Application Process Guide to Join an Organisation

I’m really shy. That’s why it was difficult for me to join an org back in college, but eventually I did, only because the only person I knew (I wouldn’t even call her a friend, more of an acquaintance) in college joined an org. The entire application process was exhausting for me. We were given booklets with the names of all the members of the org, and our task was to be able to talk to all of them (conversations usually ranged from 5 mins to 1 hou) and have them sign on the booklet. Imagine having to talk to 130 people in a span of 3 months. It meant having to talk to at least 2 people a day, more if you don’t go there everyday, and it took so much energy for me to really be present in conversations with people. As I said, I’m shy, and I have to gather a lot of energy and effort to reach out to people and ask for their signature. Needless to say, I was glad when it was over, it meant going back to my old introverted self.

In addition to the signatures, when you join, you get to pick a committee you want to be part of. In the application form, you need to right down three choices from the one you like the most to the least. I wrote: Finance, Secretariat, Internals. I really wanted to be in the Finance Committee, mainly for 2 reasons. One, I love math. I love numbers, because when you deal with numbers, there’s always a definite answer, and even if you don’t know it, there are many ways to solve for it. Two, I didn’t have to interact much with people. I could just pick a sub-committee that deals with counting and keeping money. Win for me. However, when the time came to announce what committee we were in the post said, Steffi Perilla: Internals. Just to give you an idea as to why I was disappointed, the whole application process is handled by the internals committee. The only reason why I wrote down Internals was that I preferred it to Externals (who would have to talk to more strangers outside the org) and Academics (boring). Eventually, I learned to accept it and I started blending in. Although, this didn’t mean that interacting with people no longer took so much effort for me. It still did. It still does.

Fast forward to two years into being a member of the organization. I was doing good as a member of the internals committee. I spearheaded a few internal events. I also helped in renewing the process of how each member was graded (Yes, we had a grading system). I can honestly say I was one of the active ones in the org, in the committee. The time came for the election of the new Executive Committee, which included the heads of all the other committees, but no one from the Internals committee wanted to run. Absolutely no one. I was a third year student during this time. The seniors of the committee were no longer that active in the org. The second years weren’t confident enough to be the head.

Then one day, during one of my long 2-hour breaks, our incumbent internals head messaged me and asked me to have lunch with her, her treat. I mean, I never reject a free meal, in my favorite restaurant at that. So, we went and ate, and talked about academics, about love life, about people in the org. We talked about almost everything under the sun (my people skills were improving). Then she suddenly turned serious and told me, “Alam mo Steffi, you’d be a great internals head.” Then she began listing what she thought all of my positive traits were, and how I’d be good in handling the committee. She kept on telling me how good of a leader I was, and I just sat there motionless, just looking at her, as if like a deer caught in headlights (because I was really surprised she went there). I really wasn’t expecting her to tap me into being the internals head. I was expecting her to ask one of my batchmates, who I thought was more competent than I was. Needless to say, I was reluctant to run as the internals head. Actually, I didn’t want to. Being internals head meant that I had for one, I had to meet and know ALL the new applicants during the application process. I had to be more extroverted than I was, and I was all the way at the end of the introvert side of the introvert-extrovert scale. It wasn’t only that, I knew my academic work would also be affected, as I would have less time to study, dealing with events and all other things the committee does. Being internals head also meant that I had to stay in school later than I usually do, and I live all the way in Cainta, so it usually takes an hour to two hours to get home, depending on the traffic. I knew that if I took the challenge of being internals head, it would drain me to no end, so I calmly interrupted her little speech and told her that I didn’t think being the head was something for me. She kept mum and then she continued talking about other things, as if nothing happened.

I thought that was the end of it. But lo and behold, a few days after our little lunch, people started calling me the “next internals head.” Imagine the kind of pressure I was in. Especially since no one had stepped up to run for internals head. It got too much to me to the point that I stopped going to the tambs. I stopped hanging out with my orgmates, and kept my distance, which made me sad and lonely. I guess the president noticed this and one day he surprised me right as I was about to leave class. He said that he wanted to talk to me. I just want to say that I have utmost respect for this