Benjie Saron Jr – Sales Representative, Operations Manager, Customer Support

Hi, I’m Benjie Saron, your small but terrible BPO professional from Basud, Camarines Norte.

My journey started more than 12 years ago in my hometown, the city of smiles – Bacolod City. Due to a challenging financial situation, I had to postpone my college education and land my first job as a Service Crew, at 17, for an internationally-renowned fast food company – this is in the hopes of uplifting our cash flow and providing for my family by becoming the breadwinner. I could recall earning Php 33.00 per hour back in the day and despite my short build, I have always been an active volunteer when there are overtime opportunities, rendering 12 hours the most doing kitchen tasks and even lifting large delivery items. It was certainly not easy, but I used my situation as an inspiration to dream bigger dreams in life – not just for my benefit but of course, as always, for my family.

As the BPO industry during that time was greatly advertised, I took every opportunity possible to train myself to land a career in the said sector. I could recall volunteering for a graveyard shift and taking on orders in the drive thru just for me to have the feels of a call centre agent and further improve my overall communication. All of the hard work paid off when, at 18, I was hired in my first BPO company. Spending a good 5 years with them, before I decided to leave the province in 2017, was full of learnings and continued aspiration to achieve more than what I did – having been promoted twice to a Quality Assurance Specialist role as well as Incentives Specialist for the Client Services Team.

My movement to the country’s capital was not only an adventure of finding myself and realising more of my potential but also a way to see the bigger realm of greater adventures beyond my usual imagination. It was also not easy at first, but I am more than proud to say that I have navigated through an amazing route, as I throughout the 7 years of stay in Metro Manila, have achieved an ultimate goal of becoming an Operations Manager – along with the privilege of working in the country side, the beautiful island of Palawan. This journey allowed me to finding the woman that I will be spending the rest of my life with and we’ve also welcomed our two amazing kids – now 3 years old and 1 year old.

Similar to other starting families, we go through challenges as well. We have been battling a few of them such as emotional and financial struggles but have always been optimistic that we can resolve them. One of its results was my need to resign from the BPO sector and going back to my partner’s hometown in Basud, where we now reside. In this transition phase, I have been exploring all possible opportunities to continue providing for my family so I can sustain their needs, but so far have not had any luck especially since my last independent contracting stint turned south when I was not paid for my work of close to a month, hence the need to move forward.

I hope that this organisation may not just be an open door, but in a way, the door that’s really meant for me. At the end of the day, my positive fire continues burning with passion and devotion that I am guided by the Man above, to conquer all challenges coming my way – for me to become a much stronger family-man.

For a copy of Benjie’s resume, please click here.