Story Of How I Got My First JOB
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π€· Story Of How I Got My First JOB:
Let me tell you the story of how I got my first job. A few years ago, after finishing secondary school, I had no plans to further my education. Things were extremely difficult for me because I was responsible for taking care of my own expenses. I decided to become a commercial bike rider to make some money. Although I had been doing some part-time bike riding while in secondary school due to financial difficulties, it became a full-time job after I finished secondary school.
At that point, I felt like my life had come to an end and I believed I would never achieve anything worthwhile. As a bike man, I would start my work as early as 4 am or 5 am in the morning. I had to wake up early to pick up people going to work, to avoid the heavy traffic in Lagos. The job involved picking up passengers and dropping them off at the bus stop, then driving back empty to the town to find another passenger. This routine was familiar to me, as most bike riders understand how it works.
In the early morning, about 90% of people are going to work, so it was rare to find someone returning from work during that time. If I did come across someone, they would usually prefer to walk home due to the pleasant weather unless they had heavy loads. Only a few people would use the bike, but those heading to work were in a hurry to arrive on time, so they were willing to use the bike regardless of the distance.
During those days, I had an encounter with a man who would be trekking home as I drove back empty into town. Most bike riders would not pick him up, but for almost a year or two during that period, I would always stop and offer him a ride without him requesting it. This became a regular practice for me whenever I saw him, and he knew he would get a free ride home. I did these acts of kindness out of charity, not expecting anything in return.
To me, it made more sense to offer a ride to someone rather than drive back empty. I extended this goodwill to any other person I saw trekking on the road while returning to town, not just him. However, I remember his case because he was particularly frequent, unlike others whose instances I cannot recall.
About 2 years later, I grew tired of the bike work and decided to seek employment in a company. I consulted my friends who worked there, and one of them informed me that the company employed new staff every Monday morning. He advised me to arrive early and wait at the gate with the hundreds of other applicants, as there was a slim chance I could be lucky enough to secure employment.
The following Monday, I prepared myself and went to the company with my CV. To my surprise, there were already around 500 people waiting at the gate when I arrived at 6 am. We waited until around 12 pm when the managers came out and selected a few individuals they were familiar with. They asked the rest of us to return another day. At that moment, we all felt disheartened because we were aware of the typical employment patterns in Nigeria, where knowing someone influential could greatly increase your chances of getting a job.
As I waited for my friend who worked there to bid him farewell before leaving, I made up my mind never to return to the company for employment. Just then, a man walked through the gate and was heading outside. He recognized me sitting on the grass outside the gate, but I didn’t immediately recognize him. He addressed me as “oga” (afternoon sir), and asked what I was doing there. I looked at him and thought to myself, “Isn’t this the guy I used to give rides to on my bike?” I replied, saying I was looking for a job. He chuckled and asked about my bike. I explained that I had grown tired of bike work. Then he said, “Have you found a job now?” to which I responded with a “no.”
Surprisingly, the man called me inside. Everyone at the gate was looking at me in disbelief, wondering how this had happened. They probably thought to themselves, “So this boy knows someone here, that’s why he’s been waiting all this time.” Little did they know that I was still in shock and had no clue what was going on. Once inside, I discovered that the man was the head of the kitchen department, and fortunately, they needed someone in their department. I was immediately employed without having to go through any interviews. He even asked me if I would be able to start working that very day or if I preferred to begin the following day. I chose to start the next day.
And that’s how I was employed! That’s how I got my first job as a cleaner/assisting chef in the kitchen. The moral of my story is to always be kind to others because you never know when or where you might need them in the future.