I recently received a mail I wrote to my future self five years ago. There’s a platform that lets you send mail to your future self. Write anything you want, and select a date when you’d like to receive it.

In my case, at the time I wrote it, I was struggling with job interviews. So, this mail from my past self reminded me of my struggles.

First of all, I want to say that not enough is being done to ensure that fresh graduates in Nigeria are ready for the job market. It is a highly competitive terrain that requires more than just your certificate. In fact, your certificate only serves as an ID card that says you have the minimum requirement to apply. Actually having a competitive edge and possibly getting hired in the end requires a lot more.

I don’t know if things have changed now, but when I graduated,I wasn’t prepared to defend my skills in front of others and in the process, manage to convince them that I’m qualified to work for them.

There was no prior training for that! Unless you’re counting the presentation I did in my 3rd and final year for projects. Nothing prepared me for the interview process.

It was like, here’s your certificate. Go and figure out how to use it. Eiii!😲

On top of that, some interviewers are brutal with their questioning tactics. In my interview experiences, as a fresh graduate, rarely did any interviewer help me settle into the process or allow me to calm down enough to piece my thoughts together. The whole process felt like going to be offered as a sacrifice. I could taste the anxiety I felt.

The one that irked me the most was questions like: “Why do you want to work for us?”

Like! Can’t you see I’m broke? Because, why will a biochemistry graduate be looking for a marketing job? Times are hard! But no! You want me to lie that I have been dreaming about working for your organisation since I was born. 🙄

There was one interview I went for, after that interview, I started rethinking my life because of the brutal questions this woman was dishing out. At the end of the interview, she proceeded to tell me that my life was scattered and I should find a way to fix it. I just graduated from university, madam! Hey God! 🙆

I intentionally skipped application and cover letter wahala because you’re supposed to know your way around those, as a graduate. And even if you don’t, you should know where to find useful information about them in this day and age. 

But let’s not lie to ourselves. ChatGPT can do many things these days. We didn’t have that in my time. You can imagine how tedious it must have been.

Back to the main story. 

So, fresh out of uni, with my hopes high, and my dreams big, I dived into the job market, head first. (Like every other normal person) 

I took a lot of assessments (both online and offline) – going through all the stages of job interviews. The preparations for these assessments and interviews entailed joining different Whatsapp groups in a bid to find partners in the movement. Nevertheless, most of the applications ended at the final stages of the interview process.

But one interview stood out for me. I never received a rejection mail after submitting my application for that job. If you’re familiar with the job application processes in Nigeria, you’ll know that this is pretty common. And it might be the same everywhere else. Sometimes, you get a mail telling you that “due to the volume of applications they’re processing, you might never get a rejection mail”. A gentle heads up to brace yourself for premium rejection.  The silent kind.

And this is only from the organisations that care o. Others will just leave you hanging. So, if you don’t see any mail after a while, just assume you’ve been rejected.

Back to the story again. Sorry. I keep digressing.

For this application, a while had passed and I didn’t see anything in the mail. People in my set were progressing to the next stage. Actually, we were batched into sets. And sometimes, it didn’t matter when you applied, your invite mail might arrive when you least expect it. So, if you hadn’t gotten an invite mail, there was still a slim chance you might still get it. A very slim chance.

This job was hotcake because they were hiring a lot of fresh graduates, irrespective of what they studied (which is the case with most entry-level jobs). The organization just hires and trains. 

The unique thing about this one is the number of people they were hiring. It was a lot! And the chances of getting it were high. So, why hadn’t I gotten my own invite mail?

Please keep in mind that this is the first stage of the process. It wasn’t even in the difficult stage. Therefore, it was very disturbing to not get invited for the first physical interview.

That was when I did something that was drastic at the time, and I still consider it drastic today. 

I gatecrashed the interview.

What happened was that my friend who had interviewed told me they weren’t checking for the invites at the interview location. Some people were just going to try their luck without the invitation mail.  And I was very lucky! Because after I gatecrashed the interview … We! Because I wasn’t the only one there. They started checking. 😌

I’m guessing someone snitched on us.

This job ended up being the only one I got. Out of all the other interviews I’d been going to, I got the one I didn’t have an invite to. Can you imagine?! It just goes to show that sometimes the most unexpected actions can lead to the most surprising outcomes.

I don’t know if there’s any moral to this story. I just wanted to share this story so that if you or anyone you know is going through a difficult time while job hunting, know that you’re not alone.

In the end, I learned that sometimes, even when you do everything right, things may not work out as planned. But that doesn’t mean you should give up. Keep pushing, keep trying, and eventually, you’ll find the right opportunity.

Someone told me that you can play all your cards right, but if the timing is wrong, it won’t work.

So, to anyone going through the same struggles, hang in there, buddy! You are not alone. 🫂

PS: If this story resonated with you, like, comment and share, so more people can hear this message.

My name is Chika H. Orji. Get to know me here