Manny, a Nigerian lives in Europe with an educational qualification, high intelligence and ravishing beauty that can put Hilary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice out of their political/diplomatic business. What does Manny do in Europe? She works in a restaurant as a waiter to help her self finish her doctrate degree. Does she feel cheap and slug about her job as a waiter in any way? Not at all…hey, Jackie, this is not naija where people go hungry due to their high horses attitude and employers rudeness. What is wrong with what i do? I serve people food and beverages and they even pay me extra due to my humility and passion for my work though i am over qualified to be a waiter…but no one cares about your degrees when it comes to labour over here. She told me.
Sharon is a Nigerian ..finished her Bsc for the past 5 years and has been hooked on doing crappy jobs without any steady income. Can you work as a baker that works from home? Can you work for a bakery? I asked her…no way jackie…with my degree? POURQEE…why not ? I asked. Listen , once the employers see my certificate, they will not even employ me. They will start wondering and suspecting why a young girl like me with my educational qualification will come to work as a baker. Again if i bake at home and carry them out to sell to people, those who know me will wonder if this is what my parents spend money to train me at the university. They will laugh at me. Really? I asked again. Sure Jackie…sure…do you have a better offer for me? A better offer? I became angry and said…how about a P.A in Aso Rock? She noticed my anger and said…you are kidding me right? Kidding you? Try angry sharon….angry…
I am really angry with you because i thought you really need to earn a decent living but all you care about is what other people will think of you. Other people who will still laugh at you when you walk the street begging. Probably same people are also laughing at you as we talk because you are jobless.
Ok folks, you see in this country, we have a long way to go when it comes to dignity in labour. Somehow Sharon was right and i love meeting people like her that have such mind set so that i can snap the heck out of them and turn around that mind set to something positive. How many employers of labour in this country will hire a masters degree graduate as a sales person in a supermarket? Such applicants are always tuned down with the employers feeling they are not coming to work but to spy or steal from them. To them, how can such a graduate work as a sales woman/man? Such jobs are for secondary school certificate drop outs. Or those who did not go to school at all. Meanwhile same applicant will earn a good wage in similar grocery store abroad without anyone or the employer mocking him/her.
Why are Nigerians like this? Why do people in this country always love to live matrialistic life style and show off to the extreme? There are lots of graduates with good grades who would not mind earning some cash by doing jobs like –house keeping, sales person, driving, security, waiter, personal laundry service, coffee girl/boy, roadside cook etc but the society will never regard them. So those of them who are lilly livered like sharon keeps roaming around for years looking for already white collar jobs with fancy office setting.
Schools will complain of teachers not being qualified but try apply with your bsc/phd degree in even best international schools and see if they will call you for an interview. The only thing on their mind is the money they will pay you considering your high qualification yet they are looking for high quality teachers like you. Fraustration for job seekers at all corners of employers of labour in this country. I tire ohhhhh….i tire for Niaja!!
When will people in this country understand the simple humility style of life of accepting people and giving them their rightful honour as a human being without attaching some kind of title and stupid social status?
Manny above will always travel down here to Nigeria with her bags filled with enough cash to cater for her needs and family demands and those who know her will be envying her thinking she plucked the money from trees in Europe. By the time she told them her job, they will never believe her. Can she make such money and or even keep her head high with such a job in Nigeria? Baahhhhhh….no way!!
This problem of dignity of labour is just two faced and a problem created by both the job seekers and the employers. Ok..maybe more of the employers case because they are the ones that always reject graduates who humbled themselves to work non-office jobs. So i will lash out more to employers who have this demoralizing attitude to think deeply what they are doing to job seekers in this country and the morality of our youths in general. Again those who employ such graduates knowing that desperation pushed them to come for such jobs, will now decide to pay them peanuts. Is this not wickedness? Haba? How do you now expect such a worker to be happy working for you knowing that you are ripping him/her off? So where does dignity comes in here?
This is the reason i empower jobseekers to explore their skills and create jobs for themselves . The time you wasted being used by one employer who rips you off and also not getting money to cater for your needs because you are being deprived of months of salaries, you will use such time to learn business skills and start a business for yourself.
Attend business seminars, and learn how to start/grow your own business. I organize private and public business coaching/tutorials and you can register for sessions suitable for you via Skype, Whatsapp, Voice calls, Emails etc. Some business coaches also organize free business talks once in a while but they do this for those already registered with them, so start somewhere and you will see how amazing and uplifting it will be to own your business. Leave a message for me at –@jacquiworld
Look around your locality and environment, there are always things people need and someone has to provide such services to them. This and other things you will learn when you are being tutored on how to start your business, challenges you will face, sales and marketing strategies etc.
JACLYN IWU
