A little bit of History

On Monday together with my family (father, sister and brother in law) which are visiting me in the Philippines.  We took one day trip to Corregidor which is an island on near Manila. Corregidor is known the world over for its role in war, bravery, and history. It is three miles long and 1 ½ miles at its widest point, facing the China Sea and flanked by the provinces of Bataan and Cavite. A rock island remarkably shaped like a tadpole at the entrance of Manila Bay, Corregidor's strategic location was vital in the defense of Manila during World War II.

The name 'Corregidor' came from the Spanish 'corregir', or 'to correct', since the island was a checkpoint for vessels entering Manila Bay during the Spanish and American occupations. Perhaps it is Corregidor's geographical proximity to Bataan and existing inaccurate historical writings that cause many to associate the rock island with the Death March, which came shortly after the Fall of Bataan.

Corregidor became the headquarters of the Allied Forces and also the seat of the Philippine Commonwealth government.  It was from Corregidor that Philippine Pres.  Manuel Quezon and MacArthur left for Australia in February leaving behind Lt. Gen. Jonathan M. Wainwright in command.

Today, Corregidor's rich history continues to draw Filipinos and foreign tourists alike, making the island one of the most visited tourist spots in the country. For first-time Filipino visitors, Corregidor reacquaints them with the past and helps them discover their national identity. The island is home to many historical treasures.

 

It was interesting experience to know something about World War II in Asia. Because so far I knew mainly about Europe.  If anyone is interested in history he should go definitive there.

 

Headway – AMA Partnership

On Wednesday Headway signed a partnership with AMA EDUCATION SYSTEMS HOLDINGS, INC., which is a corporation duly established and operating in the Philippines, they are capturing different universities mainly IT. The main objectives of this partnership are to have an access to pool of talents that can work in Headway. We wish to give chance for AMA students to have their On-the-Job-Training here as well as be an employee. We would like to be involved in job fairs and career talks. Headway management would like to put an effort to shape young Filipinos, learn critical thinking and other core competencies. We believe that such activities can bring positive impact on filipino education system and we will be looking for signing such partnership with other universities.

Introducing the SIX of us :)

Ok! So this post is dedicated to the amazing and fun individuals who are doing their traineeship at HEADWAY today. These are:

From left to right:
Dorota (Poland), Cees (The Netherlands), Bryan (Canada), Eva (Slovakia), Karla (Perú)
- Sonia (Romania) missing in the pic.

TRAINEES IN THE OFFICE

Dorota (HR-SSG) - Cees (Quality - SSG) - Bryan (HBS) - Karla (HPL) - Eva (HBS)
Sonia missing in the picture (HBS)

TRAINEES PROUD WINNERS OF THIS COOL COMPETITION

Upper Line: Cees, Dorota
Bottom Line: Eva, Karla, Sonia
Bryan missing in the pic (he was in Vietnam)

TRAINEES ENJOYING DONSOL (LEGAZPI) in The Philippines

SONIA - 24 years old, committed to a cool chinese, from Romania, she holds a degree in Economics. She arrived in August 2008 and will be here till January 2010. She works as project manager in Headway Business Services, establishing a company in The Philippines.

BRYAN - 29 years old, single, from Canada. He is a Chemical Engineer, he had worked at National level in AIESEC in Hungary and The Netherlands. Now he is doing a business consulting traineeship for one year, till August 2009.

DOROTA - 25 years old, committed to a nice filipino, from Poland. She got her master's degree in Economics in 2007, then worked for AIESEC at National level and afterwards decided to go for an internship. Her role is HR Officer for Headway Business Services - Shared Services Group, meaning that she manages HR in three different companies. She will be here till August 2009, maybe longer :)

EVA - 25 years old, committed to a smart czech, from Slovakia. She holds a Masters degree in Public Economics. She has being into 25 countries because of AIESEC and personal travels. She is Business Consultant for 2 current projects in Headway Business Services. So far, she is enjoying her 7 months in The Philippines.

KARLA - 25 years old, single lady, she comes from Perú, she is an Industrial Engineer, who had lived and worked in Perú, U.S. and Brazil ; and traveled across Latin America because of AIESEC and non-AIESEC related projects. Today she works as business consultant and project manager in Headway Process Logics. So far she has been here for 3 months and she loves it.

CEES - 24 years old, single, from The Netherlands, (almost graduated as) Industrial Engineer. He has lived in The Netherlands, France and now he is enjoying his "pinoy" experience. He works as Quality Control Officer for Headway Business Services - Shared services Group; meaning that he is working in implementing and monitoring quality standards in three companies. He arrived in February and will be here till August.

These are us!
Check out this "formal" video we put together =)

Cool thing to realize while writing this, how extraordinary is to find similar people, with similar interests, from Europe and America; AIESECers, with international experience, Economics and Engineering backgrounds, very ambitious minds, really caring, sometimes random and ultra fun:

Check out our attempt to become Chinese in a Friday night, after finishing a typical Headway week.

Headway promesses a challenging and life changing experience to their trainees. So far, it has been full with different, unique, special, surprising, unexpected, kind, random, possitive, fun, incredible... situations.

For sure we will continue sharing stories of our wonderful experience coming from working on a Consultancy firm; learning how to balance work with beautiful nature and trips... in this unique country - The Philippines.

Stay tuned for more :)

Keynote speech in the LYCEUM of the Philippines

On FRIDAY I had chance for the first time of my life to be a keynote speaker. IT was amazing experience. I was invited by LYCEUM of the Philippines University Batangas for their conference with theme: Networking and Linkages between Business and Academics Institutions. This university is around 2,5-3 h from Manila in very nice place. I was giving speech about: Standards and Qualifications of multinational companies in hiring people.

I went to the university one day before, Thursday afternoon and when I get there I was welcomed as a star :) with a big bucket of flowers pictures etc. I felt like Miss Poland they even called me like that because of course for them I'm so beautiful :) I was given very nice room so at the evening I prepared myself to the next day and went sleep. Next day I woke up around 6.30 AM to practice speech and prepare myself. It was very nice sleep because finally no street noise just pure nature :)

The whole conference was from 9:00 till 12:00 I was at the very beginning. My speech long around 30 min and in my opinion it was the only one speech which was useful for students the other were not so much on the topic. But after such long experience in AIESEC and thousand conferences I have big expectations　：）after my part I was given a certificate some small presents. It was a very nice experience to talk to around 300 students, their family members and other important people. I know that the organizers and university itself was surprised that I'm so young but I think that it is not about how old are you but what kind of experience you have. I hope to have mire chances to participate in such events for me personally it was a great chance to check myself as a keynote speaker, to got to know more education system in the Philippines and of course to have a great fun :)

Key learning points from last 6 months

It is already 6 months that I’m here in this beautiful country. It is amazing how time is passing quickly. So far I manage to visit many interesting places like: mountains, caves, rain forest, beaches, volcano, towns, underwater world, etc. J of course I’m looking forward for more! If you like adventures, sun and nice people this country definitely is for you!

Talking about experience at work I have to admit that I’m learning a lot! Job that I’m having is very responsible and I wouldn’t name it internship because you have to make very crucial decisions and scope of work is big as well, thanks to that I can feel like developing and discovering myself every day. I was already in many different situations, dealing with different people. I can say that being HR in AIESEC and in company is very different; when money is there everything is more complicated. I’m learning a lot how money influence HR and all the activities connected with this.  I’m also learning how to work in completely different culture. Sometime it is very hard. Filipinos are very friendly and hardly ever will say no sometime they need to be push and guide. The labor market is also different than Polish one. In our company currently there are 6 trainees and I can see how big value they are bringing. I wish more Filipino companies will use foreigners to combine different cultures and benefits from it.

In front of me more 6 months, sometime I’m wondering how things will go and what next day will bring. I started to think what to do next. I have different thoughts in my mind. Staying in Headway, look for some other company in the Philippines, look for another internship or back to Poland. I hope that everything will clarify soon so that I don’t have to worry.

To summarize I’m recommending such experience for everyone. You can get to know a lot about yourself, world other people. You are not loosing anything just gaining!