Work and Other Things (Series 2)

Based on my offer to assist a connection on LinkedIn with garnering work in America, it's interesting how many people on LinkedIn raced to find out the secrets to working in America as a foreign-trained lawyer. But these same people are not interested in divulging the secrets to breaking it in to working in Nigeria as a Nigeria trained lawyer. They don't even respect the fact that you were able to work in America as a foreign-trained lawyer.

Working in America, be prepared to hear No...a lot. You hear so many "Nos" that it will break your spirit, make you want to buy that ticket home. However, if you survive to make it through the No's you will get a Yes, as a good friend of mine used to say: All it takes is just one person to say Yes. There is always that one person who wants to take a chance on a foreign trained lawyer with a lot of heart. It's this heart, belief in potential that makes it...the land of opportunity. And when that yes happens, as you get in, you make it the best opportunity ever, show 'em what you're made of, prove your worth. 

In America, if you have a good educational background which shows potential you will at least be shortlisted for an interview. In Nigeria, not at all. If your resume does not reflect that you have practiced that area of law that they have advertised for, you won't hear a peep from them. Then of course, there's the matter of knowing someone on the inside to pass your resume to so you can get shortlisted, that does not apply in America. I can post my resume on Indeed and get a call back almost the next day.

In Nigeria, there are no responses. That's just the problem. There's a silence that's almost deafening. It makes you question your purpose, your qualifications, your self-worth. You start to doubt your skill-set. You wonder, this is the same resume I used to garner interviews from Amazon, Cornell University, Red Hat, Zappos, etc (to name a few) now I can't even get the local law firm to call me back? Is there something wrong with me? It also makes you question the integrity of the people reviewing the applications, their knowledge of your international expertise, but that's a whole other story - I've come to the conclusion that ACIPM stands for "I do not respond to emails, texts, or calls." 

Then, you recount all the other big wigs you interviewed with and the jobs you got, some of them you turned down, and then you think to yourself, maybe it's not you...but the system. 

After this 3.5 year search for a job that makes sense in Nigeria, I've come to a lot of conclusions, one of them being to doubt myself, but I've also come to a conclusion about my people...that results in me not liking them very much. America is filled with its own issues but one thing about it is it gives you that little bit of spark in the midst of the darkness, there's always that little kick that keeps you going, fighting for another day. In Nigeria, they are ready to kick you further down and relish in seeing you sink deeper down into your hole. After all, it leaves plenty more room for them at the top.

We can't darn well have the 1% be 10% now, can we?

If you like this, read Work and Other Things (Series 1)

Work and Other Things (Series 1)

Job Hunting in Naija (Nigeria) has to be the singular most frustrating act on this earth. 

Suffice it to say that dating is a less frustrating act. Dating in #Atlanta is even less frustrating. You know the men that will frustrate you so with experience you learn to avoid those men. 

But Job hunting in Nigeria - an analysis...

- you get shafted (ignored) by local recruiters and international recruiters alike (that you assume should know better, should act like they got some sense). No one returns emails, or even shortlists you for jobs that you are obviously tailor-made for. They ignore you because they don't have any valid excuse for rejecting you. 

-  multinational companies only hire Nigerians with foreign degrees. This singular act to me is a blow to being situated in an African country. If you're not going to take the local education for what it is then WTF are you doing in my country, eating up my resources and not employing my local content having no confidence in my local education in Nigeria. It's obvious you assume that our universities have no credibility. And this hurts more because this same company located in the western world considered me with my Nigerian degree on my resume, but in Nigeria, they consider that everyone here is local so they have choices, with these choices, they're gonna pick and choose and select the candidates they want to immediately assume into management and middle management with or without any local experience under their belt. 

- But for me, they insist on local experience. This one is another ridiculous aspect of the job hunting in Nigeria. How great is the work experience in Nigeria that you should insist that a candidate is subjected to it? How ethical are the Nigerian workers? How professional are they? For lawyers, how many laws are enforced? They randomly create laws for everything, there's a CBN circular and petroleum bill being issued every other month. Once they are issued, the government inserts regulatory bodies to govern these laws and that is it. Regulatory enforcement is absent. Why even create the laws in the first place? Practice of law in this country is not essentially unique or exceptional that I feel as if I missed out on it. What did I miss out? Assuming a position in a multinational where I would have risen through the ranks and become like Regional West Africa legal manager by now. That's what I missed out on and it sucks that with all the international transactional experience I have under my belt I cannot transform that into a role with a multinational - once again the same multinational that considered me in the States. 

- Based on this I assumed things would be easier here. If you get interviewed by Nike (to name drop one of my interviewees) in the States, you expect that if Nike moves into Nigeria, you would ordinarily get interviewed by Nike here, as one of their regional lawyers. Not necessarily and so far I have not been interviewed or even shortlisted by one multinational company here in Nigeria. That reality just saddens me. Makes this job search this singular most frustrating act I've endured in a long time. 

And after working in a multinational company in the States, I am really not made for a local company. That sounds boujee I know but I just don't have the stuff for it, the patience, the forbearance, the tolerance everything. It takes a lot. 

I wonder if there happens to be any returnee going through this same shit - EVER! I've seen all of them settled in nicely in their multinational. Not sure what is going on with mine. But then again, I have no "in" to these companies and of course, I don't have any Ivy League degrees. 

At this point, I'm just done. I have no faith in the system, in mankind, in 2nd chances, in opportunities, in Nigeria, in anything. I am simply done. Hoping I can wither away quietly from a broken heart.

It says a lot about a country if their President has been outside the country for over 100 days this year, it means he is done too.