Did you know that, as of , over , Filipinos are working and living in the UAE? For a living, she writes security alerts for clients in high-risk environments in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. My husband and I moved to Dubai on 15 August My mom already works in Dubai so she sponsored our month-long tourist visas. We extended our visa for another month.
I landed my job on October 6, and my husband was hired a week earlier. After graduation, I worked as a researcher at a government-run, quasi-military school in Zambales for three years. It was really difficult because I grew up in Bulacan so every Friday and Sunday, I traveled for six hours between Bulacan and Zambales. I researched, edited post-grad thesis papers, co-authored a textbook, co-edited a manual, and only earned P8, to P10, a month.
Sobrang kayod talaga. I lost self-confidence because my friends were all creating career paths in Manila and already supporting their families. So my then-boyfriend and I decided to get married right away, expedited our papers, and sent it to my mom for processing.
Everything is done online. I updated my CV and uploaded it to online job sites. I also updated my LinkedIn profile! A month passed and I only received a couple of calls. Samantalang ako, tambay sa bahay. Finally, I received an email saying I was shortlisted for a position called Intelligence Researcher. They gave me a writing test with a hour deadline.
They provided two links to two security-related news stories for Yemen and Nigeria and the task was to write a five-sentence security alert. I answered the email right away and submitted the writing tests. An American guy called me and scheduled me for an interview that afternoon. During the interview, they showed me a news website for Afghanistan and asked if I could identify security-related news and write two security alerts in 45 minutes.
