Must you know someone before you get a good job in Nigeria?

“Oh, forget about it, you cannot get job without connection”, “Oh, job in Nigeria is about who you know“, blablabla

I have heard these lines countless times. This mentality is so pervasive that some people have resigned to fate and don’t bother to make any efforts in job hunting. Some spent their time chasing big men around to give them letters. I have a friend that did his NYSC in Sultan’s palace in our service year in Sokoto and he was so desperate to get a letter from Sultan to employers (his target was NNPC) that I wondered if he spent such energy in studying NNPC recruitment requirements, he would not have done better.

I have another friend that brought a letter from the office of a former governor of Lagos state to the MD of one company I once worked for, and asked me to lead him to the CEO’s office. I tried my best as a good old school mate, but the farthest we could go was to the PA of the CEO, who, being used to such daily letters and notes, just collected the letter and filed it somewhere. Needless to say the letter did not even reach the CEO, who has more things to do. Neither of them got the job. Note that I have not said there is anything wrong in networking as a penetration tool in job hunting, which I discussed how to go about here.

Now, let me start by saying that there is nothing wrong in networking or connecting with people that matter in job hunting efforts. In fact, I am a big advocate of networking in everything – not just job hunting – and I have mentioned it in many articles here and on the pages of newspapers, but my problem is the defeatist mindset of many Nigerians that without knowing someone, you cannot get job.  This mindset is so pervasive that you are sure of someone uttering it anywhere you start a discussion on job hunting. Some people will tell you, “look, if you like read from today till Jesus comes, make first class, study GMAT, make your CV great, in as much as you don’t know anybody, you wont get job“. Haba!

There is no denying the fact that job-by-connection is very rampant in our society, but inspite, to totally dismiss one’s chance of getting job, if qualified, just because of the pervasiveness of this practice, is to go to war with a defeatist mindset. It will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The logic is this: if a company wants to employ 10 people, at worst, 3 will come in through the back door, maybe MD’s cousin, HR Manager’s friend’s son or whatever (where such sentiments exist), but you are guaranteed that at least 7 of the 10 spots will be filled on merit. Why not fight for a place in the 7 spots, rather than cry that you saw an MD’s son that told you he is guaranteed a place?

Banks recruit at least 50 people on yearly basis (even if they lay off more), are you telling me all the 50 employed people came in through ‘legs’?  C’mon guys.

I don’t have any empirical data to back this, but from my educated observation as a close watcher of the labour market and recruitment system in general, on teh average, here is the likelihood of merit in different sectors of Nigeria.

• Public sector – 50%
• International Oil Companies – 90%
• Other multinational companies – 80%
• Banks – 70%
• Nigerian big private companies –  50% – 70%

Again, this is based on my informed observation. I have seen brilliant friends that got jobs in top companies like Shell, Chevron, Addax, Total and even NNPC without knowing anybody. Same goes for banks. This is why I believe the argument that you cannot get job in Nigeria without knowing someone is overflogged.

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