Graduate volunteering is highly essential for kick-starting one’s career and it is a way of getting relevant job experience in the industry. In advanced countries, it is very common to volunteer as a graduate to gain relevant skillset, on-the-job training and acquire expertise in one’s profession. In a country like Nigeria, where getting a job is a chicken-and-egg situation, graduate volunteering is paramount, can bridge the gap and solve the nagging unemployment problems. However, nowadays in Nigeria, many job-seeking graduates think graduate volunteering is a waste of time, resources and devaluation of their self-esteem. This is not the case because sometimes opportunities come in disguised forms. My story is a perfect case study that explains the benefits graduate volunteering can give to unemployed graduates and inherently contribute to capacity building.
My story
I am a graduate of Electronic and Electrical engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. I graduated in January 2011. While waiting to go for the mandatory NYSC programme, I wrote the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) certification exam to boost my chances of getting a Place of Primary Assignment (PPA) in the telecommunication industry as this is the field in which I wanted to build my career. Unfortunately, as fate would have it, a brick wall was met and all frantic efforts to get into this industry proved futile. After I completed my mandatory NYSC, I got some job offers to work as a sales and marketing executive some of which are even in engineering firms. I was not too satisfied with these job offers because I believe someone who studied engineering and graduated with a good grade, should go for a job that will give on-the-job training and make one gain relevant skillsets in the profession.
Months and years rolled back and I was still battling with getting value for myself with the right kind of job. Meanwhile, all along I was not selective about remuneration or location. I just wanted to work in a place that will give me value. I could not get this and positions in marketing kept on coming. I eventually applied for the SURE-P Graduate Internship Scheme which existed during President Goodluck Jonathan’s tenure. I was lucky to get a placement and during the interview, I told the company owner how much I desire to gain technical experience. He told me his company was a perfect place for recent graduates to gain the required technical experience I needed. After about two weeks of starting as a SURE-P intern, the company owner told me point blank that I would not go out to the field to gain technical experience as we both previously agreed, but I would have to be a secretary and marketer because he was afraid I may later establish a business from the knowledge gained and become a strong competitor against his business. I became confused and devastated but I continued with the job as a secretary and marketer.
After a while, the SURE-P internship was truncated because of the change in government and all the interns were left in the lurch. In order not to stay idle, I started a small business in renewable energy and computer networking having the intention to outsource the work to contractors because I did not have any technical know-how on executing the contracts. I planned to accompany them to the field when they want to deploy and through that, I could gain relevant technical experience. This eventually got my fingers burnt as the contractors did not let me attend the deployment and they mostly diverted the outsourced business deals which I secured, to theirs and I lost in both sides. Entrepreneurship in Nigeria is not a walk in the park; I eventually filed the permanent cessation of the business and started the search for a voluntary internship, just to gain technical experience.
I got to talk about volunteering to a manager of a telecoms engineering servicing company but he was a bit skeptical about me coming to do a voluntary internship. He dismissed the idea and said I am a woman and he did not feel comfortable having women in his team. I did not give up and I continued with the search. This time around, I paid to attend a conference so that I could meet a particular woman in engineering, who was invited as one of the speakers in the conference and who is the founder of a telecommunication and broadband internet indigenous company. I told her about my need to gain technical experience and to have a voluntary internship done in her company but I got a negative response; still, I did not give up. I also met another woman in engineering at another conference, told her about my case and she said I should send her a message on LinkedIn which I did but I never got a response.
After some years of searching for a voluntary internship opportunity in the Electrical Engineering profession and not finding one, I went to the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) Ibadan branch secretariat where I live and I attended their Annual General Meeting (AGM). I told them about my plight. They rallied around, all hands were put on deck, within a couple of months and with the help of The Nigerian Institution of Power Engineers (NIPE), I got an unpaid internship placement at the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN). I was elated with the placement even though it was an unpaid internship. I suddenly found myself in the power industry. I put in the best of my ability, always resumed work before the official resumption time and I put up a good learning attitude. I humbled myself to learn everything possible and I paid attention to minute details, to the extent that people thought I was a student until they inquired and I told them I am a graduate of several years but I just wanted to gain technical experience.
During my voluntary internship at TCN, I was under the pupillage and tutelage of Registered Engineers and they made me learn so much that I gained a wealth of on-the-job technical experience. They even contributed to my personal development by encouraging me to learn MATLAB, AUTOCAD and also the French Language, all of which I now have proficiency in. My enthusiasm and passion for the power industry grew and became so intense that I eventually decided I would build a career in the power industry instead of the telecoms industry which I previously wanted to build my career in. During my voluntary pupillage, I did the registration for NSE Corporate membership. I prepared hard for all the stages of the NSE exams. I burnt the midnight oil, burnt the candle at both ends and left no stone unturned. I was eventually shortlisted for the NSE interview after the submission of technical reports which documented my experience at TCN. During the interview, I wowed the interviewers. They were impressed with the fact that I humbled myself to do a voluntary internship/pupillage, something which any Nigerian graduate might not want to do. I passed the interview and was shortlisted for the computer-based test. I aced the test and today I am a Corporate Member of NSE. I immediately applied to be a Registered Engineer under the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN)and I got the registration money by selling off my gold jewellery. As of now, my COREN application is also on the way.
When I fully find my feet and have sufficient wherewithal, I will give back to society by establishing a mentoring initiative that will be involved in mentoring, encouraging and motivating bright, young girls to study engineering and also practice it. I will also make sure I try my best to guide them aright so that they do not go through the travails I have gone through.
Conclusion
Graduate internships or volunteering bring tremendous benefits because opportunities come in disguised forms. As a graduate in Nigeria, getting a full-time job is not a cakewalk but if one can strategize, stoop low to work as an intern or volunteer for a while, the job experience gained will be a pedestal on which greater opportunities are placed. Furthermore, while searching for a job, rejections may come but be tenacious, persistent and resilient will see one through. Lastly, it is crucial to associate with forward-thinking, like-minded people who will bring out the best in someone and to most importantly have a mentor in one’s profession that will keep someone accountable and guide one aright.
I look forward to ending this phase of my career (volunteering) by getting a very good job in the power supply sector.
Contributor: Ganiyat Anifowose (ganiyat.anifo@gmail.com)
