Joseph Alcantara, Marketing Communications Manager, Corporate Communications, Marketing & Brand, Emirates Airline shares his story on how he cracked the ceiling to land one of the top spots at one of the world’s biggest airlines.
Rigorous screenings
Before Alcantara was selected for the position, he had to undergo several interviews and screenings – from around 350 applicants, he was one of the 25 who were selected after a Skype interview. After which they were called in to the Emirates Headquarters for the final screenings. “If you’re familiar with the show “The Apprentice”, or parang Pinoy Big Brother, we were asked to stay for 3 days to have those sessions of different activities. We had panel discussions, where kaharap mo yung mga kalaban mo and slowly dahan dahan kayong mawawala,” explains Alcantara.
After three days of slowly weeding out the others who were unfit for the position, Emirates Airlines managed to select the final five for the position. “Fortunately or unfortunately I was the only Pinoy there. On the last five, I can clearly remember – there was one German guy, two South Africans, one British and one Kabayan, who was me during that time,” said Alcantara.
Why should we hire you?
In a classic cliché of final interviews, Alcantara was asked the question: “Why should we get you (for the position)? Alcantara then responded with what makes Pinoys stand out: “For us the key thing that makes Pinoys shine is our positivity, our resilience, our passion and our attitude at the end of the day. From 300 you won’t make it to top 5 if you don’t have the competencies but what would make you shine would be your attitude,” explains Alcantara.
Make your ‘Pinoyness’ shine
Fast forward 4 years to the present, Alcantara now leads a team of 25 people, as they promote the one of the world’s biggest airlines. Alcantara reminds Filipinos to stay motivated and positive as these are the Pinoy’s keys to success: “Kumbaga, partida na yung pare-pareho kayong magaling, but you have that kind of attitude that would make your ‘Pinoyness’ shine and that will be your gateway to be successful.”
I agree and echo these good qualities of Filipinos on positivity, resilience, passion and attitude, this is what makes him/her special and stand out among the rest!