John* is an engineer with an unconventional career journey filled with disappointment and weird experiences. Now that he’s gotten his dream job, he wishes he had gotten some things right earlier.

Would you say you’re currently getting what you deserve from your career?

Presently, I believe I am. Looking at where I’m coming from, I can reasonably say I’ve made much progress. I was the kind of child who had their hands up to answer every question in class even before anyone.

This also showed in my grades. I studied electronics and electrical engineering at the university and was one of the best students in my department — not a first-class student, though.

Now imagine my surprise when it looked like I had a problem when I started job hunting. I mean, though I don’t have an entrepreneurial bone in my body, I’m one of the most hardworking people I know.

I had an idea how the whole job search process should go since I didn’t have a terrible grade, so it was a shock when I sent application after application without results. This period practically lasted for about three years.

Wow! That would have been challenging. What would you say was responsible for this?

For starters, I was very confused since it’s not like I was grossly unqualified for those roles. I only applied for basically entry-level roles so that I could at least have a head start in my career.

If I’m going to take responsibility, I’d say I should have gone ahead to learn a skill, a tech skill especially. But I was not ready to do the whole learning/school thing all over again.

Clearly, that was a bad idea. It was a literal hell, from applying for several jobs to going for interviews that weren’t worth it. To be fair, at some point, I wasn’t even keen on the kind of jobs that I applied for. If I won’t exaggerate, I applied for over 300 jobs.

One interesting part of this journey? The lessons I learnt. Many of them were useful when I got a job.

Oh, great! What job did you eventually get? Was it worth the wait?

I got a technical assistant role at a carton manufacturing company. The opening wasn’t even public, it was a referral of some sort. Like clockwork, I applied without even trying that much and I got it.

I initially thought it would be menial, but it wasn’t. I was fully involved in technical tasks that needed my area of study, and I’ve learnt a lot and even climbed up a few steps. Seems like a distant time now, but those three years weren’t my best.

How long have you been at this place?

I’ve spent four years here. Full disclosure: I’m not planning to leave anytime soon. I like how hands-on I am here and also the opportunity to get a promotion.

I am very hardworking, and that is really helping my progress. My direct supervisor respects my work ethic a lot and even brings me in for external contracts. Besides, I’m not ready to start applying for jobs and taking interviews again after all the horrors I’ve been through.

Really? I’m very interested in which of the experiences stood out for you.

I will say the interviews. Some of them were simply ridiculous, such that as I was leaving, I knew that wasn’t a place I’d like to work.

Please share

There was one I could swear was a pyramid scheme. I won’t say this was a job interview because when I got there, the conversation was about how I’d recruit others to join and make the most of the “opportunity.”

I mean, this wasn’t an HR role. And then I found out I was not going to be paid a salary; I was sold the idea of “earning to build wealth.” Was it commission-based? I couldn’t tell. I can’t even recall what the company said they were into. Anyway, I didn’t go back for the next stage.

Interesting!

There was this other one that looked like the company had something fetish going on. I don’t know why I thought so, but I felt it in my gut. The starting salary they were offering was not bad and I was seriously considering it.

I made it to the final stage, where I spoke with the business owner. With a straight face, he said there was a way they maintained team harmony, and it involved a prayer meeting or something spiritual like that.

Not to sound disrespectful, I agreed. But, I thought if this was mentioned at the interview stage, then it must really be important to the company. After I left, I knew I didn’t want to find out what the prayer meeting was about.

It just didn’t sit well with me. Was I overthinking knowing I had been looking for a job for about two years at that point? I don’t know. When I got the offer the following week, I didn’t accept. I was just wondering if other people had gone through this spiritual experience.

That’s really weird.

Oh, there was this one I liked even though I didn’t get the job. The HR didn’t want to cancel the interview so I stumbled on a surprise party organised for the CEO. I waited through the whole thing and at a point, I already felt I belonged. I even ate cake. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the job because I wasn’t qualified. But I think that was fun.

You should get an award for having some of the weirdest interview experiences ever.

Let me share one more. Companies deliberately ask for ridiculous years of experience as a requirement for internship roles and I think it is annoying. During one interview, I was told, “We noticed you have no work experience and we’re looking for someone with four to five years of experience.” It’s an internship role for God’s sake!

How do you handle the impact of these experiences?

I laugh a lot at myself because I choose that over regret. I know I should have done better in many ways. My CV, for instance, could have been better, but I only found out later. I could have also been more responsive to change which would have helped me quickly get my bearing without wasting time.

But I’m going to thank myself for my ability to endure difficult situations.

You can find previous editions of Work Life here.

Do you have an interesting story for Work Life? Pitch to Oluwanifemi.