Like many of us who may have had our fair share of the stress of job search in our dear country Nigeria, my ordeal lasted for a period of about 7 years after graduating with a B.Sc in Computer Science from a private university in Nigeria.

Sending out job applications online where like a daily duty for me those years, and I probably cannot count how many job applications I sent out, and how many job aptitude tests and interviews I attended in a number of Nigerian cities, all to no avail, to a point that the son of man almost slid into a depression.

So I stumbled into this in my mail box today. You could imagine the joy I must have had when I received an appointment letter for the first time with my name on it, only to discover that the offer was just too ridiculously ridiculous for even a desperate young man to accept.

Though I always had the desire to be a Lecturer and I was preparing towards it too, but how was I suppose to accept a job as a Lecturer in a private government-recognized monotechnic institution of technology which entailed me relocating to the town where the school was located, for such a salary.

I was however still grateful that at least one appointment letter came to at least give a light of hope for a better coming day. Of course I did not accept their offer for obvious reasons, even though they tried to also negotiate, but with such pay package and working terms and conditions, I probably knew better even in my desperation. And to think that this offer was only around 8years ago, with the situation of the country everyone was well aware of.

Just reminding me of the unfair treatment meted out to countless number of job seekers by most employers especially privates, who use the desperation and unfortunate situation the job seekers found themselves against them.

Nevertheless, man must do what he has to do to keep body and soul together, and my saving grace was that in all the years of job search, I kept myself busy hustling and making ends meet with the computer skills God blessed me with, so I never really found myself completely idle at any point.

Well fast forward to about 8 years after, having changed jobs a few times and adding to my skill set with more experience, today its a different story by the grace of God, what would have been my full month pay 8 years ago, is less than what I give as tithe today.

And though I am yet to achieve my dream to be a Lecturer which I still plan for in the near future, I am most grateful to God for how He granted me such divine speed and favour, that made all the years I was jobless seem like they never existed. And though I have not arrived yet, I am grateful that I am not where I use to be.

I write this with all sense of humility to also encourage as many job seekers out there. Do not give up hope. Whatever your hands find to do today, do it faithfully as unto God, and in His own time and in His own mysterious way, He would take you to levels beyond your expectations. And do not forget to celebrate every little milestone you achieve and every little victory you attain, because no matter how bad we feel about where we are today, we are always better than someone out there.

And to my lovely country Nigeria, I can only hope and pray that the field of education is given the due attention and reward it deserves, so that the dream of being a Teacher or a Lecturer in Nigeria would not feel like a nightmare to the upcoming generations especially.

Thank you for sharing a part of my story.
If this makes Front Page, I'll be grateful.
I have masked out the name of the Institution in the appointment letter for privacy reasons and I would not want to tarnish the school's image with a belief that they must have upgraded by now.

May God help us all!

This is inspiring. I believe we in the labour market need to keep improving ourselves by learning a skill before the big job comes.

Congratulations brother!

You truly are an inspiration to me.
2011, that was the year I got amitted into the university.
That was the answer to my prayer that year, now am a graduate,
praying for better days.

Been depressed many times, but cant loose hope.
Thanks for sharing.

A beg if person wan write letter to CBN for job vacancy, how d addresse go look like, I wan know who d letter go address to, make I no make mistake. Pls someone should help me out

this is motivating but the things I have tried my hands on can only sustain me for three days or so and it doesn't come often...

I am desperately looking forward to the days I will forget about ever been a job seeker