"I just want to finish with this school, go outside and get a good job settle down and move on with my life."
This was what a friend said some days back while we had a chat at the “buka”. Abeg nor ask me wetin I go find for there! In this world where there are scarcity of employment opportunities, I find it absolutely repugnant and repulsive for one to think in this manner. Thinking is free sha, but em.. you have to be realistic if you really want to be a difference!
What my friend said actually led me to write this piece, on the mistakes we made before we became a graduate and how you can avoid these same mistakes, experience is the best teacher, though true, there are lots of disadvantages learning from your experience; it is very expensive.
It is always better to learn from other people’s experience, it will save you from falling into a situation that will have a lifelong trade mark on your life.
One of the mistakes we made before we became a graduate is not working to earn a money, when we find ourselves relying on our parent for support, they took care of virtually every aspect of our academic endeavor, from the school fees, to our feeding allowance, wardrobe and many others, all we knew was how to spend money.
This has put many of us in a difficult position to earn money after school.
I recently spoke with a female friend on where she would like to work after school and she said the embassy.
Just because she studied International Studies and Relations automatically guarantees her a place at the embassy. If by the time you graduate your dream job does not show up, what will be your next line of action? Then you wish you have gotten principles on how to make money. It’s not too late to start now, to be sincere with you, life begin the moment you begin to assume responsibility for your actions, it is time you take responsibility for yourself, your age should not be a barrier, and you are not too young or too old to doing something financially rewarding.
I have always been a critic of formal education without skill; it is unfortunate that modern educational system is overrated in the world especially in Nigeria.
According to statistics, almost all Nigerian homes today have graduate, but I have also asked a basic question, how many home has employed or employable graduate? Many folks want to be done with the tertiary and go get employment, nobody wants to create job or even be self sustainable.
A lot of person outside today have degrees but they are not educated, education empowers you for success on every area of your life, while Academics on the other hand focuses on certificates, we must make a distinction between these two, the only way to make them work out is to use you academics promote your education, and you can do this by thinking outside the box. One great mistake many graduates made before graduating was not thinking outside the box.
Now to the undergraduates; you must prepare yourself for world without certificate, yes! I quite agree that we must strive to be the best in school, accumulating good grades also does help, what happens if the certificate cannot not fetch you your desirable job, what will you do? You must prepare yourself for a plan B, when plan A fails, plan B should not.
In other to avoid this, as you pursue your academic endeavor, also acquire a vocational skill; we have a lot of them that can serve you a means of earning a living while in school. For those who have graduated, acquire a skill and you will be better for it.
Many have the conception that there is still enough time, I once saw myself in this disposition too but there are consequences if you think this way, and one of them is that you tend to live your life carelessly, by the time you realize that you are no longer a baby, you must have wasted a reasonable amount of your years doing nothing. You have no reason not to start making money early in life; in fact it is even more advantageous, it is better to be doing something than to do nothing. Looking at the world we find ourselves, those making the real cash are not those working with their certificates, I am very sure you will agree with me on that.
Can I ask you a question? What services can you render that people will have to pay for? Have you wondered to ask yourself that question? To survive in this ever growing world, you must have something that people will pay for, if you don’t have one, it’s time you try as much as you can to provide services in exchange for money, the more the services you are able to render, the richer you will become. Think about it!
The first book I bought with my money was, How to get what you want by Nido Quebein; New discoveries on how to reach your potential. I bought that book for less than 3000 naira then in 2007, and since I bought that book, I have not seen another copy elsewhere. My emphasis here is that, many of us don’t have the habit of reading, a lot have been said about hiding something from a black man in a book, as absurd as it sounds, that is the truth, many find it difficult to buy books for self development, I am not talking about the school books that you are been forced to buy while you are in school, I am talking about inspirational and motivational books that will enrich your mental capacity, books that will develop you entrepreneurial skills, even devotional sef e hard for some to buy!
We must learn to cultivate the habit of reading, readers make leaders. Try something new today and be above your peers.
It is very important we strive to reach our potential, we must learn to always work to our optimum capacity, a lot of us are under utilizing our gifts. Search yourself and work towards achieving greatness.
- Eduregard
