Aww, Ula! Thank you so much for being there during those years—you know how messy some of it really was behind the scenes. Your words mean a lot! You're right that the systems are deeply flawed and many times, unfair. What's not covered in this post is how long it took for these lessons about limitations to truly land for me. I felt powerless and hurt in many situations, and I was lucky to have people who supported me emotionally during that time, along with other advantages that some people may not have.

Also, I appreciate you sharing your own challenges too, even with an EU passport. It's a good reminder that these barriers affect people in different ways.

Thanks so much for the good wishes about my career and future impact—really means a lot! 💙

Thank you so much for the feedback and the kind words! I was trying to strike that balance between personal narrative and broader relatability, so it's validating to hear it landed for you.

Great point about sharing what felt unusually lucky or advantageous—I'll definitely weave more of both sides into future posts. 

A few things come to mind where I felt unusually lucky in: I had English fluency from a young age (schools in the Philippines taught English, and I read constantly) and access to top schools partly due to doing well on standardized exams, which also helped me get scholarships. Being in these schools meant I was surrounded by more privileged peers who sometimes covered my expenses, including food. They also showed me (through how they lived/carried themselves) the power of having money and what it could afford which helped me grow in my ambitions. (Not in this post, but I initially studied business and engineering in uni because I was working toward earning enough to live on 10% and donate 90%—even before discovering EA.) 

My parents, despite having kids in their early 20s and facing a lot of financial constraints, pushed us to finish our education and modeled ambition. Plus, I discovered EA while still in university, giving me time and psychological bandwidth to pivot without the sunk costs or maybe lifestyle fears that come later.

Regarding lifestyle-related fears: interestingly, I think growing up constrained was also an advantage in some ways—I already knew what it felt like to move homes often, not knowing where to live, or go without meals among other things, so taking career risks didn't feel as scary. These subtle advantages (and not-so-subtle advantages, especially around education which I was extremely privileged in) absolutely shaped my path.

Again, I very much appreciate the prompt to include this side more!

This doesn't directly answer your question, but building on Calum's and Dee's points - I think it might also be helpful to first clarify what approach you're taking in your job search, since different strategies have very different success rates and timelines.

It might be helpful to think of job searching as existing on a spectrum - on one end, you have applying through job boards and official channels, and on the other end, you have less structured approaches like networking, volunteering and turning that into a full-time role, creating your own side projects, etc.

For the more structured application approach, I personally use a tiered approach that balances my long-term career vision (the one I spend 100s of hours discerning) with current personal constraints (needing a salary, visa sponsorship, supporting family). It may look like something like this, where I allocate a percentage of my job hunting time to specific roles under the following tiers:

• Tier 1: Organizations I genuinely want to work for or roles I want to be in - these align with my 10-year career goals (70% of the time I budget for structured applications)
• Tier 2: Roles that could be stepping stones to Tier 1 positions i.e., can help me build career capital for my dream role (20% of my time)
• Tier 3: Positions that meet my immediate financial or other personal needs (10% of my time)

However, the actual number of roles I apply for varies significantly - I have a very specific career path in mind, so there aren't many positions that fit Tier 1, especially when factoring in my personal constraints. This means I might apply to fewer Tier 1 roles in absolute numbers compared to Tier 2 or 3, but invest more time crafting each Tier 1 application.

This approach of focusing on time invested rather than sheer number of applications is useful because it takes into account the realities of the job market (e.g., how many jobs that fit Tier 1 are actually available right now), the actual amount of time you have for job hunting (which varies depending on whether you have full-time work, etc.), and other personal factors (like whether you're prioritizing an impactful role right now instead of meeting immediate financial needs). I also spend about half my time exploring the less structured approaches to job searching - mixing both helped me land my current and previous roles. Worth noting that everyone's situation is different - those with strong safety nets might focus more % of their time on Tier 1 roles, while others might need to prioritize Tier 2 or 3 initially.

A helpful estimate someone told me during my freshman year in college that I still use today is expecting around 1 response per 10 applications. This might even be optimistic given that there are likely 50-500 (sometimes even more) applicants per role and only 1 person will be hired, but it helps me set realistic expectations and stay motivated rather than getting discouraged. During my last job search, I remember applying to at least 50 jobs within 1 month.

I agree with Calum about being careful about updating your beliefs based on rejection data - many factors beyond your individual qualifications and fit for the role affect outcomes.

Hope this was helpful!

Thank you for taking the time to read our paper and share your feedback on our work! Right now, we are working to compare the total DALYs from MHDSCs to the total DALYs from all the diseases included in the GBD. We may also include more baselines to compare the scale and neglectedness of mental health in the Philippines to that of other countries/causes.

I  also appreciate your input on the further work that we can do. For the next phase of our research, we may focus on describing (and maybe evaluating) existing interventions/projects/organizations that aim to alleviate the burden of MHDSCs in the country. We will definitely be using Charity Entrepreneurship's research process and the input of mental health professionals as an inspiration and/or guide to this further research.

Regarding the mental health project that you witnessed, I am interested in reading about their process and progress! Would you happen to know if such a writeup exists and if it does, if this writeup is available for public viewing?