic.

7am

We barely managed to get up for the snorkeling adventure over at San Antonio beach. But once there, our normally lethargis selves got all worked up as we viewed the amzzing view from under water. Johnne and I even spotted a school of fish, their graceful and uniform movement taking our breath away. How could they do that, move in unison? It boggles the mind. Like a flock of seagulls...jonathan livingston seagull...i am digressing.

I found out that my new friend Anthony conducts diving lessons. Wonderful! Now I know who to contact in case the 'itch' to dive becomes unbearable. :P

2pm

Having been sufficiently toasted by the sun, we called it a day by 12 noon, freshened up and headed to Traveller's Delight for some major pig out session. I do not know if it was because we were soo hungry or the food just really tasted great. Hunger tends to distort your judgment, you know.

4pm

Totally let down upon knowing that there was no money changer in the *^%$# place, we contemplated on our bleak future. Our saviour cum saints of perpetual help were anthony and phoebe. Bless them. Our mood literally turned from dark to grey...errr...bright, bright...whatever. We were ecstatic. Or was it just me?

6pm

We assembled at the beach to do Banana boatride. Was it fun! We must have given Manong a minor case of heart attack as we vigorously shook the boat until it capsized. It was pitch dark, maybe well past 7pm, dear bloggie. Poor Manong. You could really see him struggling as he took stock of the juvenile delinquents that were his passengers. Fun! :-P

10pm

Of course, we were eternally hungry. So we ate at Nikita Dining (I think). Then, it was time. No trip to Galera was complete without the notoriuos Minodro Sling. So it was basically Gina and I who were downing the pitcher. Anthony added bottles of cheap vodka in the mix. As the night wore on, only Gina and I remained standing. It was also good as we were in too deep with girl talk.

2am

Then, a couple of Super Dry landed on our tables which, according to the gay waiter (waitress?) was courtesy of two foreigners sitting somewhere within our field of vision. Goodness, did we look like some sweet painted ladies???? Before we could protest further, who would took a seat but one of them white men. Gina immediately called JM to rescue us. Understand that we still managed to keep our cool surface under the circumstances.

230am

JM took us to his former groupmates in JCC over at the other side of the beach. By this time, I was a little light-headed but definitely sane. JM introduced us to the guys and girls. There was one tall guy, though, who kept talking to me and even managed to get my number. I thought that was the end of it. Anyway, I was getting bored, sleepy and woozy so I pleaded for coffee.

330am

After a round of black coffee, JM accompanied us to our cottage for the much needed shuteye. I heard my phone beep. It was the tall guy we met at the beach. What was he saying???? For all I know he must have been cross-eyed and sufficiently soused way before he met us for him to be saying these...whatever. I needed to sleep.