Hannah Cardenas – Financial Planning Assistant

Shalom! I’m Hannah Cardenas; you can also call me Liam. Yes, that’s my nickname. I graduated with a degree in Bachelor of Business Administration Major in Management from Silliman University and took some units in Masters of Business Administration at Eastern Samar State University. My first job was at Sophi Inc. Dumaguete, a US call centre company where I worked under the HR team. I was one of the people who administered the initial screening and interview. I enjoyed having to talk to a diverse group of people on a daily basis, but I later on decided to go back to my hometown and explore opportunities there. My second job was at the Provincial Planning and Development Office, Eastern Samar. Like my first job, it was an on-site setup, and I learned a lot about how the Philippine government operates. I was a permanent employee, and I worked on a local project called the “TUPAD” programme, which aims to give livelihoods to some indigent people who have met certain qualifications. I observed that a significant portion of the Filipino population is facing challenges related to poverty, and having the chance to talk to them, I realised that this is not just an interesting topic being discussed in the news or in classrooms but rather a really serious problem that needs to be addressed ASAP. Handing monetary assistance to those families so they could use it for a business start-up was definitely a good start in battling poverty, but we are far from solving it entirely. Though I enjoyed working in that environment, I had to literally climb mountains and cross rivers just to get to our destination, which caused some health problems on my end. (It’s not that serious, though; I just get palpitations and short of breath when doing extreme physical activities.) So, I decided to transfer to a job that is less mobile.

Now, I am working as a virtual financial planning assistant in an Australian-based company. I must say that this is my favourite work set-up, and I thrive in this kind of environment. Over the course of two years, I have learned a lot in the virtual world and believe that I am capable of doing just about anything given the proper tools and training. My goal is to provide for my parents just as they have provided for me over the years. I am happy to explore new systems and processes and expand my knowledge to help me become an efficient and effective virtual assistant.

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