How I bade ‘welcome’ to the labour market

By Ibrahim Suleiman Ibrahim

The 7th of July marked exactly one year since I completed my NYSC, and so far, it has been an educative and worthwhile experience – Alhamdulillaah!

Let me tell you a story about my first experience in the labour market. The story goes thus;

A few days after the formal completion of my NYSC, I thought I should start job-hunting immediately. I said to myself then, “It’s better to strike while the iron is still hot”, what the Hausa people call “Da zafi zafi ake dukan ƙarfe“. I thought it was a prompt decision I made, forgetting that some of my colleagues with whom I completed NYSC had already secured lucrative jobs long before we completed NYSC. 

I didn’t let that discourage me anyway. “They are children of the elites, after all”—I said to myself. 

Another thing that motivated me to an immediate and unrelenting job-hunting was the fact that the Certificate of National Service, which used to be a barrier to so many opportunities I missed during my service year, had become handy at that time, and would no longer affect subsequent opportunities that might come.

So, to commence the job-hunting. I started following popular job sites and physical employers for job opportunities and ensured I did not let any job advert or link pass me by without applying. All these, I did with much confidence and hope to get a good job in no distant time.

One fateful evening, not up to a fortnight after the commencement of my job-hunting journey, while I was reclining on the sofa, I got a text message that reads thus;

“Congrats u have been shortlisted for our company Orientation on Monday 18/07/22 at 2nd floor, XX building Beside XXX Bank by XXXXX way Opposite XXXXX Road Kaduna, by 8:30 am.”(some information about the venue deserves confidentiality, hence the XXXX).

It was a text message from a random 11-digit phone number informing me that I had been shortlisted for a job and inviting me to an orientation exercise to mark the commencement of the job.

I was hellbent on getting a ‘better job’ that I didn’t even pay attention to the sheer informality and unprofessionalism in the text message I got. 

It is noteworthy that I already had a job I was managing then, but I was eager to get better opportunities since I was done with NYSC and expectations were very high.

So, I dressed my best on the scheduled morning for the orientation exercise and prepared for a possible interview that might come up during the orientation.

It will baffle you to know that I wasn’t even sure which of the jobs I got, but I was confident it would be better than the job I was managing then.

On reaching the venue, I saw a crowd of young people queuing in front of a desk officer for documentation and trooping into a large hall afterwards.

Long story short, I got into the hall after the tedious documentation process and later discovered that I was cheaply lured into attending a ‘Neolife’ lecture—Neolife is one of those tricky investment schemes claimed to be a foreign investment company, filled with a bunch of jobless people, where your income solely depends on the number of people you successfully convince into investing in the scheme. 

They indoctrinate the belief that you could become a multi-millionaire in a few months of investment if you successfully convince people to join the scheme. They tell you about how useless it is to seek salary jobs and how important it is to invest your whole savings into Neolife. They’ll tell you stories of one of their colleagues living in Europe, making millions of dollars due to investing in Neolife.

I felt disappointed and heartbroken to discover that I finally got lured into attending their lecture because of my naivety as a fresh graduate. I have spent my whole life avoiding the agents and promoters of such schemes.

That day I bade an official “Welcome” to the labour Market.

I have more stories about my labour market experience, but I’m indisposed to write about them now; perhaps, I’ll do that leisurely as time passes.

Ibrahim Suleiman Ibrahim wrote via suleimibrahim00@gmail.com.