Just after hanging my jungle boot having collected the piece of paper on which was boldly written ‘certificate of national service’ attesting to the fact that I have donated a year of my life to serve (don’t ask me if it was voluntary) my fatherland then came the time for reality check. Few days down the line the message began to sink that the era of monthly ‘alawe’ was over. There is no doubting the fact that though the monthly stipend could hardly meet my needs it was better than not having a source of income at all after all 'half bread is better than 'poff-poff' but with this half bread gone and the fact that ‘man must wack’ which means by implication that man must work hence came the era of job hunting which I must confess was not funny at all. I remember travelling the length and breadth of Nigeria writing aptitude tests: both the ones I was invited for and the ones I had to ‘gate crash’ (by the way that word was introduced into my dictionary during that period). From NLNG to first bank to access bank to firstinland bank to…the list is long, i kept on writing hoping that at least one will 'click' – by the way these aptitude test centers became my point of rendezvous, meeting several schoolmates that I had lost touch with after graduation. So apart from going to write aptitude test, it presents a platform to catch up on old gist which a times could be therapeutic giving the psychological trauma one was going through at the time.
A direct fallout from this job hunting experience is its clear indictment of our institutions that has been busy churning out tons of graduates – brilliant minds who have been well groomed and prepared for a bright future save that they were not prepared for such eventualities as having to stay jobless or out of job for a long time. The question then remains how do we handle such circumstances should we be confronted with them? I am all out for having a positive mentality and approaching everything with a ‘can do’ attitude but truth be told there are times when things refused to go the way we want it. If anybody had told me when I was passing out from NYSC that I’ll be jobless for more than one whole year I’ll simply refer the person to a psychiatrist to have his head examined because apart from graduating as one of the best in my class, I also have innate potentials which I know will give me a hedge coupled with the God factor – common with this trio on my side I should land a dream job almost immediately, but alas to my greatest chagrin, there was I writing one aptitude test after another without getting the job.
If for anything, this episode taught me to get back to the drawing board and redefine my expectations. Believe me the moment I decided to look inwards I was able to open a vista of opportunities which eventually landed me a good job. I suddenly discovered that I was at least good at something – talking, so I decided to go into motivational and public speaking cum event compeering and trust me there was no need to look for job any more. So when eventually I got a job, it was more like the job came to me. I stopped being desperate about getting a job, I focused more on developing myself and building my business even though I still wanted to have a working experience but now my value has changed, I saw getting a job more like an opportunity to learn and garner the requisite experience to build my own organization as opposed to looking for job just as a means of livelihood.
What led to this paradigm shift in my mentality?
Simple; looking inwards.
We are apt to look up, look around, look down…look everywhere but within.
If only we turn the searchlight inwards we’ll be amazed at the latent potentials we carry. You’ll be shocked to know that the solution to your predicament is in your hands, if only you can stop running back and forth invest your time in some deep thinking you’ll be surprised at the myriads of solutions that you’ll come up with which will eventually land you in your place of rest. I for one believe that we are all born naked but no one is born empty, so I ask you my dear friend “what is that in your hand”? Take it from me, it’s in your hand just go ahead and use it or like peak milk will say “it’s in you”.
Let's meet at the top shall we? it's up to you yes you.
