14/08/2025
๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ฎ ๐๐ง๐๐๐ช๐๐ฉ๐ ๐จ๐๐ค๐ช๐ก๐ ๐ง๐๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐จ,
Tag a student or fresh graduate who needs this encouragement.
Dear Nigerian Graduate, the convocation gown looks sweet. But let's talk about what comes after. Because in Nigeria, graduation is not the finish line. It's the beginning of a marathon full of pressure, confusion, and silent prayers.
After NYSC, many of us enter a fog.
Your phone stops ringing.
No allowance.
No timetable.
Just expectations from family, society, and Instagram timelines. Meanwhile, real life is serving you hot gbas gbos.
Take Evelyn, a 25-year-old graduate of Accounting. 1st Class. NYSC in Abuja. Everyone thought she'd land at Deloitte or KPMG.
But 1 year passed, nothing.
Dozens of job tests. No callback. Until she shifted her mindset. That's when everything changed.
๐ง๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฑ๐ผ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ต ๐ด๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ.
A. Start building skills before you need them.
The job market is not looking for degrees. It's looking for value. Mariam took a free Google course on Data Analytics. She learned Excel, Power BI, and storytelling with data. Suddenly, interviews started calling.
B. Build something while waiting. No job? Start something. Anything. Volunteer. Intern. Sell cake. Write. Learn design.
Teach kids. Evelyn analyzed free NGO data for practice. That small project got her noticed on LinkedIn. People hire what they can see.
C. Your first job might not be your dream job. And that's okay. Evelyn's first job paid N45k.
But she used it to build experience, ask questions, and grow her network. Today, she's on a N400k remote contract. Her story is still unfolding.
D. The Internet is your biggest leverage.
This country is hard. But online? Merit still exists. Evelyn used LinkedIn to share what she was learning. She took free Coursera courses and posted insights weekly. She didn't just scroll, she built a presence.
E. Normalize lifelong learning.
Learning no end. Especially when money never start.
Free resources:
Google Skillshop
YouTube
HubSpot Academy
The same internet used to watch comedy can chang your entire career.
G. Learn to manage small money.
From her first N45k salary, Evelyn saved N5k monthly. It seemed small. But she built the habit. So when 400k came, saving 40k wasn't a struggle. Discipline starts small.
H. Talk to people. Opportunities hide in conversations. Many jobs are never posted.
Evelyn's remote contract? Came from a LinkedIn connection who admired her consistency. No one knows what you do if you don't talk.
I. Guard your mind.
Pressure is real. Especially when family expects and friends are moving. Evelyn almost quit learning. Depression hit. But she joined a free virtual community. That support kept her going.
J. Your course of study doesn't define your destiny. An accountant can become a data analyst. A philosophy graduate can become a tech founder. What you studied is your past. What you build now is your future.
Dear graduate, you are not behind.
You're just entering the proving ground.
Tag a student or fresh graduate who needs this encouragement.
Thank you and may God direct your path.
