Vicente Ardenio Jr – CSR, ESL Teacher, Sales Agent

Hi! my name is Vicente V. Ardenio Jr. I live in Murcia, Negros Occidental, Philippines. My nickname is Bam.

When I was young I saw how difficult life is for us because I came from a poor family. My parents are small farmers. They worked so hard to provide for our daily needs and the struggle was real – I know firsthand because I used to help them. I said to myself that one day I will do my best not to experience this kind of lifestyle.

High school was fine – not too expensive. Challenges kicked me so hard when I entered college. I took a Bachelor of Science in Accounting Technology. For me to earn money, I sold sweet corn at school. I would carry around 30 pieces of cooked sweet corn, packed in plastic from home to school (which is the product of my parent’s farm). The money generated from that selling activity was used for my fare the next school day because I travelled to and from every day. But one day, while helping my mother at the farm, my mother said that I may need to stop studying because they could no longer provide for me financially. Hearing that statement from my mother was really devastating. I felt like my dreams were gone, and my tears were about to fall – but I hid it from her.

I said to myself, this should not be. I should look for an alternative, and maybe work to sustain my studies. So I decided to work full time while studying. I applied as Customer Service at TeleTech handling Charter Communications under the billing department, a telecommunication company based in the USA.

The saddest part of that journey was, I was really tired because of working at night as a full time agent and full time student in the morning. I would sleep 3-4 hours a day, 5 times a week, and I only had the chance to get rest on the weekends. I am happy though because I was able to help my parents and bridge my studies. The challenges didn’t end there. The Charter was to be closed and I would be transitioned to a morning shift with TELSTRA, an Australian based Telecommunication. But I couldn’t be transferred to a morning shift because of the conflict schedule at school.

So I decided not to transfer and quit the job instead because I only had a few months left before graduating. Gladly, my sister was there to help me financially to finish the remaining months left.

After I graduated, I looked for a job and I landed one as a Customer Account Executive at Transcom WorldWide handling COMCAST Telecommunication, a large conglomerate in the USA. I handled several campaigns as Billing Specialist, Technical support for TV, Internet and Phone service and the most challenging position was with the Retention Department. I can say that the Retention department really moulded me to be the best agent. I was handling multiple issues – and as we are the last resort, we should exhaust all means, go that extra mile, and do the best to keep our customers. I am confident that I surpassed all the challenges and will be keeping all the learnings. I worked there for 3 years (2014 – 2017). Gladly, I was able to earn to help my family.

Moving forward, I am thirsty for a different possible job that I can take advantage of. I invested in my workstation at home, and I started my home based career as an Online Teacher (ESL) to Koreans teaching the English Language. I worked as ESL for more than 2 years. I also started to work as a fulltime home based Virtual assistant for a lead generation company based in Florida, USA. I am handling a Healthcare campaign, and my main task is to perform cold calling and pre-qualify leads.

I was inspired to pursue my career as a Virtual Assistant, and willing to explore other VA jobs and now I am looking forward to being a full time VA for Admin, Customer Service, Lead generation or Accounting. My great attitude towards work, my burning passion to learn new things, and determination to help my clients succeed in their business are my best assets.

Thank you for reading my story.

For a copy of Vicente’s resume please click here.