XFIRE’S DIARY: My dream career and I – Recalling the background

 MY CAREER DIARY

with

XFIRE

I am a graduate of one of the public universities in Nigeria, and I currently work in Nigeria’s oil and gas industry. I am sharing my experience under the pen name XFIRE

Let me give you a little background about myself

I graduated in one of the public universities in Nigeria. I am one of the unlucky few that narrowly missed first class. I was a nerd back then in school all in the name of finishing with a first. I sometimes still feel I was deliberately denied a first class degree in my engineering department. I was so enraged that I didn’t attend my convocation, even though I was in school when it held. I still hold a little grudge against my alma mater till date.

I served in a secondary school. I never really had any engineering experience, even during my internship because I didn’t know anybody that could help. By the time I was through with NYSC, I was close to 27 years. Many will say that I had virtually passed the age of getting a good job, especially in these days where 21-24 years old first class/2.1 graduates are countless. There is apparently nothing special about a 27 years old 2.1 graduate like me! Besides, I was living in the far North while all the juicy jobs seemed to be located in Lagos.

But despite these limitations and more, I have worked with 3 top organizations in Nigeria within 2 and the half years of completing my service. I job hunted for about 5 months before getting my first major job. I started with unarguably the biggest FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) company in Nigeria. I later moved over to one of the biggest government parastatals in Nigeria. Now I am working with one of the topmost International Oil Companies (IOC’s) in Nigeria and currently one of the top 30 companies in Forbes Global 2000 companies. And I have only a BSc with no connection. Lucky right? Sure, elements of luck combined with lots of hard work.

During the course of my active job searching period, I applied for 6 organizations (4 oil and 2 FMCG companies). I never had the opportunity of applying for banking/financial jobs because I had passed the age requirement. And I wasn’t ready to falsify my age – that can be easily detected anyway. All 6 are multi-national companies (MNC) except the government parastatal. I got offers from 4 out of the 6. But I reached the final recruitment stages in all 6 companies. One of my modest achievement of note is that I never failed any job aptitude or skills test. I shall reveal the secrets in due time.

The race to my career path started in my undergraduate days. I will recount the story, with lessons learnt.