How can I do 3 jobs, when my friends (over 50% of Africans) are unemployed/underemployed. I would look up at the sky then into my mind, and judge myself. Did I acquire any of the job unfairly?, No. Do I work hard and sweat for each? YES. Then, I rather help and teach my friends on how to look for theirs than, think of not doing what I can.
I am therefore writing this blog, hoping that if by any chance you are reading it and unemployed, then in the next 1 to 6 months, you should get that job, that you pass by every day. This is not self help, I dislike, those mysteries where "Morale Boosters"who have never faced the rough streets of Job seeking in Africa will tell you.
Most probably from my humble working experience below, we could walk together towards understanding my "job acquisition trick" and have them on to you as well.
In 2007 in Uganda, I got a high school teacher job and later got a job at Nestle Ltd.(No big story here, but it was an interesting experience working at such a young age).
My climax was in 2012 in Rwanda,where I was simultaneously working as a;
1.Telecom Radio Frequency Engineer Subcontractor with Ericsson,
2.Tech Journalist at Kigali Today Ltd
3. TVET Officer at Private Sector Federation.
Here is how my day looked like:
08:00 - 12:00 *PSF Offices working with TVET project & ICT Chamber work.
12:00 - 14:00 *Kigali Today writing a news article
14:00 - 17:00 *At PSF Offices
17:30 - 20:00 *Kigali Today offices, reading and writing articles.
22:00 - 02:00 am *Doing Ericsson RBS Tower upgrades for either MTN or AirTel.{Luckily enough we can only upgrade the Mobile Towers at mid night, when most of you are sleeping and not using your mobile phones and modems.}
Notes:
Do not try doing the same, doing 3jobs in row is very stressful, I quit some after a while.
With this stress, you can die. I remember one day,at Gicushu, I drove past a friend called Aline Kabatende at around 7:00am. This was after my sleepless night at MTN tower on Ndera Hill, 10 km from city center. After I parked at Telecom House, Aline walked to me and said "You could get your self killed while driving at such a scary speed". Too tired as I was, I smiled at her with no reply. Why? I was over-speeding to avoid falling asleep on the way.
These 3 contracts were a little bit not binding, thus it was fine, so long as I achieved the set targets at each work place. As far as I remember each of my employers were satisfied of my work.
Hoping to share lessons, not to show off;
Looking back,as I have now taken a break to further my studies, I am hoping that if you do not have a job, we can share a tip or 2, so that could get you a job.{I honestly feel joyful when I see people working and busy, irrespective of whether I know them or not. This is why I really love Japan).In the Japanese culture, they say that "Working hard leads to development of a good heart and a healthy mind. For example, some Japanese do not take their annual leave so that their colleagues do not suffer working on their behalf. Japanese really work hard and its is true,they comparatively have a good heart than most other continents I have been to." Yes, on this other side of the world, attitude towards work is beyond imagination.
Forget about luck or being a genius or strong or from a rich background, I am neither. Instead, I have realized that getting a job (in Africa) is simply trying to be like a good football player.
1. Be Proactive:Just like a coach will select a player who doesn't need to be told to attack and collect the ball, so does the employer. A good footballer will attack his opponent to collect the ball and ensure that his/her team is winning. The coach is always looking for "proactive players" who do not wait to see miraculously a ball land in their face.
If you are looking for a job, be proactive and begin attacking those companies or institutions ahead of time. Do not wait for them to make a call in need of employees. Here is what you do, or what I used to do, open several folders on your laptop and create folders for each company that you want to attack.
Within that fold, I google search for that particular company x:
-Annual reports
-Look for whatever problem they could be facing
-Discover who their competitor could be, what are they could good at better than the company x.
-Attend their public events like "exhibitions and ask questions about who they hire".
For example, if you are a telecom Engineer and want to work for Ericsson. Do you know?
a) Which hardware MTN, Tigo,Airtel uses on their towers?
b) Have you tried to get the software that they use to manage their equipment/towers?
c)Have you bothered to research which network problems they are currently influencing and more?
For example, the 4th Job that I was about to get and the goal keeper caught my shot was in Tigo. I applied to become Tigo Roaming Analyst Engineer. Before attending the interview, I had googled enough and asked questions to the MTN Roaming Analyst.
Over the interview, you can not believe what happened. I highly passed the interview, however they did not give me the job. (As I later discovered from asking them questions as to why I was not hired, they said, I was OVERQUALIFIED. They felt that their salary would never have been enough for me .I walked out happily telling everyone that I was happy to hear that "I am overqualified").
-Another real life example,was when I was a Student Guild Finance minister, I proactively launched a student platform that would do the work that is usually contracted to private companies. Together with my team, we began cleaning the campus environment without any order or call.
When,the university wanted to construct a road, I immediately jumped to the Admin offices. I said, to the Finance Department "you have seen what my team has done cleaning the environment for free, give us a chance and we show you how we can construct a road for you." Of course, they agreed and we constructed it at a 40% lower price than the usual private companies. Each of my then over 100 students team pocketed about 30$ to 50$ every 3 days. From the road, we went to painting and many more. Here are details of the project on KIST's website. {I still still feel bad, given the fact that when I graduated, students buried this beautiful project.}
2. Be a Ball-Boy:Football players and coaches love "Ball-Boys", so do employers. Ball boys are young boys who stand near the stadium and proactively pick a ball each time it falls outside the football pitch.
{By they way, I am not a fun of football,but my former housemate is a big fun of Lionel Messi, thus he is the only player I know.
If you are looking for a job, become a Ball Boy at the pitch where the company you wish to work for is playing at. If there is a chance, be proactive and pick the ball that falls off the pitch and return it to the pitch.
For example, my academic background is Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering. Throughout my university I was never taught anything related to journalism.To become a Tech Journalist, I requested to be a ball boy at Kigali Today media house.
When I got into Kigali Today, I was obviously terrified, wondering how I was to channel my "electromagnetic calculations" into "writing news stories".
a) Same trick, pro-activeness -I jumped to google and got a 40 page pamphlet titled "Summary of Journalism topics". Within in, I found the 5 Ws.(What,Where,When,Why and How) and with these 5 letters, I tripled my confidence in Journalism.
b) As a Ball Ball, -I could read every article that our editor could post and by luck I would discover a spelling mistake and alert him. (Remember this is voluntary, because every person would love to have a second eye).
Success: 4 Months past as I did write a news articles and then do the self given task of proof reading every article published. I learnt different writing styles of other journalists and acted as a Ball Boy to our editor.
One day, our Chief Editor calls me and says "Jovani, I have been reading your articles and I am extremely impressed of your writing style. We are going to raise your salary, not because you are my friend but because you write like our professional journalists."
{Yes,some companies/institutions play delicate/complex games and can not allow a Ball-Boy to get anywhere close to their playing field, but if they do, move close immediately}.
3. Practice at the side of the pitch/virtually: Every player and every coach is always looking around to find the best footballer to add on to their team, so do Employers. It is a fact, there is no institution/company that ever reaches circulation of achievements. There is always something to accomplish or to change. However, if you are a coach of Barcelona, you do not want to simply throw in any player, you want the best. That best player has to be playing somewhere in another team or in Barcelona's junior team.
Therefore, if you want to play in a given company/institution, begin practicing ahead of time. Look at their game and practice playing it either on their field or somewhere else virtually.
-For example, if you are looking for a job at Bank de Kigali. Give yourself 1 week reading their website, page to page. Then give your self a second week reading other Bank's websites, just trying to understand the different services they offer, how they differ and which ones are more likely to attract customers. Then, if you can get access to "softwares" that they use, install it on your computer and practice it. Then walk into BK Managers and tell them "You are wrong on service x, this bank z is doing well than you, hire me and I fix it." If you are shy, send them an email.
4. Play a "Fair Play":Best players are determined by the number of goals scored and how "fair-play their game is", so do "Best Employees". Fair-Play means rules of the game and equal treatment of all the people concerned. This is the most important part especially in Africa, where most employees seem not to know how to play a fair-play.
Whether you are a job seeker or employed you are supposed to give "Lionel Messy like"passes to your fellow job seekers/employees. This could be in terms of sharing news about "available job opportunities" to "owning your fellow employee's trouble as your own" respectively.
-For example, if you hear about a job opportunity alert every job seeker you know. In alerting everyone, you develop a network of "informers", in return who will feed you with more information.
-If you are a Ball-Boy, or you got a job, then offer on-to the target passes like Lionel Messy. Come on!, everyone loves being given a shot-on-target pass. Give all your workmates such shot on target passes. This could be when you have less work, to jump and assist them on theirs. Or it could be in terms of getting them coffee or inviting them for a drink. Yes, through this you reciprocally learn from each other. And above all, you learn more skills and build strong relationships. (I do not remember having beef/grudge with anyone I worked with,thus now I have over 200 friends, mostly from work encounters).
NB:If you have done the above 4 items well, and failed to get a job in any institution/company (at least in Rwanda). Please email to me and I will be happy to play alongside you. We can twin up and attack that institution and make sure that you are able to touch that ball.{Remember it is like football and I got addicted and thus enjoy seeing good players play it.}
WHY MOST PEOPLE DO NOT GET JOBS
(i) Governments&Private Sector do not have enough job creation activities:Most African Economies have began critical thinking of recent and thus do not generate jobs that match their growing populations.Most governments were either in wars or election frenzy, 5 to 20 years ago. However the number of University Graduates is still low that every graduate who diligently exercises the above 3 tricks can get a job in less than 6 months.{I can not guarantee that it would be in their domain, but at least an initial job to get them paying their dues).
(ii)Most Job seekers believe in the 1000 BC myths. Part of my previous job was to "link job seekers to employers" and I met "21st Century age mates who still think in the 1000 Before Christ's myths".Here are some of the myths, -praying so hard without working hard, -asking relatives for favors (how many coaches do you see having their children play in their teams?), -seeking sympathy from employers with no value proposition, -sleeping at their homes all day and waiting for a sudden call.
{NB:Favored employees might exist, but your Boss who is either their uncle/dad will pay you more than their relative if you work with passion}.
(iii)Complaining Experts: Wait, I am sure, if you have read up to this point, you must have began complaining about "me or how I write". What is wrong with Young People complaining like "patients at Mulago Hospital" in this 21st century.
I have heard people complain about lack of someone in higher offices, money to travel to town, money to eat, rent, unfairness in job offering,language barrier, too much work, complicated work.
What? If you are a "Complaining Expert",then it is very difficult that you can get a job. Footballers who score never complain, (how often do you see Lionel Messi complaining in the pitch?Not even once)
-Some complain that they do not have the Brain power. You are lying, science has shown that Neuroplasticity (Click on that wonderful discovery, if you hadn't)
-Never complain.Take it as an "opportune challenge to solve".If someone denies you a job without genuine reason, walk to them and ask "Which points did I fail so that next time, I re-ponder them?".
Steve Jobs once said that the difference between successful and unsuccessful people is that unsuccessful people never pick ask despite that almost every person in high positions want to help?
(iv) Less focus: Either due to distraction by social networks (Whatsapp&Facebook), most graduates in Africa do not seem to have a particular domain that they have focused on. I have experience talking to Graduates from all East African countries, and some from West and Northern African countries, but very few, will tell you 1 or 2 books that they have read.Please, read at least one book per month.(If you do not have one, you can email me for a free copy/recommendation). If you do not have the ability to focus or sit for 1 hour reading a book, try "meditation". It is scientifically recommendable now days.
A REAL EXAMPLE OF A HANGING JOB NOW;
For example, today when I read Newtimes, I came across this section!
Did you notice the difference with other sections?
That is a job for you, if you can do Tech Writing.
NB: I have not talked to anyone at Newtimes about the availability of that post. But just assume,from today, you become a "Ball Boy"and email them "Opinion articles on Technology" for every 2 to 3 days. Trust me, after one month they would give you a nice contract.
If, you use the same eyes and articles like you will see that opportunities are available, but there is less attack.
Dutahe!
J
