Grace Baricuatro – Customer Service Representative

Hi, my name is Grace A. Baricuatro. I graduated in Information Technology back in 2004 and took a special degree in Diploma of Professional Education in 2015 from two different universities here in the Philippines. I am single at 38 and I live alone. I used to commute an average of 2 hours each way to and from home depending on traffic conditions. Working from home was a pined-after dream that inevitably presented itself brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. I had all the time for the work at hand. No traffic congestion, no walks to the pantry or to the restrooms, and I am in the safety of my own home. I had extra hours for reading, learning online or experimental baking in lieu of my daily commute. I enjoy my own company.

I have been in the corporate world for a long time but the longest I stayed was with my recent company. In 2011, I started my career as a financial customer representative, then transitioned to a language coach, and finally, a team leader. It was not an easy feat. Learning the language of finances was not my background, but I persevered. I have learned the valuable lessons of saving early and consistently, budget allocation and sticking to it, learning other financial instruments, investing in yourself, and writing down goals. These are foundational life lessons that everyone should learn but aren’t as pervasive in the average civilians like me. Every client interaction I had had tremendous lessons, especially when they were dealing with a life event: further education, career change, buying a home, marriage, divorce, death, terminal illness, recession, and even worldwide calamity. While it is true that we may individually have experienced any of these at some point in our lives, we have different emotions and coping mechanisms towards them. And while I am having the game face on with the business, I had to strike a balance with how to carefully handle their emotions as they unmindfully bring them to the surface.

When the pandemic hit, I had a hard time adjusting as I was used to dealing with people face-to-face. Plus, the country’s weak internet coverage is at the top of the list of mental stresses. But as someone who knows that bad news can either be denied or dealt with, I knew I had to take action. I became proactive with communications – the start of shift daily touch base, detecting a change in the mood of the responses, scheduling interactions, doing follow-ups, answering questions through knowledge-base, coaching, demoing back-end processing through screen share, reporting, sharing jokes to brighten up the mood, being visible for questions and support. I learned to be intentional with my schedule, daily deliverables, and connection with everyone because while I want to be constantly available, it’s not sustainable. I also have to focus on my expected reports.

To optimize my time, I prioritized the urgent items, grouped similar tasks and do them in one time block, and did the hard ones, first. I delegated some easier tasks to my subject matter expert, evaluated their outputs, and eventually, scheduled them to do these independently. I never thought that would be possible – working from home, that is. When I put my mind to doing my craft well, I learn fast and adapt better. Not only that I can do my responsibilities but I can do them with little or no supervision. And it is true, there’s just no substitute for being reliable. When you know your identity, you can stand up to anything. Being reliable propels me to act: research, find resources, ask for help from colleagues, anything legal to things done on time. I take pleasure in every accomplished task. And of course, I take credit for my hard work. When everything else has been acted upon and it still is not resolved, then it is not a problem, it’s a constraint.

Looking back at those two initiating years of working at home, there are necessary ingredients to make it a success. It is important to instill the firm’s culture of support, establish means of communication, be accountable for my responsibilities, and have a good attitude towards work. Most importantly, I take my breaks. There is not a job in the world that has no breaks in the schedule. Any endeavor is at the risk of plateauing if pursued without pause. I make sure to pay my family a visit, hang out with friends or just simply go out and get some sunshine.

I am excited to pursue my chosen career, use the skills I have acquired from previous experience, and make the transition to work from home, hopefully permanently.

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