In July 1985, aged 21 and fresh from University with his Business Administration degree, Joseph's first job was as a Marketing Assistant for the Urban Bank in Manila. He had to solicit new funds for the bank, basically encouraging customers to open current accounts, savings and investments, and to service existing accounts. He stayed there only four months. In January of 1986 he joined the A.P.Madrigal Steamship Co., Inc., where he served as a recruitment officer. His job was to interview candidates and evaluate their psychological examination results. He would then recruit them as seamen from the rank of Ship Captain down to deck and engine cadets for vessels owned by the company and by Mercury Shipping of Hong Kong. He stayed with the company only seven months, but during this period he was sent to Setubal, near Lisbon in Portugal, to write a company prospectus for prospective foreign candidates from Hamburg, in the then West Germany. Later that year, in September, he accepted a job with Sabena airlines in its Cargo Sales and Flight Operations, based at Manila International Airport. There he sold cargo space on Sabena's Manila–Brussels DC10 flights and assisted in flight operations at the airport. Occasionally he would act as Secretary to the Belgian General Manager. Over the next year or so, he had the opportunity to travel abroad again – attending a training course in Brussels in January 1988, but also taking advantage of the free travel tickets offered to staff and their families. One of his best friends from university, Amor, had not travelled much and he daringly got free tickets for her to go with him by forging documents stating she was his mother! Meanwhile he continued studies to further develop his artistic side, capitalizing on his love of the English language; in 1989 he gained a Master of Arts in English Literature from the Ateneo de Manila University. After 30 months with Sabena airlines, he decided to try his luck in America. In March 1989, aged 25, he travelled to California and stayed with members of the Hernandez side of the extended family, who had emigrated years previously, living very close to the Disneyland complex at Anaheim, Los Angeles. He became Office Manager for a Neighbourhood Medical Supply Company in Cypress, California. He was responsible for overall supervision of office functions (Joser could type 53 words per minute, take shorthand at 90 words per minute, and naturally spoke English and Tagalog fluently, but also some Spanish). In particular, he coordinated the company’s marketing, billing and shipping in relation to various medical insurance entities, such as Medicare. During this period he was reunited with several friends from the Ateneo, who had also left the Philippines and were living and working in California.