Our newest Filipina mentor, Rehanna Avellana, is a mortgage advisor and has been in the banking business for 12 years.
Like many Filipino immigrants, she had her share of struggles, but with patience and persistence, she finally achieved her dream of becoming a mortgage advisor.
Avellana will answer your mortgage questions such as whether or not this is a good time to buy a house, or the difference between variable or fixed rates, or if it makes sense to refinance your mortgage.
Mabuhay Canada asked Avellana a few questions about how she became a mortgage advisor.
What was your first job in Canada and how did you get that job?
“My first job in Canada was as a Customer Service Representative (CSR) for TAS Communications. It’s a call-center agent role. I (searched) for job postings under the banking industry as well as call centers, as I knew very well that I had good communication skills.
It wasn’t necessarily what I wanted for a job but I thought it might be a good start to gain work experience in the country.”
What steps did you take to be successful in your chosen field/area of expertise?
“While working as a CSR, my online search for job vacancies in the banking and financing companies continued. I kept sending out my application letters and resumes, especially to the Top 5 Banks in Canada, as I believed that soon I will get lucky.
True enough, in November 2019, I got a call from a bank and was scheduled for a phone interview. I was told that the job I had applied for was 100 per cent commission-based with no guaranteed salary base.
It was not the compensation package I had hoped for, but in my mind, I really wanted to get back into banking. It was a good stepping stone to a job that I had always been passionate about.
So I attended a personal interview with the Area Sales Manager, who required me to prepare a business plan, a pre-requisite to the role I applied for. In January 2020, I received the best news! By February 2020, I was officially a Mobile Mortgage Advisor for one of the Top 5 Banks in the country.”
What advice would you give to a newcomer in your field?
“I would like to call it a blessing that I was able to land a job in the bank in Canada in less than a year.
To me, patience and persistence is key.
Just because you didn’t have it right away doesn’t mean you won’t have it at all. Being a newcomer does not give you the best of the world, even if you have the required knowledge, but you need to start with something.
Getting started entails a lot of effort. Coupled with optimism and a huge amount of prayers, you will eventually be in a place you want to be.
What steps did you have to take to get a career in Canada that is equivalent to your standing in the Philippines? Do you feel that you have reached that point now?
I was able to start a banking career in Canada without having to go back to school. I would say this has a lot to do with my experience in the Philippines as a banker and with a few months of Canadian working experience. I guess for now, I would be coming from a standpoint taking the extra mile to take further studies in order to advance in my chosen career.
