How I finally landed my dream job after 8 years… A story by Oby Okeke

One fateful Saturday evening, I was sitting with friends and listening to them chat away about how annoying it really was to be a Nigerian right now. ‘Nigerians don’t have chill again, everyone is just venting off on the next person because our problems are just too much’, Sade ranted. ‘ But it’s really annoying, one minute I’m trying to ignore the government and the pains they put us through, yet ordinary Nigerian sun won’t let somebody be great. I’m kuku tired, I need to leave this country’. This cracked everyone up except me. I was unmoved. I didn’t find it funny. I was lost in thoughts. I was sad. ‘I’ve been unemployed for over 8 years and it wasn’t like I wasn’t qualified, but suddenly every employer wants to hire a 30 year old with like 30 years’ experience. How exactly does that even work, I guess I should have gotten employed right from my mama’s womb,’ I muttered under my breath and then let out a very long hiss. They all turned to me and exclaimed, “Ah! Babe are you that frustrated?’ ‘Yes I am frustrated. I am tired of job hunting. Maybe I should just start a business or just get married and be a full time housewife’, I said. Nene, guessing my frustration was due to my job issues, started telling me about this new company recruiting writers. ‘Babe don’t worry, I’m sure this one won’t ask you for 30 years work experience when you are 30. And guess what, they even pay big, way bigger than your expectations’, she said. I was confused. Should I still try this one out? I was tired of adjusting my CV for every single interview. I was tired of studying the A-Z of companies just for interviews. I was tired of roaming the streets of Lagos. I was pretty certain the streets already knew my footprints. Well, finally I decided to go for it. I turned in my application and got called for an interview, which turned out to be another drama of its own. ‘Actually we love your write ups. You are a really good writer. We know you have spent quite a short time in your field but we could hire you’, one of my interviewers said. ‘Okay But…?’, I asked as I had always expected negative responses. I just wanted them to get on with so I could get going. They explained that in addition to my ability to write, I would be required to design their website. ‘kuku kill me. Can’t these people say they can’t hire me, which one is design website again, haba’ I muttered to myself. As a sharp babe , I told them I could do that too but deep down, I knew absolutely nothing about websites…LOL! A week later, click here to see how I did it, you won’t believe it.