Just yesterday, another set of young Nigerians were discharged by the National Youth Service Corp after completing the mandatory one-year programme. They too are now fully exposed to the opportunities and challenges inherent in corporate Nigeria. Now, let’s be clear: the opportunities are smaller than the challenges. The Nigerian job market can be a tough place for fresh graduates due to job scarcity.
How to survive
Getting a job in Nigeria is a matter of survival of the fittest, no doubt. As an average Nigerian, the secret to breaking through the corporate ladder is to take any job you see, as long as you can gain useful experience from it. In other words, it is not always about whether the job is with a multinational like Nestle or a startup like Passnownow. Just get the job first, dear.
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Let’s talk about salary…
A lot of Nigerian graduates make the mistake of waiting at home for many years for the “perfect job” while ignoring other opportunities. You hear people say stuff like “if the job is not paying me N300, 000 I’m not doing.” But the truth is that this is Nigeria where the economy isn’t so great, and many people are jobless. So, you can afford to be anticipating fantastic salaries as a beginner, unless of course, your parents are “connected”.
Apologies if this is not the kind of advice you wish to hear right now but you simply cannot afford to be choosy as an average Nigerian graduate. Doing that will leave you jobless and ‘koboless’ for years until nobody can even employ you for a N30, 000 because you are just too old for it. This, therefore, brings us to the important advice from Dr Dipo Awojide.
A golden advice
According to the career coach, if the first job you get as a fresh graduate is offering you N70, 000, take it and use the opportunity to garner the experience that will later position you for higher salaries. You can trust that this is the secret many Nigerian professionals have used. Those who never did have had to learn the hard way. You’ve been advised.
There are several stories of folks who started from almost nothing. I mean, folks who after they have removed transport and feeding are left with almost nothing at the end of the month.
Over time, their story changed & some now earn a juicy salary. Please start from somewhere.
— Dr. Dípò Awójídé (@OgbeniDipo) November 1, 2019
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The point here is the need to start from somewhere. After all, “Rome wasn’t built in a day” as the saying goes. So, take the job regardless of the small salary. Build the needful experience and gather the necessary skills. Before you know it, your bank statement will be showing multiple zeros. Even Channel TV’s Boason Omofaye agrees.
Beeni o. 70K salary from ground zero is "juicy"
— Boason Omofaye (@BBoason) November 1, 2019