Fresh Graduates: Do not be trapped in the illusion of the “best jobs”. In Nigeria, most times, the best jobs are the ones that PAY highest. You may not like, say a bank job, because of the extreme intensity of waking up at 5am and making it home at 10pm in Lagos. But usually, at the end of the month, bank jobs deliver great digits when the alerts come. Nonetheless, you do not like that job because it could break you.
That makes sense; yet, you do not have to stay there for long. All you need is to map a strategy, say within 3-5 years to pivot to something else but taking advantage of the fact that the future can be funded with the bank job. That brings the issue of the accumulation of capabilities. The bank job brings more money and you can deploy that money in developing your skills and capabilities. By the time you are done, you could move into a new sector, possibly at management level where they can pay you well.
There, the possibility of having that hobby-job becomes a possibility. But at the early stage, it is always good in Nigeria to take a job that can help to further develop yourself beyond the undergraduate university level. The impact of having a high paying job at the early phase of your career cannot be over-emphasized. The hobby-job is good, we all like it, but it makes sense to take a sacrifice and earn higher wage before settling to your hobbies as work.
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This read is very insightful. I’ll ask however, what one should do if his idea of a best job is in an entirely different sector from the one he works in already.
That is really the main point in the piece. You can move to that desired sector having used the resources from the non-happy sector to develop yourself. At the end, you can end up in the management level there.
Very nice piece sir. What if the best job is the same as hobby-job.
That means the person is super lucky. The blessed are paid for their hobbies!
Great Advice.