Showing posts with label jobs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jobs. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Picture of the Week: House Wife Wanted

Do any ladies out there need a job? Are you also a single mother between the ages of 18 and 50? If so then I have the perfect job for you.

Better apply fast before this once in a lifetime opportunity is gone forever.

Monday, August 19, 2019

Philippines Civil Service Exam

In order to work for the government you have to take the Civil Service Exam. Once you are in and you want a promotion you have to take another version of the Civil Service Exam. It's a key test making sure no slackers get by. Only the best of the best in the service of the Philippine government. Like Elizabeth Mabana.

https://twitter.com/anjo_bagaoisan/status/1157801829322936330/video/1

This lady, who is already part of the bureaucracy, is taking the Civil Service Exam for the third time in hopes she will be promoted at her agency. But she has already taken and passed this test by virtue of her being a government employee. So what is the problem? Is there a limit on the number of attempts on can make at passing this exam? Perhaps there should be. If it takes so many tries to pass the test that is an indicator you are not so bright. Obviously if you try a million times at anything you are going to get it right eventually. Hopefully anyway.

There are three types of Civil Service Exams. Mrs. Mabana will be taking the promotional exam.

https://civilserviceexaminformation.blogspot.com/2019/03/june-23-2019-pre-employment-promotional-test-and-eopt.html
The test consists of math and grammar questions as well as questions about leadership competency meaning creative and strategic thinking and managerial and coaching abilities. Did she pass on the third try? I don't know but the passing rate for the CSE is not very high. It is actually abysmally low.

https://blog.edukasyon.ph/college-life/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-civil-service-exam/
An average of 11% of all takers pass the test. That would seem to mean either the test is very difficult or people are really stupid or the test works just fine and only the best and brightest are working in the Philippine bureaucracy. 

What kind of questions can one expect to see on the exam?  
The Civil Service Exam is an aptitude test. Like your college entrance exam, the CSE includes multiple-choice questions in English, Filipino, Mathematics, and General Information. However, since it’s meant to evaluate how fit you are for public service, the exam will specifically test your knowledge about the (1) code  of conduct and ethical standards for public officials and employees; (2) environment management and protection; (3) peace and human rights issues and concepts; and (4) the Philippine Constitution. 
https://blog.edukasyon.ph/college-life/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-civil-service-exam/
There are many sample tests available online. You can read one at this link which is where I will be taking questions from. Of the 210 questions on this sample test only 14 deal with the Philippine government, the constitution. The rest vary from math to logic to grammar. 

There is graph reading comprehension.


Vocabulary.

Idiomatic Expressons and Grammar.


Analogies and Logic.


Reading Comprehension.


Paragraph Organisation.


There is absolutely no reason to think these questions are not representative of what is on the real test.  Take a look for yourself and see if you can pass. Are you part of the 11%?

The description above says the CSE is an aptitude test. What any of these questions have to do with determining if someone has the proper aptitude for working in the Philippine bureaucracy is beyond me. Here are a few questions from the math section.


Some people might sweating bullets just looking at questions 141 and 142. How knowing how to calculate square roots will assist one in working in the Philippine bureaucracy is a mystery to me. Of course they don't want dimwits but then again it seems so many are and that goes for bureaucracies around the world. Just remember though the next time you are dealing with some numbskull he passed this exam. He can calculate square roots, read graphs, and put sentences in order to form a coherent paragraph. What he cannot do is think outside the box. What bureaucrat can?

Rather than have math whizzes in the civil service wouldn't it be better for each prospective test taker to study the Constitution and the "code of conduct and ethical standards for public officials and employees?" That would be a great way to nip corruption in the bud. An attempt anyway.

The sample test questions above are all from the pre-employment CSE and not the promotional or ethical exam.  I do not know what is on those tests but they surely are not much different. So why can't Mrs. Mabana pass? If she ever does and is finally given that promotion she can look forward to this:


Her employer will make a huge banner emblazoned with her face and hang it outside for all to see!

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Sidewalk to Nowhere

This article is a year in the making. Everything below happened in April 2018. I wrote it in October but got sidetracked and decided to wait for a whole year to pass just to see if the situation would change. It did not.

A few months ago a shed popped up out of nowhere!


Turns out the shed was to house the men who were about to reupholster the sidewalk






See how hard they are working? What they are doing is placing faux red bricks onto an already existing sidewalk to....beautify it? I have no idea. But they sure are working hard. And that means sleeping hard too.


A hard day of work follow by a few hours of well-deserved drinking and snoozing. What a life. But then one day the shed disappeared and so did the workers. The sidewalk was not even finished. Where did they go?

Down the street to the next barangay!





And you know what? They actually finished the job in that new location. However it is now October and has been SEVEN MONTHS and the original location they were at remains unfinished!






It's doubtful they will finish the job anytime soon. Besides this is literally a sidewalk to nowhere in the middle of nowhere. Why even waste the time and money to beautify it? What is the point? In several spots across town they are adding brick to an already perfectly good sidewalk. What for? When they do this work they dump the sand and bricks in the road which impedes traffic flow.  In some places they have had to use huge boulders to fill in ditches and build the sidewalk. 

In places where they are upgrading the sidewalk they not only have to place the brick but they also have to redo the curb with a whole lot of cement and it looks bad.  Even in places where they originally had brick it looks terrible. Like this sidewalk near the mall.  







The lack of sidewalks is a big problem in the Philippines. Why bother fixing what is just fine the way it is? Sidewalks are for walking. They don't need to be beautified. They are purely functional. But if they are going to spend the money to beautify the sidewalk they should spend the money on the upkeep. That this sidewalk, which is one big trip hazard, is allowed to remain in this state is ridiculous.

Thursday, May 10, 2018

The Old Trash Collecting Lady

She came through the neighbourhood out of nowhere. I was standing outside my house talking to a neighbour and all of a sudden I saw her lugging her bag of glass and plastic over her shoulder like Santa Claus with his sack of toys. She set the bag down next to a tree and wandered off while I brought out some extra glass and plastic bottles for her to carry away.






Where will she go? What will she do with all the bottles? Sell them? It can't be much to live on. I've seen scavengers often enough which indicates there must be a trade in glass and plastic. What else will she do for a living? There is no place for her in the Build Build Build economy. No matter how much a government administration says it is for the people many will always get left behind.

Monday, January 23, 2017

Overseas Filipino Workers aka OFWs

Working conditions in the Philippines are horrid.  The hours are long, the pay is niggardly, and on some occasions one must actually live at their job usually sleeping upstairs or in the back in the living area. Requirements for even the most menial jobs require a college degree and no one wants to higher an ugly person or anyone over 25. The worker must pay for countless background checks and proofs of identity and if he is lucky enough to land a job he must pay even more for uniforms and training. And after paying thousands of pesos just to earn a few hundred a day he is at the whim of the employee who is under no obligation to keep him on.  He could be let go anytime for any reason.

One of the more popular professions in the Philippines is nursing.  There are many nursing students and many unemployed nurses in this country.  It seems like there is a real surplus of nurses.  Nurses are treated no better than slaves.  When they start working at a hospital they must work an entire year for free.  There are no paid internships here.  There is simply slave labor.

So many problems working here and trying to live on stingy pay.  That is why the biggest goal of many Filipinos is to leave the country for a job with better pay.



It's not always roses out there though.  Many Filipinas are sent out to Hong Kong or Dubai as maids.  Many of them are treated well but plenty more are abused by their employers. 

There is not a house in the Philippines that does not have a family member wether distant to near who is an OFW.  These workers dutifully send their pay back home while their family sits on their lees reaping the fruit of another's labor.  

OFW's account for 13.5% of the GDP with $20 billion coming in to the country each year.  The Philippines is not a self-sustaining country.  Without these remittances the Philippines would be in worse trouble than they are now.  

This is a situation that should not be.  A strong nation is one that is self-sustaining with a strong industrial base. The Philippines weakens itself by giving every incentive for its citizens to leave the country.  

Just more fail from the land of the Failipino.