Civil Service or Bank Job?

Good day Jarus, I have been following your educative posts for a while on Nairaland. Good work you are doing man. God bless you. Pls I need you to advise me on career matters.

I graduated with a 2.1 in Microbiology from one of the top universities in Nigeria in 2011. Presently, pursuing an MSc in Environmental Microbiology at another top Nigerian University (I was hoping to specialize in Petroleum Microbiology as a route into either the Academia and or the Petroleum Industry). But recently, I got a job with one of the Federal agencies. Combining both has been quite hectic and rather unsettling as I was posted to a different state.

My real challenge hewever is that I am not finding my new job as challenging as I had hoped it’d be (you probably know about the typical problms in the Civil Service, little or nothing to do for most times), now I doubt if I want to do this for any longer. I strongly feel the needd for a career change, at this early stage.

Good for me, I have also all this while had a thing for the corporate world, finance, and management. I recently got an entry level offer-in-sight with one of the commercial banks in Nigeria, waiting to begin formal training at their Training School.

But it’s being rather difficult deciding on whether to move or not. People have flaunted in my face the facts that:

-taking the bankin route would virtually mean abandoning my MSc (which by the way has been on hold due to the lingering ASUU strike),

– the banking sector is corrupt,
– there is job security with the Federal Agency unlike the banking sector that is rather unpreditable etc

So, I need your sincere advice:

1.) Is this really a risk worth taking?
2.) In case I settle to quit this job and move on to the banking sector, how/what do I do to excel there as a relatively ‘fresh’ graduate despite my science background?

3.) What other route could there be into the highly competitive Petroleum industry for a graduate with a science background like me?

4.) Any other advice or referrals would be quite appreciated.

I thought this was going to be a quite easy decision for me to make. I have been praying to God for directions. I guess it’s wisdom seeking the right counsel too.

I would be honoured to hear from you.

Many thanks Brother.

++++++

That was a long one. Okay, let’s settle to break this into Cost-Benefit analysis.

REMAINING IN CIVIL SERVICE

BENEFIT

Job security
Opportunity to complete Msc

COST

Low motivation
Low pay ( I presume, although you didn’t mention)
Low opportunity for personal development/Unchallenging work environment

TAKING THE BANKING JOB

SHORT-RUN BENEFIT

Relatively better pay
More challenging environment

LONG-RUN BENEFIT

Opportunity to move to a better place (Bank – good one anyway – on CV adds more value to CV than civil service, except if in top places like CBN, etc which obviously is not where you are)

COST

Difficulty in completing Msc
Job insecurity

THE JARUS VERDICT

You can actually be in Civil Service and stand out. In other climes, the brightest brains work for government. Agreed that is not the case here, but I have met guys in some federal agencies like FIRS, that are very hot and motivated. I think you can actually do well irrespective of the de-motivating environment. The agency also matters. I think federal civil service is not entirely bad as I have come to realize. The idle time is also an opportunity to engage in some value-adding activities.

On bank, like I mentioned in the benefit analysis, I must say, it adds more value to your CV than government agency (except top agencies like CBN, DMO, AMCON, FIRS etc), in case you want to move in the future. Also, people talk about volatility in the banking sector, well, true, but most of the performing ones are still there. I don’t think they just sack by rule of thumb.

I don’t want to give a definitive verdict, so I will advise you pray more, and weigh the options above.

All the best.

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