HOW MULTIPLE SIMILARITIES ALMOST COST ME MY FIRST JOB & LESSONS THEREFROM

In November 2006, few weeks after I completed my university education, I had moved to Lagos to hustle for job like every other graduate. I was staying with a brother somewhere in Ajah. I had another friend and classmate from university, who had also come to Lagos for same mission. We were staying together.

The brother had helped us circulate our CVs to some firms in Lagos and both of us got called for test in an investment management firm in VI.

Few days after the test, on a Friday afternoon, the friend got a phone call from the company that he passed the test and he should come for interview the next Monday. We had been told after the test that the pass mark was 60%.

I waited with bated breath, expecting my own call too. 1 hour, 2 hours, no call. And the interview was scheduled for Monday.

I was so sure of scoring 60% in that test. I have the habit of grading myself in any assessment I do, from secondary school. I guessed right 95% of times. I only got shocker (positive or negative) 5% of times.

4:30pm, no call from this company. And I knew that after close of business on Friday, no opportunity again as the interview was to hold on Monday.

I collected the number of the caller from my friend and rang.

“Good afternoon. My name is ********. I wrote your test on Tuesday. I got your number from my friend that also wrote the test and had been called for interview”, I started.

“I wanted to know whether I passed or failed the test ma”, I continued.

“If you didn’t get a call from me, that means you didn’t pass”, she responded, politely.

“Ermm, pls wait. What is the percentage of the essay part?”, I quickly asked before she dropped the call.

“No, the essay was not part of the assessment. We just wanted to use it to test your writing skills. The 100% is based solely on the verbal and quantitative aptitude parts”.

“Sorry for bothering you ma. Please check again. I seriously doubt I could score less than 60% in that test ma. If I failed it’s likely because I wrote more than the required 100 words in the essay part, and now you’re saying the essay isn’t part of the 100%”, I added.

“Okay, what’s your name?”.

I told her.

“You must have failed for me not to call you. But, okay, let me tell you your score just to satisfy you”

Silence. Silence. Silence.

“Mr. *****, you mean I didn’t call you? My apologies. Please come for the interview on Monday. You passed!”

I showed up at the interview on Monday with my friend and to cut long story short, I got the job. My friend didn’t, but he later got a better job.

Now, when I resumed in that company and had become friend with that HR lady, I reminded her of that episode over lunch one day, she told me what happened.

They had conducted the test for like 10 people, graded everyone and written the score on the top of everyone’s CV.

My friend and I tied at 71%, the highest according to her.

Now, she had put the CV (with score written at the right top) of everyone that scored above the 60% pass mark and calling them for interview one by one.

She had only called the first (my friend) and her boss called her. She left her desk to see her boss. When she returned, she saw the 71% CV still on top. She thought it was the same person she had called on phone before leaving to see her boss. She just turned the CV. Alas! It was my CV.

Apart from the fact that both of us scored 71%, we had many other things in common.

1, Similar names. Both of us have 2 names, first name Muslim name, second name Yoruba name. The first names of both of us started with S and tri-syllabic.

2, We used the same CV format. Remember we were friends and living together. We had the same font, same arrangement, same style. We just copied one another’s CV and overwrote the details that are different (names, phone number etc).

3, We were classmates (same school, same course, same set), same grade, same year of birth etc.

And we both scored 71%.

It was easy for her to mix up the CV, according to what she told me during lunch that day.

LESSONS

1, Be courageous: There is no harm in trying. If I hadn’t taken the courage to call the number, I could have missed out the job. The worst that could have happened is, I won’t be given attention. Same difference from not acting at all.

2, Sometimes, luck counts. If the HR lady wasn’t a patient one, she wouldn’t have listened to me. She would have just dropped the call with something like “Hey, Mr. Man, don’t teach me my job. If you passed, I would have called you. Stop bothering me. You failed. Bye.”

3, HR Professionals need to emulate this lady. Most HR professionals in Nigeria are arrogant and act like demi-god to prospective employees. They don’t give opportunity for candidates to explain their issues.

4, The fact that my friend didn’t get the job never strained our friendship. If it was another person, it could have led to bottled-up rancour. He could have said or told people that I “took his job” because he gave me the HR’s phone number.

5, The patient dog eats the fattest bone. This was a pre-NYSC job. When we came back from NYSC, I got job in the sector of my dream and my friend also did. This friend ended up getting a better job, in the most sought after company in Nigeria, earning 4 times my salary. Imagine if he had allowed his inability to get the pre-NYSC job weigh him down. The fact that you miss a job does not mean you cannot get a better one.

6, As much as possible avoid having your CV look 100% like someone else’s.

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