5 Post-NYSC realities that hit you in the gut

Seeing the one year service to the end isn’t that easy. For that, congratulations to you, and the about hundred
thousand who just passed out in your batch.

That should get us started.

We’ve come a long way, all of us. First, we wanted to be doctors/engineers/lawyers. Some of us stuck with that.

Then we learned about different ways to be successful, whether through career ladders or entrepreneurship.

And so in school, we nurtured those dreams, through the out-of-date curricula, through the strikes, through NYSC and the monthly stipends, till the day we are “good to go”.

Now here we are, Post-NYSC, wondering why most of our plans didn’t work out. Here are a few realities that are just beginning to set in:

Not only are the streets not smiling, they are also very slippery. Nobody is playing here. Plus, everyone is so busy chasing their business, nobody has your time, and it starts to feel like they don’t care.

Forgive your uncles and aunties who can’t remember where they kept your CVs. Forgive them if they accidentally wrote a shopping list for the house help at the back of the CV you printed with your money. Forgive them if they can’t remember when they ever promised you that a job was almost certainly waiting for you after service.

They don’t hate you, they are just very busy with their own priorities, and this might hurt, but you are not number one. They have lives too, and maybe kids to cater for.

Your wallets aren’t smiling either and being at home doesn’t feel as comfortable as it used to.

Its then it hits you in the gut.

Asking for money from your parents isn’t as easy as it used to be now. They might not be saying it, but they don’t want you lying around the house. It is at this stage that breaking a glass cup becomes treason, or staying out late means you’d love to move out.

So you are compelled by the force of necessity to get a job badly.

And then you realise, there are not that many jobs out there.
Swarming applicants at an Immigration recruitment test last year play Remember these guys from the immigration recruitment? Many are still at home

Jobberman and co. have become your new Nairaland, and Twitter, and Facebook, all in one. There’s always a job site tab open on your phone asides from the fact that you subscribed to all the possible email notifications. A few people find amazing opportunities there. Many don’t. You start to wonder what you want to do with your life and it is now you realise;

You need a Plan B.
  play



Now take your certificate. Keep it in a dark place where no light can reach. Then ask yourself, what else is there?

If there’s nothing, then there just might be a major problem. You need skills, alternatives that can help you make a living.

Many of the successful Entrepreneurs today aren’t even making a living from what they studied in school.



Don’t lose hope

Opportunities are abound nonetheless. Maybe you are just looking in the wrong place. Maybe you need to stop whining and start doing something.

When you see no window of opportunity, break down the wall with anything you can find! Just don’t use a bomb or rifle, the police and military might be there waiting to take you down.