“No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit”.
– Helen Keller.
I don’t care about your background, class or current financial situation. Just know that you can be anything you wish to be in this life. All you need is preparation.
I came to Lagos in 2007, just immediately after my service year (NYSC). Before I made the trip to Lagos I promised myself that if there was only one job left in Lagos that it will be mine. Though i had some senior friend who graduated long before i did, who kept telling tales of woe; how there is unemployment in the nation.
I got to Lagos and on my first Sunday in the city I joined my cousin to church. During the service I heard a lady testify on how she was not finding fulfilment on her job and was hoping for a change.
Her tale goes thus, “I was doing this job that was given me a whole lot of stress, my boss was not helping matters. After three months of enduring on the job, I finally resigned my appointment with company, with no job in the offing. I volunteered to work as an attendant in a bookshop. Although I was applying to some other organizations, I didn’t get an offer until after six months when a multinational company called and offered me an employment with a package three times better than what I was earning before on my previous employment”. After I heard the Lady’s tale, it became a source of motivation for me. Because I now know one can actually change jobs in this nation of mass unemployment. But it happened that I was not prepared and I didn’t know it.i kept telling myself that there is no aptitude test that I cannot pass. This bragging was because I graduated as a science student and I felt I have done enough arithmetic and English that will last me a lifetime.
An opportunity finally presented itself; a financial institution invited me for an aptitude test. This was my chance to prove myself and I was disgraced by simple arithmetic and English that I felt I knew so well. That was when I understood why there is no employment as my friends do report.
The weeks that followed I kept myself busy gathering all the materials one can study in preparation for an aptitude test. GMAT (BARON AND KAPLAN) several editions, GRE (BARON AND KAPLAN) several editions and several other materials, name it. I started the preparation and I stopped sending out my resumes. I studied till I could say the answers to a question without solving it just because I may have solved the same question severally. Then I knew I was ready. I then sent out my resumes to two organizations, I was invited for an aptitude test, I passed and got the two jobs. Can you believe it? In a country where there is mass unemployment I have two jobs and was having a hell of issue trying to choose one.
When preparation meets opportunity breakthrough occurs.
-Anonymous.
Why I am I telling this story? I just want to encourage you who is reading this piece, that it is not over until you say it is.
Sit tight, fasten your sit belt and come with me lets go on a trip on preparation for getting a job.
The bad news is time flies, but the good news is you are the pilot.
– Michael Althushuler
Below is what I call the Cycle of Preparation:
SORRY I COULD NOT UPLOAD THE IMAGE.
I WILL UPLOAD WITH THE PART 2 OF THIS ARTICLE.
I divided this into four sections, which are:-
• Set your own goals
• Create a network
• Interact with your network
• Grow
Watch out for GETTING A JOB IS JOB (PART 2).
