Goodbye JobsDB Philippines

I was surprised to find this email in my inbox.

I had a flashback of when I was still a fresh graduate way back 2000 (or was it 2001?). I have used this job search engine to look for jobs within Metro Manila. They were able to pair me up with job searches that is related to my field or based on what I have ticked on their checklist.

I have also used jobsDB when my husband announced that he wants to go back to the Philippines. I searched and see if there are any job opportunities that will suit my profile. I also read their articles about how to get the job and their job seeking tips. It also gave me a chance to see what the companies are looking for. 

It was not just a one-sided search because I also used other job search engines like Jobstreet and Inquirer's as well. 

Reading more about the notice, I commend them that they point their jobseekers to the other job search engine, Jobstreet. I like that kind of attitude. It seems there was no bitterness (but of course, this is just me reading the notice I received). 

JobsDB will be closing the site on June 30, 2016. I guess it was a good fight. 

Though it makes me think, what has changed with the hunting process done by job seekers and what do companies use now to get their ad out there?  

The Blog is alive! It's alive! and a lesson learned for not asking (duh)

I did not think I would be coming back here since I have started this blog.

But hey, it has survived and I still cannot believe that I am still getting views on this blog so might as well put it into good use, right?

A lot of things have happened. We are now back in our home country for more than a year now. I have to say that I have somewhat adapted a laid back lifestyle which is something I need to break very soon (note: not doing me any good! LOL). 

Since I have a lot of time in my hands, I am back to hunting work online. I think I have made this decision (a firm decision when to start) just on the start of this year. I told myself that this is the time that I need to focus on what I wanted to do and that is to work from home. 

Just yesterday, I have opened up my OLX account and saw a response to a question I have sent regarding an online gig that I saw. The person said that there is no fee to register on the site and it promises an earning of a minimum of $200 it says. That was ka-ching! ka-ching for me so I thought I'd give it a try. 

I entered my details and registered. When I registered, my ka-ching! ka-ching! thoughts were replaced with my oh my! 

See!! It does not even have anything on the site and yet I was lured!!! Why?!!!

From what I gather on the website that I need to refer people and ask them to click to a link and have them register as well (action: banging my head). 

I am not sure if you can categorise this as me being deceived because if there is one thing I did not do that is to ask more about what it's all about.

Now, I am registered member though I am not really confident that I can earn referrals more so because of the fact that I do not even know what the site is promoting about (double arrggh!). 

So there, me registering without being a bit investigative about it (I really am wondering why I did that because I usually do a bit of research before even joining sites! My brain must be sleeping that time). 

Well, what better way to say that this blog is alive --- promote a booboo you have just made (oh bummer)! However, if you think you can make money doing referrals, maybe you can click on this link and hit me up. Will appreciate it! Promise! 

Lost...

I have decided to stop looking for online work at the time being and decided to focus on my family at the moment. Well, this mode of thinking was actually "on" for like two months already.

This was all brought about when we started planning for our family reunion in the Philippines. I thought I better put the online writing on hold for a while because we need to plan for a lot of things - places to go, restaurants to try and so much more.

Apart from that, we also had some renovations done for our home.

Now with all that in progress, I wasn't sure if I can go back to hunting online work again :( This is something that I would want to go back to for a long time now (I think I have put this off for more than two months now).

I guess I felt a bit sad that I lost one of my good clients.

Still, this should not stop me for looking!

I need to get back... sorry, just talking to myself.

Me.

Fake Phones

I just saw a news clip in one of the Arabianbusiness alerts that I receive that both Etisalat and Du will block services of people who uses fake phones (look here and here).

This (in my honest opinion) be good and bad for their business. I guess bad in the sense that people will find it difficult to make use of their super shiny fake phones and now have to buy the legit ones. For the telecommunication and mobile phone companies, this is good because they get to sell their products as per the price they wanted and the other bundle products that they have on offer.

To be honest, there is really no point in buying fake items. If you cannot afford to do straight payments, retail stores tied up with credit card companies and started offering customers with their installment plans. In this, you get to have the phone that you want in staggered payments that you can extend for 3, 6, 9 or 12 months if possible.

I mean what can cheap fake phones benefit the user? Aside from not knowing when will it bog down, there is no guarantee that you get the value of the money you have paid - this does not only apply to phones but for other items as well such as bags, watches and more.

I just don't understand people who sells fake items. I know this is good business especially for people who like to keep up with the Joneses but isn't this like misleading people too?

I hope the fake stuff be put into halt and small businesses with authentic items to promote will make it for next year.

Phones can be a good start to combat other fake items right? :)

Happy holidays!

Switched Off but not intentionally !

Hi again.... wow what a hiatus but this one is not my fault.

We have (again) just moved into another place and was not able to have internet for almost 2 weeks but before that I was not able to blog because we were busy looking for another place to live!

So, I am switching my thinking button and at the same time checking out possible online opportunities so that I can add up on my 'rainy days' savings!

I have not reached a $100 but this is my fault because I was so busy dealing with my emotions about other people that I neglect the other things - like my writing :(

Hopefully that ends now as I am in a different path and scheme!

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Whilst looking for possible online opportunities, I just noticed that I keep seeing ads or job posts saying that they will pay writers for $1 / 500 words??! Seriously?! I think the dollar fits about 200 to 250 words max but for 500 words? Why?

I know a lot of people do this for a living and some of them need a starting ground (like me) but not for the dollar!

I think people who posts these kind of work should at least consider a few things like time and research. I mean, if you want a decent article, you also need to be realistic that people will be investing time and effort.

I guess just a bit frustrated in the sense that employers kind of overlooked the fact that people do this for a living since times are tough these days.

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Rambling thoughts again... I guess this is also because of the fact that I just got out of being super duper sick to being moderately sick (and hungry too!). I am just waiting for hubby to come home so that we can eat dinner.

Oh! It still is the day - Merry Christmas! Ho! Ho! Ho!

R

Photos online...

If you would notice in this blog, some of my photos are missing. This is because instead of saving the photo itself, what I do is I just copy the link of the photo and paste it in the blog - to save space for the blog. 

Due to this, I guess, if some of the websites will put down the images so does the link or if they change the code of the link, it does not link it back to my blog. 

This is the reason why I sometimes do not post photos anymore because I do not like the hassle of re-linking the photo or sometimes trying to look for it (or worse, search for a substitute!). 

However, I also read last night about the ways to get your blog noticed and one of the things highlighted was to have more visual - meaning more photos. 

At time, people tend to see the aesthetics first before reading the content of the webpage or blog. I need to make my blog more appealing to my viewers and also so that I can gain more positive responses on my freelance working as well!

I had a Photobucket account which I used before but that seems to fail me as well (boo!)... I just saw the post from Sharon's website (Get Paid to Write) about working environments and saw that she was using Flickr. This made me think about my Photobucket account. 

Should I just switch to Flickr instead?

I am unsure if this will resolve the issue about posting photos in my blog(s) - yes, I have this dilemma on all of them!! Probably, I need to investigate more on what I should use and see if this actually fits my purpose of what do I need / want to do with the photos.

or

Maybe you have any ideas for me? :)

Busy!

I have been a bit busy lately because I recently had the chance to work online :)

My client is very patient with me. We are currently starting off with 2 hours for the week (note: he just recently extended my services from 2 to 4 hours a week! Sweet!).

I am hoping that I can maximise my time doing the tasks.

Work at the office is a bit hectic too as we have just been awarded a few new projects. Because of this, we had to procure a few things that needs to be used by the project. Hopefully, we were able to fulfill their requirements *fingers crossed*

For now, I leave you with this flash mob at Dubai International Airport. :)

Dance!

Imagine That...

And I thought I was just blabbing without an audience but it turns out, I have some! :) 

Thanks to you all who have been reading my blog - intentionally or unintentionally.

This is now giving me the inspiration to write more and be more vocal about my adventures and misadventures of searching for online writing opportunities.

Of course aside from that, I will also include here pieces / articles that I will be writing related to certain issues that are worth discussing. Please feel free to put your comments in - you can agree or disagree. This is where a forum starts right?

I'm getting giddy and excited about this! :)

Thanks again readers! :)

Still unsuccessful...

Still no luck in finding an online stint or maybe I am just not looking hard enough. 

I guess it can be because I am so engrossed with the games in my iPhone that I am not focusing on what I should be doing - looking for opportunities online. I am a member of various online writing organisations - Helium, Triond, oDesk, Elance and the list goes on. 

I have not got the chance to really sit down and go through each and every website - to look for possible opportunities for me. A friend once said that since I have a full-time job, the requirement for having an online presence is becoming a bit slim. One of the reasons she has highlighted is the fact that I need to focus on my bread and butter - my current job. 

She is right but at the same time, there is something inside me that is saying that I also need to build my portfolio. I cannot just rely on what I have written in the past or on my blogs because I cannot consider that as my latest works. 

I thought maintaining an online blog with my opinions and news features would be a plus (and I think it is) has not really materialised! 

I think all I need is a plan. I need to have something in place so that I don't end up feeling sorry for myself. I will try and see if I can feature something in this blog at least once a month - something like a magazine would do. Come up with stories that I can write about here. 

If you dropped by this blog and have seen this entry - feel free to write about an idea or maybe a topic that we should discuss (hmmm... I think I only have one follower! Hopefully, I can do something about that too!). 

That it for now! Ta!

*am now working on my next feature for this blog. Hopefully, before the month ends!*

Neglect... PTCs... and more

Hey everybody! :) How's it going?

After my last post in June, I have been in hiatus once again. I guess you can say that my writing stint has taken a back seat at the moment. Not that I do not want to but it is because a lot of things have been piling up... work, our house renovation and more.

I guess I am more into that at the moment though I have not neglected my online presence...The only thing is, I am devoting it more to doing Paid to Click sites or also known as PTCs.

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I think PTCs have been there for a long time already (probably 4 years already?). I once joined Clixsense thinking I could earn more dollars but it turns out -- it was pennies rather than a dollar! I decided to quit only to now join Neobux a few years later.

Neobux allows you to earn your first dollar in three months or so (I think). I have not been very active with this to be honest (I mean, how can my excitement build up when I earn $0.01 for every click! I have done the Math for it and I think it will take me three months or more to earn my first dollar!).

Though I decided not to give up on it because this is the first PTC site that I have seen that allows you to earn your first dollar and then the second dollar until it reaches 10 dollars - which will eventually be the minimum cash out in the future. Yes, I know it will take time but I thought of taking a chance for now since I am pretty much preoccupied with a few things and writing an article is something that I cannot do at the moment.

I still try to land a job in oDesk for transcribing or research.These tasks do not allow me to think that much. However, I still am not able to get any jobs. I think I need to take some tests to show them that I am fit to do the work.

Hmmm... Let me find time to do that... probably next week (again?!)...

Ta!