Isn’t it common place these days that young men who undoubtedly being caught up in the global practice and dictates of economic empowerment would maintain more than one Job? Financial journals and bestselling Authors like Donald Trump, and Robert Kiyosaki like to advise of multiple streams of income and we love to interpret such advises as getting as many jobs as possible. Stories of people working several jobs abroad are only, “very popular.” Keeping with those trends in Nigeria is however still a bit of a stifle; well, not unless one was considering menial jobs; or so we thought. We were so wrong. Take me for example-I have a day job and an, uh, another job.
Like most entrepreneurs my age, the dream has always be centered mostly on running my own business rather than chasing for the long term, somewhat parochial, civil service based pension plan. My father believes it is magic of some sort – You work for some twenty, twenty five odd years and, voila. Pensions! Funny thing is, I don’t believe in magic. So like most of my contemporaries, I have more than two complementary cards in my card holder, each one of them with a different inscription on title and expertise. I am a walking, smooth talking, well dressed jack of all trade and my services don’t come cheap either.
If you catch me at my day job, I’ll describe my other services as consultancy. This is naija! Or has it changed? And before you raise an eyebrow on how I would be busy transacting personal business on company time, I would like to intimate you also on my stance at my day job. I am a business Development Executive, used to be a Marketing Executive and with my new portfolio, would soon be referred to as a Client Service Executive and all in a space of a year. New offices, same pay package. It is all a brilliant corporate strategy at effectively utilizing scarce human resource. (Laugh out loud…)
And whoever said you need all that length of time to be proficient at anything? The definition for expertise is relative if you ask me. I like to tie it to competence more than anything else. You pay me well, I get the job done. Kapeesh! If it becomes too challenging my internet connectivity must be really slow. We are a new generation. A Google -it generation. Can we ever give enough thanks for Larry page and Sergey Brin? I wonder. They have created in us an unusual, almost insatiable craving for knowledge. Click, click and you are there.
And so it was. Like most Lagos roads would beg for an asphalt makeover, I was searching, and hoping to conquer in the corporate world. My boss is usually quoted as saying “I love a young man with a large appetite for knowledge.” My guess is that the poor fellow is in love with me.
At my last business presentation however, his questions were totally devoid of familiar departmental sentiments as it was of conviviality. I can’t say I blame him though, since it turned out we were both representing separate entities than we usually do.
I can only but imagine how many cards the man carries in his card holder too.
It’s the new dog-eat-dog corporate Nigeria and we are all striving to make our mark one way or the other, a little too hard maybe. As it stands now, the next time I hit search on Google it would probably be for a new Day Job or on tips on how to kill my boss.
