HOW I GOT MY DREAM JOB JUST 2 MONTHS AFTER YOUTH SERVICE

 

Amazingly the preacher has been speaking on divine leading in the last 3weeks and I was behoved to reminisce on my past and perhaps encourage someone reading right now.

It was 2 weeks to the passing out ceremony of my friend Timi who was a batch A corper in Jos Plateau state, Nigeria where I served in 2006. I walked into his room that evening and met him in an unimaginable mood (I almost thought someone had died), I reached out to know what was troubling him as those tears dropped from his eyes, after asking for long, he opened up to me. What was the problem? Timi was crying because he was passing out from his National youth service in 2weeks (but why would this cause him to cry? I asked myself) he went ahead to narrate his family background and all the responsibilities on his shoulders as his father’s first son (ehee… nodding my head to his despair), his greatest fear in life was about to turn to reality; just as Job said…He was afraid of the labour market thus he had sat in his room that evening and given the future a failing thought of himself. I tried my best by using the very best of my sweet-talking skills to talk him up that evening and make him smile and believe in himself and said “Yes I can”.

Few months later, it was exactly 2weeks to my own passing out ceremony as batch B when I remembered Timi’s mood I simply swung over and took a turn for myself. I actually found myself thinking of life after youth service and the “labour market” fever caught me (lol) this time around I wasn’t thinking about responsibilities but a well-deserved career life that would put me in the line. At that point my mum started contacting some uncles and friends of hers who were in somewhat positions to place me somewhere to tell them I was through with service and for some reasons some of them started attending meetings they never finish and the rest threw their phones into the bush as it rang all day and night without response (by arm of flesh shall no man prevail indeed!).

I rounded up my service year and the bank where I served does not retain corp members so they offered me 2 more months to work and save up some money for myself before going back. I went home and started developing a business idea I had during my service year, started the company on a small scale through the help of my brother and friend in the Lord! Collins, he did wonders on the computer for our company, we put minds together and started big time! I turned down the offer given to me to stay for 2 more months at the bank I served and started building my own dream (I did this because I was very eager to move up than wasting 2months on a job that is not the actual dream Job package; thus I rather be unemployed and face it than accepting a pity offer).While the company was coming up I still had a desire to work, gain experience, skills, Financial resources, and exposure  so I did my CV and sent to my mum who requested for it to distribute anywhere there was openings.

One Sunday after church service, I beckoned on a church member who was a regional executive then at Intercontinental Bank Jos, he already knew me as a church worker thus no need to introduce myself. I told him I was through with my youth service and handed over a copy of my CV to him just in case there are openings in his bank. He looked at me and smiled then I reiterated. He then asked me to come over to his office the following day and see him Phew!!!! This is it I said to myself, yes!!! It is already happening; the labour market commotion is just not for me, I was just so excited. I went home and prepared my best suits and of course that shirt, yes that very clean shirt and practiced some “phonetics” that night before going to bed (lol). 

Phew! Monday morning is here, it’s that great meeting with the regional executive who was a member of my church oh halleluyah! More so he knew me as a church sis so it wouldn’t be a biggy offering me the job anyways. I quickly said my prayers, had my bath, did that make up well and gently sliced myself into that suit, oh that suit my mum got for me from Dubai, and I shunned the perfect breakfast my aunty prepared that morning rushing out like one executive going for a presentation at a board meeting. I got to his office by 8am on the dot. My executive church fellow sat me down comfortably and began to take me through the process of getting a job with his bank. At first he sounded like it’s a very rigorous process and I would need to pass the GMATs first then pass the first 2 interviews and have a final one at Lagos. He rounded up his speech with this line “so you getting a job here is totally beyond me”. I thanked him for his guidelines and still asked him to hold on to my CV to turn it in whenever they start recruiting. As I stood up to leave his office with the whole disappointing looks on my face, I first pulled my suit because I was getting really hot as a result of the positive bad news (permit the English), and since his not offering me the job I might as well change to my flat slippers instead of those heels I wore to cat walk into my dream job (mtcheew!) , he called me back and said

“I leave you with two lines to take home ,1. It is not man that gives job but God, 2. Make your GMATs your second bible”

  

Oooooooh this hit me big time, those words became living and active in me like a two edged sword slowly penetrating my soul, spirit, joints, and marrow changing my thought and attitude towards the whole job search. I went back home with a paradigm shift, God bless his soul.

I woke up the next morning with a song in my heart, “I have made you too small in my eyes oh Lord please forgive me, and I have believed in a lie that you are unable to help me……” I sang that song from a genuine heart as I made it clear to God that indeed it is not man that would give me that job but him and so the first step I took was to lay my job search at his feet, I told him that my brains are too small to give me gains in life so I can’t go by myself. I quit trusting man and started trusting God for my dream Job. Secondly I acquired a GMATs 2006 for myself and made it my second bible because the value of a thing is determined by the amount you’re willing to pay for it nonetheless.

Exactly 3days after taking these steps I got a text message to come write a text for Fidelity bank as my mum heard they were recruiting and turned in my CV. At this point I took a 3^rd step which I call inquiring from God. I went to God in prayers to inquire if it’s worth the while travelling down to Enugu to write the test thereby risking my life and wasting the little money I was making from my company then and nothing comes out of it. Jos was a virgin Land then, I wouldn’t have thought twice to stay back coupled with the family love I had with my beloved aunty and her kids, I really felt at home. I got the message on a Thursday afternoon and the test was scheduled for Saturday morning so I had just the next day to travel down to Enugu against Saturday. I slept that night and had a dream and in the dream the test has been written and the result showed I was the first overall in the region. I woke up quickly said my prayers and packed my bags and heading straight to the park to catch a bus to Enugu.

I got into Enugu by 7pm that day, quickly handed over the vegetables and yam I bought for my mum, and ran into to bathroom for a quick shower. I bounced on the okro soup and hot garri mum prepared and started reading afterwards. I read from 8:30pm till 5am the next day (remember that whatever is worth doing is worth doing well, I have come from afar and I need to put a mark on it). I slept for an hour and said my prayers, hit the bathroom, and headed for the exam. I got to the venue and behold thousands of people (including gate crashers) were there. I remember walking into the venue with a lady I met on my way, immediately we entered the venue she screamed heeey! “This people just invited us here for nothing”, I asked why? She said “because they already know the people they would give the openings to, they are just advertising for fancy”. Well I couldn’t reply her; I said gently in my spirit that if they have just 2 openings then they are just looking for one more because I am number 1.

Wrapping up the story, I wrote the test and went back to Jos immediately to pursue my talent (lol, Ibos will say kam ga chuo akalaka mu). Apparently I came across all the questions I met in the exam the night before.  Through divine leading I was able to solve particular questions and essays in the GMATs and behold I did not solve a single mathematics in the hall, for every question I came across I already knew the answer, I just scanned through the objective questions and shade the right options (miraculous isn’t it? Yes that’s what happens when you yield to divine guidance). I finished my test of 90 questions in less than 25minutes and submitted. It was like a movie when I stood up to submit when others were still cracking their brains through the questions.  Two weeks later I got a call from the bank saying “congratulations! You came out first overall in the text (YES I DID out of the thousands), am calling to say congrats but you still have 3 stages of interviews to go through.  I went through the interview in 1 month and was successful for each stage and went for the final interview with the MD and some directors of the bank and got that JOB!, just 2 months after my youth service, Yes I did and I was glad I did without the help of any uncle, aunty, or personality. I opened with the story of my fulani friend Timi and his dilemma 2weeks to passing out parade, his doing very well now in Abuja and having imbibed the I can do spirit he got his dream job 6months after (did someone say yeahhhh!)

Moral of the story: By arm of flesh shall no man prevail, our brains are indeed too small to give us gains in life therefore we can’t do it alone. We don’t reign from below; we reign from above and until we can obtain in the upper realm we cannot unleash in the realm below. Also we can make great effort and not achieve great results because we have not introduced the great factor which is the grace of God! This is the secret to termination of struggles of life. Every time a man is led by his creator the struggle ends.

When He leads he goes ahead,

When He leads he goes with you,

When He leads he walks through you, and

When He leads he works for you.

Job hunting is more spiritual than physical. Have you searched for too long? Have you tried searching the God way? Sincerely search your heart and retrace your steps today. No be man dey give job na Baba God!

Thanks for reading, it’s my birthday today. Happy Bye dey to me!!!!!