NO, waiting to start seeking for job after NYSC would be one of the biggest mistakes you would have made in the course of your career especially if you do not have in mind to start a business of your own. Your Job seeking should start as soon as you get your certificate of graduation from your tertiary institution; waiting till your service year ends could keep you stranded for a while and may be for too long.

Once final year students go through the hustle of getting their research project topics approved and finally get it completed, I think the certificate of graduation is the only set back to job seeking. Infact, that is the very challenging moment for young school leavers because they could hardly call money from home, and they can only be employed for menial jobs till NYSC calls.

This routine has got to change. I understand that undergraduates receive their certificate of graduation prior to their service period. I am saying exactly that you should submit your cover letter and CV to the places you should apply during your service year. Why should you do so?

Well, submitting to various places during your service year will expose you several opportunities which include being employed as;

An Intern
Very often, organizations state very clearly in the qualification that they need a person with atleast two years’ experience for job xyz. The sound of that alone scares young graduates away. But you’ll have a better chance to prove a point if you apply as an intern in that organization.
When you apply as an intern, you will receive good training from the company to be paid probably not very substantial amount. However, they will employ you subsequently if they find you competent enough.

Graduate trainee
You could be employed as a graduate trainee and not as a professional. What happens is that you will be trained to work the company’s way. Most times they sponsor graduate trainees for professional and international training, conferences, summit and other skillful training they need to add value to the organization in which they are employed. The sweet side is that they also fix you in the pay roll.