by
Win Your AI Job: Values, Skills, & Time-Tested Strategies
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- A story from 1985
- The political situation
- Adversity is a greater teacher
- The realities and advantages of transferring universities
- A dream to realize
- A routine faithfully followed is a discipline that succeeds
- Stand your ground when challenged in an interview
- Strategic silence with proof is a strength
- Success is more than just luck or situation
- The uncertainties and possibilities that AI is causing
- AI is here to stay
- Rosauro's Cue: How to apply for a job now?
- Opportunity when a new world order is being born
Introduction
This article is for professionals and experienced business owners who want to find new opportunities in a world that is adapting fast to AI. No matter what the situation is now in the global job market, wisdom from experience is a guide that opens new doors and opportunities. This article seeks to provide the reader with insights from a first-hand experience in the job market during very tough times. May the wisdom guide the reader to have a positive, goal-oriented mindset. A positive attitude generates the energy required to consistently show up at every opportunity and secure the job applied for. Sometimes, it is just a matter of attitude:
- that you can be the best version of yourself,
- develop a new confidence to do what a job application needs,
- and learn the tech skills which today's job market requires.
A story from 1985
Let me recount the story of someone I knew in college. It was not yet final exams, but the Placement Office at Ateneo de Manila University was proactive. They began to give leads to job applications from corporations all over Metro Manila to all senior college students already set to graduate from their degree course. With the Placement diligently giving all the leads to job openings, he began his job hunt.
The political situation
It was the last quarter of . Manila and other areas in the Philippines have been experiencing difficulties since the mid-1970s. President Marcos, Sr., of the Philippines declared Martial Law in and lifted it 9 years later in . Four years later, the pulse of the people in Manila has been beating towards a new governance. And it proved forthcoming when this spirit reached its apex in the Philippine People Power Revolution of [1][2].
Adversity is a greater teacher: Two wise quotes
William Hazlitt said, "Prosperity is a great teacher, adversity is a greater." And Albert Einstein also said, "In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity". Wise quotes by two men in history who experienced tough times [3].
The adverse conditions in the Philippines spurred my friend to achieve his goal with determination. The goal of finding a job in needed faith, self-discipline, and consistent efforts to win. Ateneo's core curriculum in philosophy and theology gave him the values needed for that discipline.
The Philippines is fortunate to have many Catholic schools and universities. The country received its first Catholic missionaries on its shores in the 16th century. The Catholic missionaries introduced the Catholic faith and eventually founded schools and universities. Two of these Catholic institutions, among many other universities that dot the entire Philippines archipelago, are De La Salle University in Manila and the Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City [4][5].
The realities and advantages of transferring universities
I learned from my friend that he was a transferee from De La Salle University. He shared how studies at Ateneo de Manila fill up a lot of his time compared to De La Salle University. La Salle's core curriculum requirements gave more time to socialize among peers at the time. However, he lamented how course requirements at Ateneo were heavier. He had to adjust with difficulty, but soon realized how much more well-rounded and balanced Ateneo's core curriculum was compared to La Salle's. Ateneo included core courses in Philosophy and Theology - much more than De La Salle's focus on Science and Engineering.
He was not used to writing since he came from the College of Engineering. And the requirements to complete the philosophy and theology courses at Ateneo were reflection papers that made him think critically. He made great efforts to write his reflection papers well and regularly submit them on time throughout the length of every philosophy or theology course. Despite the weight of the study requirements, he marveled at how the other Ateneo students were still active in extra-curricular activities, and how they brought their other studies with them to every organizational meeting they were involved in. But he was determined to graduate in Ateneo de Manila University because his father worked hard for his tuition.
A dream to realize
Nearing the end of the second semester of , the Placement Office gave him and me the leads we needed to apply for jobs. And so for one month, both of us were determined to win a job. Since he lived far, he got up early in the morning every day, commuted mostly to Makati City (the country’s business district), took many entry-level job examinations, and showed up for every interview upon all given notices. (Interviews were always onsite.) This was daily, except on weekends.
- There was no internet yet at the time.
- No laptops.
- No smartphones, nor iPhones.
- No light rail transit.
- All job hunters' feet had to do the walking,
- your physical money had to do the paying to bus conductors, instead of fingers on a smartphone or iPhone that can easily hail a TNVS from a mobile app and have your payment automated.
Generative AI image of a young man job hunting with his laptop, representing modern times with internet connections
A routine faithfully followed is a discipline that succeeds
That discipline went on for one month. One day, my friend got a telegram. It was from the National Economic and Development Authority, which is now the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev), which has a good reputation for providing very good salaries to its employees, specifically, for economic researchers.
The telegram he received was for an interview at NEDA in Amber Avenue, Pasig, located just near his residence. The department head of the Social Services Department wanted to see him personally for an interview. So he commuted and finally got to meet the Department head at his office.
The interview began.
Stand your ground when challenged in an interview
When the head of the Social Services Department began the interview, my friend was caught aback, because the Department head told him that from many job candidates, there were only the last two choices to hire: a University of the Philippines graduate, or an Ateneo de Manila graduate. And the Head told him frankly that he preferred the UP job candidate because of his better academic records. But my friend remained silent and instinctively stood his ground with all the strength he could muster [6].
Strategic silence with proof is a strength
My friend did not flinch and kept strong in his silence after the Department Head's point-blank initial judgment. As the Head sat motionless in his chair, he returned to each of the university records and examined each one more closely. There was something that made him think more about his goal in making the decision. It was the essay my friend had written for the entry-level job test requirements.
An essay writing section was part of the examination required for the role of an economic researcher. In his essay, the Department Head was honestly impressed with how my friend had written it. That well-written essay made a great difference between the applicant from the University of the Philippines and the handwritten essay of my friend, who was trained well by the practice of writing theology and philosophy reflection papers. It seems my friend had a natural talent he never knew he had. He wrote exactly what the Department of a Government Agency on Economic Development needs to hear and be directed to do in a time of political and economic uncertainty. That made the Department Head choose my friend.
Success is more than just luck or a situation
- It may have been the political, economic, and social instability of the time.
- It could also be the uncertainty of the nation's and the government agency's direction, which the department head had to deal with in many forms.
- But it was certain that he was pressed for time with many more important tasks. So he had to make a decision fast.
The Department Head recognized in the essay the direction of values and ethics that Ateneo de Manila University had taught my friend. It created a "light at the end of the tunnel" for him. My friend's essay produced a strong and positive impact that brought light to solving whatever was dark on the mind of the Head of the Social Services Department.
That was Q4 . Just 2-3 months before the People Power Revolution. I, too, had difficulty finding a job in Makati. But my friend and I were lucky. We both landed jobs at a time of adversity.
The uncertainties and possibilities that AI is causing
The present times remind all of that job hunting experience of my friend in the 4th quarter of . As in the past, today’s uncertainty and the need for direction are rife again. Many years ago in Manila, no one had a "global sense" of what was happening as we do today because of the high-speed information brought to everyone through the internet. Now, everyone is aware of what is happening all over the world. Many news agencies online report on college students in the USA who are now uncertain whether they will find a job. AI is disrupting the old way of work, causing many layoffs, but is also shedding more light on many discoveries and new frontiers [9].
AI is here to stay
The old world of work is ending, and a new world of work is beginning. It can appear negative to others who are resistant to change, but it is exactly the time to be hopeful, find greater stability, and seek certainty through information and news.
Experience from our first job hunt taught my friend and me what can be shared with job seekers who are facing the rise of AI and its continued innovations. What we can share is this: if you were trained how to write well, and may even have the talent to do so, this is an opportune time to find a new job online. Very basic in AI are LLMs - Large Language Models. These are AI tools that are multimodal (image, text, video, and audio) but can function very well with text. And the job market is more inclined now to hire those who know how to use LLMs well. LLMs are great when it comes to drafting text, editing it, and making a final copy with flow diagrams and charts.
Because of the present geopolitical situation, if you are a displaced professional or employee looking for work now, it is not that difficult to learn about LLMs and prompt engineering (the method by which you can make LLMs work to efficiently and accurately produce the desired output). There are many free lessons online on YouTube, Google, Nvidia, IBM, etc. And if you are a graduate of De La Salle University or Ateneo de Manila University, as long as you never forget to re-root yourself in setting worthwhile goals, practice discipline and the determination to achieve them - all in the context of the values of your Catholic education, you can make it [10].
Rosauro's Cue: How to apply for a job now?
This 5-step approach can help differentiate you and secure your higher-paying AI job.
Step 1. For Filipino job seekers facing AI disruption, the key is to upskill: learn and practice new skills in AI. For content creators or content strategists, now that AI is used as a writing tool, it is important to produce content that is also "human-edited".
Step 2. Expand technological abilities in AI: as AI tools upgrade, learn about the upgrades and how to apply the new features. Learn about Gemini 3, Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Grok.
Step 3. Specifically focus on how to use specialized AI models for specific tasks like NotebookLM.
Step 4. Remember to re-root yourself in sound fundamentals: set worthwhile goals and apply decisiveness, discipline, and determination to achieve them.
Step 5. Focus also on the core universal job skills in practice today in the use of AI: sound ethical judgment, critical thinking, emotional intelligence, and irreplaceable human skills. Learn also what strategic career moves you can do to pivot successfully for higher income streams in the age of AI [11].
Opportunities for those educated in Catholic schools
With AI technologies rising fast in the global arena, a new world order is beginning that has the potential to use AI ethically and responsibly and contribute to the development of peoples, material progress, and the preservation of the earth's ecosystems. The irreplaceable human skills of trust-building, and the power of AI to bridge languages together through translation, can lead to a globally coordinated world order, that values total human development, better quality of work, and conservation of the world's life-giving ecosystems [12].
Total human development is promoted by the Vatican in its Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. For those interested in understanding how the human person ought to be protected in the age of artificial intelligence from a Catholic faith perspective, the first encyclical of Pope Leo XIV, Magnifica Humanitas, speaks about this (published on ) Since it is a long document, this is your first LLM lesson: search for the document online and engineer a prompt to an LLM to make a summary of that document.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 United States License
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