XFIRE’S DIARY: NYSC – Before and During…..and Lessons

MY CAREER DIARY

with

XFIRE

I am a graduate of one of the public universities in Nigeria, and I currently work in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry. I am sharing my experience under the pen name XFIRE.

After my graduation I was sad and depressed because I didn’t graduate with a first class. I never imagined my life without a first class. It haunted me for long, and to be sincere, it took me more than a year to fully recover from it. I feared for the job market because I felt I was disadvantaged age-wise, especially with my ‘pure-water’ 2-1 degree. I stayed at home for 6 months after graduation before I was mobilized for service. During that period, I whiled away time by teaching in a secondary school. I also began subscribing for job email alerts, and started reading online job websites and the famous Guardian newspaper. Even though I wasn’t eligible to apply, I started studying the pattern of job vacancies. I was always interested in the companies that were recruiting and their requirements. I wrote my first amateur CV upon graduation. I have since refined my CV writing skills. Thank God I don’t have to write personal CVs again, at least not anytime soon. I will only review people’s CV’s from time to time. I will talk a bit about good CV writing later in the thread.

I taught in a public secondary school during my NYSC days. This gave me ample time to socialize and also prepare for the labour market. Many of my colleagues ‘worked’ their service to Lagos where they served in big organizations I could only dream of. But I made use of the only resource I had – TIME. I started reading about how to how to write good CVs and prepare for interviews. I also started putting in my applications 6 months to the end of my service year. I applied for the PTDF overseas scholarship. I learnt about various job sites during this period. One surprising fact is that I observed that many of my fellow ‘corpers’ had little or no information about job hunting, CV writing, interview skills and presentation.

A lot of corp members could not write a simple CV. Many had little or no computer knowledge. Many had very poor writing skills. With my basic CV writing art, I had to help many of the corps members to write their CV’s especially those about to pass out. In many cases, I followed them to the cyber cafe to create emails for them and make online applications for them (then the internet was accessible as it is today). I still know many graduates today that cannot write and speak properly. Many of them are still without job or are currently underemployed. And I doubt if they can improve their employment status if they don’t make themselves employable. This leads me to lesson #5.

LESSON 5: Basic writing skills, good communication skills and computer literacy are 3 fundamental elements of employability. When it is said that many Nigerian graduates are unemployable, they simply mean they lack simple communication skills most of the time. They simply cannot speak, write or express themselves comprehensibly enough. It’s unfortunate but this is true in some cases. In addition, it is simply unacceptable to be a computer illiterate in this information age. Many job vacancies are posted online and most information are electronic in nature.

I have a friend (from the same village) who studied accounting. He is young and sharp but he could hardly speak or write English without grammatical errors due to poor primary and secondary education. He went for various interviews during his NYSC days but was not successful in any. I had to encourage him to start reading books and writing. I also advised him to get a good part-time English teacher, if possible. Guess what? He got one. Today, he is gainfully employed in a bank. If you are poor in communication, start working on it now! The secret is practice. Practice, practice, practice! There is no alternative.

Communication skill is quite important in oral interview stage, and I will elaborate on that when I get there. You don’t have to be an orator like Barack Obama, or Martin Luther King Jr. But you need to be able to comprehend others, and be able to express yourself in a formal setting. My communication skills was not as good as it is now. I developed it with constant practice and discipline. As a matter of fact, I am not a gifted orator. I am still improving on my presentation skills. Till date, I still practice ahead of time before I make formal presentations in meetings, except if it is impromptu. Presentation skill is also important for career progression. Good presentation skills gives a positive impression about your intellectual and leadership ability (even if it is just an impression!).

That is why I feel pity for many job seekers who can hardly write properly but will keep using shorthand. Posting and commenting clearly on forums like Nairaland is one of the ways of improving your writing skills.