By Patricia Yap

Picture this: You’re a fresh graduate from college; knowledgeable, talented, skilled, creative, and impressionable. No questions asked you’re a considerably fit person to hire. But how come it’s been two months already, and you still haven’t gotten a call back from the 20 HR managers you talked to? The answer, you might lack experience.

Because let’s face it. In recent years, entering the job market has been an increasingly arduous task. And getting a job means being a cut above the rest. So how do you distinguish yourself? Internships, apprenticeships, and mentorship. Three “ships” ready to take you to sail to brighter career destinations! And one program combines all three.

If you’re interested to join, then read on further.

Since 2016, ComCo Southeast Asia, the Philippines’ globally recognized and award-winning integrated communications agency, has been incubating young talents from communication, marketing, and multimedia courses through their proprietary Camp ComCo Mentorship Program. Now on its 13th cycle, Camp ComCo has gone virtual for the first time with its seven creative rebels—ComCowans as they are known.

From Mapua University, Katrina Franco (Bachelor of Science in Multimedia Arts and Sciences) is trailblazing her way through disruptive graphic design and visual creation. As for Alec Concejero (Bachelor of Science in Information Technology Entrepreneurship), Katrina Topacio (Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies), Ricca Sy (Bachelor of Science in Communication Technology Management), and Patricia Yap (Bachelor of Arts in Communication Arts) from the Ateneo de Manila University are making their mark on marketing and brand communications.

In addition to the Cycle 13 apprentices, Choco Nery (Bachelor of Fine Arts, Major in Visual Communication) from the University of the Philippines-Diliman and Joenald Dycaico (Bachelor of Information Technology) from St. Louis University-Baguio, are more than ComCowans, but are actual new recruits under ComCo as a Digital and Multimedia Arts Officer and Web Development and Management Specialist respectively, undergoing the same intensive training for skills integration and assimilation to the company’s unique team culture.

Together with the ComCo Southeast Asia Squadron, the visionaries, experts, and innovators leading the company like its Regional Integration & Chief Executive Director Ferdinand Bondoy, these young talents are going to undergo an intensive and comprehensive talent incubation program that will push them as an intern, apprentices, and provide them with the necessary mastery of skills through mentorships.

The ComCowans are assigned into four mentorship houses which will guide them as they traverse the learning part in Camp ComCo. Each house is named after an endemic and threatened species in the region. Franco and Yap were assigned to House Bearcat, Nery and Concejero are under House Hawksbill, Sy and Dycaico were put under House Whaleshark, and last but not the least, Topacio belongs to House Flying Fox.

The Camp ComCo Mentorship Program undergoes three phases: Skills calibration, strategic communications immersion, and specialization elective. And to test what they have learned, all apprentices will be competing in the much-awaited House Wars to present their ideas and strategic communications plans.

So who will win this year’s Camp ComCo House Wars? We’ll find out soon!

But for now, these young talents have to go all out and be honed to become the Agency’s and industry’s next communications rock stars!  While there will only be one house to emerge as champion, all the apprentices, as they undergo the experience and be trained by the industry’s bests, will all be victorious!