From There To Here
Kahlil Bagatsing · 56 min
A Filipino immigrant who once felt lost in a new country turned his own job-search struggle into a vocation — now coaching skilled migrants to reclaim their careers and sense of worth in the US.
Support services
You don't have to be in crisis to call.
Kahlil Bagatsing left the Philippines for love, arriving in the US just before the pandemic with a master's degree in entrepreneurship and years of experience in his family's technology business. But that success came at a cost. In his late thirties, overweight and deeply unfulfilled, he realised the life he was living wasn't actually his life. He had stayed in the family business out of obligation, driven by the weight of his parents' expectations and his responsibility as the eldest son. The breaking point came when he looked in the mirror and no longer recognised himself. He decided to leave it all behind, taking his small savings with him to rebuild.
When Kahlil began searching for work in America, he discovered that his credentials and experience meant almost nothing without understanding how the US job market actually works. That struggle became his purpose. Now he coaches skilled migrants to reclaim their careers and their sense of worth by teaching them the concrete skills employers actually care about: how to customise a resume for each application, how to frame survival jobs by highlighting transferable skills, how to tell their story in an interview using the problem-action-result structure. He teaches job seekers to reframe rejection not as failure but as a mismatch or a redirection toward something better.
Kahlil's message is clear: an accent is not a disadvantage unless you work for someone who won't value you. Your foreign degree matters less than proof you can do the work. And every no is either a not yet or something better coming. He reminds every person he coaches that moving to a new country takes courage. That courage, combined with the right skills and belief in yourself, is enough to get you there.
Every story here belongs to the person who lived it. They said yes to sharing it, and we sat with it carefully before it went up. Nothing here is exaggerated and nothing is used without permission. Read how we handle these stories ↗
Kintsugi Heroes · Registered Australian not-for-profit · kintsugiheroes.com.au ↗