Dilemma Of A Job Seeker.

A friend's younger brother had wanted to see me through out the week. But because of my tight schedule I had to make arrangement to see him today which is saturday.

Debo, like I know is a very intelligent and hardworking young man who is also focused.

Even while still he the university, I can remember he used to get little contracts from his skill and basically paid his way through school when his parents were fully incharge of other children's expences and upkeep including my friend who is his elder brother.

The Issue is Debo studied Business Administration from a Federal University but also has good skill in Fine Art and the likes, he does Sculpture, painting, billboards and other art related items for some of his clients.

According to Debo, sometimes he gets a single contract as much as N250,000 and upwards but also he can stay 2 months straight without having a single contract.

September to be precised, he said he approached a client who is a top shot in one of the Federal Government parastatal in Lagos and pleaded with the man to get him a job either in his agency or any similar one which the man took his CV and promised to help him whenever there's a vacancy. Somewhere.

About 7days ago (the monday he called me), the Government topshot told Debo to come to his office only for him to tell Debo he has gotten him a job in his Friend's private Tax audit and Financial Consulting firm. After Debo was briefed he found out his salary at the firm will be N85,000 after Tax.

The problem is he is confused if he should take the job or stick to his Art Work which pays him up to times 3 or more in a month that business is good.

He is scared of turning down this job offer and then face a poor business period of low patronage or accept it and doesn't have time to attend to his clients again.

In his words, he never wanted a job that would pay him less than N150,000 but now he is getting half of his initial budgeted. Salary.

Please what's your logical and sincere advice to Debo?

since its a private firm, it would be difficult to join the two. ur frnd has these option to choose from
-- he accepts the job, forget abt his art and be prepared to spend his day acheiving someone else goals
-- he rejects the job and wait for a less tasking job in a less tasking environment preferable with the state/federal govt where he will have enough time for his art.
-- he forgets abt a 9-5 job and concentrate on his hand work, expand his market base, put all his energy fulltime, get an office etc. this option would be hard but to me this pays in d long run.

Considering how seasonal his art-work appear, i think he should take the job.
My qstion is, why make 250k in a month without another one coming after it in quick succession? He can't build on that. And here u have 85k that u are sure of its arrival at the end of every month. Do tell him to take his eye off d dream of earning '150k' as his debut/inaugral salary and focus on the '85k' and work hard, impress the management, as he grows along the line....i think there will b an increase...

A bre.asT in mouth is worth 2 in the bra.
Depending on his tenacity and fighting spirit level. I was once in same boat, mine was even tough,I resigned from a well paying job to venture into aviation logistics with no name, office or contact. It was tough but I held on though there were months I couldn't make 10K. Lol and I'll so miss my salary and old secured job.

Since Arts(to the best of my knowledge) is something he can do @ his leisure time, weekends etc, I think he's better off grabbing this job. He needs to build a professional profile too and this job would offer him that opportunity. Nothing stops him from doing the two; hobby and profession.

You all have given very brilliant and wonderful advices. Every single point raised by each of you is very interesting and beneficial.

Will like to hear more advice from others before I finally send him the link so he can see what people's advise to him is.

A bird in hand is worth 2 in the bush...

Hence my advise is that he sticks with the salary arrangement as it is sure.

But even If he should go for his art, he should learn the art of saving for the rainy day so that even If he does not work 4 sometime he'll still survive

Sticking to the salary job isn't a bad idea though, but won't it make him backslide on his skill on art and also male his customers leave him when he can't meet up with their needs?

ifyalways: A bre.asT in mouth is worth 2 in the bra.
.

This one cracked me up, ifyalways, i can tell ur a grandmama nairalander.

Why leave a certainty for an uncertainty?Since he's got an offer that guarantees something at the end of every month,I'd say he goes for it.He can always work on his art at his leisure.

Why is he looking for a job in the first place? Hoping to earn 150k in this tough times of joblessness ? He even has 250k-per-month worth of skills. Hmph! #Some-have-food-but-cannot-eat...#

ifyalways: A bre.asT in mouth is worth 2 in the bra.

Take on the job and reduce ur clients due to the little spare time you have..... Only take jobs you know u can execute with ur little spare time.

He should not take the job and should not have looked for one in the first place..he has something I would pay so much to acquire.
He should stick to using his skills, mind his business and stay away from building somebody's future. He has a foundation to build on, now is the time to learn how to build himself up and get noticed.
Earning NGN250,000 per job is not a joke for a starter, even if it is not regular YET. It can only get better as long as he is WILLING to work at it.

You claimed the guy is intelligent and hardworking?? Tell him not to take any job even if it pays NGN150,000/month, I would pay this guy not to take the job.

How many hours is he required to work a day?
What's the distance like from this new job to where he resides?
Is he required to work structured hours for the art work or it's usually done at leisure/spare times?

The debo guy is actually lucky to have an offer whilst having the ability to earn something on the side.

If i were in his shoes, i will take up the offer as long as the hours are OK, the commute isn't too bad and am able to do the art at weekends or whenever i'm not too tired during weekdays.

Here is the maths:
On average he earns 250K per job every couple of months. So let's say he earns 250 every 3 months meaning at the end of the year he should have about 1M naira (Not guaranteed)

He goes for the other option of being an employee then he has a guaranteed income of 1.02M naira.

The expenses that he will incur whilst working for himself is expected to be a lot higher if added expenses are put into consideration.

No matter how you look at it, killing two birds with one stone is way better

ifyalways: A bre.asT in mouth is worth 2 in the bra.

nice quote

My Advice...

First of all...it has to do with his passion and desires. And also, what he would
Like to be in years to come, where he would like to be, the kind of life he would want for himself and his family to be...from the answer to this question: he would now decide which one would get him there...sticking with his natural gift or getting a paid job

The Art thing is natural to him and once you are doing what your passion is...there is no frustration but working for money(brings so much frustration)...cos it seems the only reason why he wants a paid job now is cause the art does not bring regular montly pay.

Working for paid job...he would not have time to concentrate on his art thing again and even the 250 00 he makes sometimes won't come again as he would only be living on his 85k monthly which sincerely is nothing(by the time he takes out all other expenses)

He should just be optimistic and knowing that if he gets 250 000 per contract now, there would come a time he would get a contract worth millions...one good thing about what he is doing is...a satisfied client would also bring another(which is simply referral and word of mouth)..

I think its better pays the price now...build his client base, satisfy his present clients so they can refer others to him...in the long run, it would pay off cos if he gets 85 000 job now, salary increment might not come till years to come and working for himself(he can earn as much as possible...there is no limit to what he can earn)

I understand the fact about fear and comfort of a regular monthly pay but he needs to put that aside and build on what he has...on the other hand...he can start designing cards(greeting cards etc) and so on

As I have said...the most important thing is...what vision, mission and purpose does he have for himself

Wish him all the best

Aafulenu: since its a private firm, it would be difficult to join the two. ur frnd has these option to choose from
-- he accepts the job, forget abt his art and be prepared to spend his day acheiving someone else goals
-- he rejects the job and wait for a less tasking job in a less tasking environment preferable with the state/federal govt where he will have enough time for his art.
-- he forgets abt a 9-5 job and concentrate on his hand work, expand his market base, put all his energy fulltime, get an office etc. this option would be hard but to me this pays in d long run.

so much on point!!!!!!! Private firms should only be a training ground... Also he is not Chartered, so road to "growth" is far for him in an accounting firm. They will just use him as a means to their selfish end. He should only choose the private firm if he wants to charter, become partner, or open his own latter.

The question is what does he really want to do? work or follow his passion. Getting a job of 85k in an audit firm is a good deal as Business admin graduate, he can combine the job with his art work business. In case his picking the audit job, he can start writing a professional exams like ICAN, from there he can build a career for himself. I know some of the accounting graduate will be happy to get this kind of opportunity. Best of luck.

Like I told a friend when she was in similar situation;let him start the job and see if he can cope with his art by the side for 3month. For a trial period. After 3 month,if the job is restraining him let him drop it and concentrate on his art. But govt job will be the best for him cause he will have time for his art

I can see some goons are already doing projections with manufactured magic numbers. You can only project based on past earnings so how else is someone getting the occasional 250k contract is going to start getting the magic 6 figure contracts or better still increase in frequency of the contracts.

Planning can only be done with certainties. The man doesn't have lined up commissioning contracts so why should he be going for the uncertainty route?

He can balance the 2. All he has to do is use his business administration skills. Tell him to register a company, employ someone on contract basis, supervise the person anytime he has jobs to do. Give the person 60% and pocket the rest. So that way he maximizes his opportunities. That is what i do

ifyalways: A bre.asT in mouth is worth 2 in the bra.

Hia!!! Ok na!!!
Your breast in my mouth is worth more than the two in my hands. Ok, lets go there!!!

The only way this thing sounds like a dilemma is if he is scared of forgoing his passion, because if it is about money, then he better take that job. But I am very sure it is about his passion.

acidtalk: Dilemma Of A Job Seeker.

A friend's younger brother had wanted to see me through out the week. But because of my tight schedule I had to make arrangement to see him today which is saturday.

Debo, like I know is a very intelligent and hardworking young man who is also focused.

Even while still he the university, I can remember he used to get little contracts from his skill and basically paid his way through school when his parents were fully incharge of other children's expences and upkeep including my friend who is his elder brother.

The Issue is Debo studied Business Administration from a Federal University but also has good skill in Fine Art and the likes, he does Sculpture, painting, billboards and other art related items for some of his clients.

According to Debo, sometimes he gets a single contract as much as N250,000 and upwards but also he can stay 2 months straight without having a single contract.

September to be precised, he said he approached a client who is a top shot in one of the Federal Government parastatal in Lagos and pleaded with the man to get him a job either in his agency or any similar one which the man took his CV and promised to help him whenever there's a vacancy. Somewhere.

About 7days ago (the monday he called me), the Government topshot told Debo to come to his office only for him to tell Debo he has gotten him a job in his Friend's private Tax audit and Financial Consulting firm. After Debo was briefed he found out his salary at the firm will be N85,000 after Tax.

The problem is he is confused if he should take the job or stick to his Art Work which pays him up to times 3 or more in a month that business is good.

He is scared of turning down this job offer and then face a poor business period of low patronage or accept it and doesn't have time to attend to his clients again.

In his words, he never wanted a job that would pay him less than N150,000 but now he is getting half of his initial budgeted. Salary.

Please what's your logical and sincere advice to Debo?

. The man told him all this when his friend is yet to see or interview Dabo. He shouldn't have approach that his client for job in the first place. What if he ture down the offer, how do he think that the man will feel? It is too hard to advise Dabo not to accept the offer (i.e. If it is geniune) because of his reputation. He has already made the move. I don't know what to say anymore than, I would have prefer he stick to his art work.

Your friend is a hard working and brilliant guy so he will be successful either way. Lot depends on how much savings he already has.

I will say he should take the job. You only reject certainty when you have enough stored up for the rainy day. In this case it appears he does not have major savings yet so he may be very broke if business is slow.

Earning 85k today may be small, but a few years of experience, promotions and he could be on 250k a month in another five years. But I will also advice he keeps doing his Art thing if that is his real passion! There is nothing like your job being your passion. So tell him to take the job since he has little savings but continue Roth the Arts!

oothoney: My Advice...

First of all...it has to do with his passion and desires. And also, what he would
Like to be in years to come, where he would like to be, the kind of life he would want for himself and his family to be...from the answer to this question: he would now decide which one would get him there...sticking with his natural gift or getting a paid job

The Art thing is natural to him and once you are doing what your passion is...there is no frustration but working for money(brings so much frustration)...cos it seems the only reason why he wants a paid job now is cause the art does not bring regular montly pay.

Working for paid job...he would not have time to concentrate on his art thing again and even the 250 00 he makes sometimes won't come again as he would only be living on his 85k monthly which sincerely is nothing(by the time he takes out all other expenses)

He should just be optimistic and knowing that if he gets 250 000 per contract now, there would come a time he would get a contract worth millions...one good thing about what he is doing is...a satisfied client would also bring another(which is simply referral and word of mouth)..

I think its better pays the price now...build his client base, satisfy his present clients so they can refer others to him...in the long run, it would pay off cos if he gets 85 000 job now, salary increment might not come till years to come and working for himself(he can earn as much as possible...there is no limit to what he can earn)

I understand the fact about fear and comfort of a regular monthly pay but he needs to put that aside and build on what he has...on the other hand...he can start designing cards(greeting cards etc) and so on

As I have said...the most important thing is...what vision, mission and purpose does he have for himself

Wish him all the best

Thank you Oothoney. Thank you so much for this post.

@OP, tell Debo to face his own business squarely. You say he is smart? Tell him to get a book titled "E-Myth Revisited". He can download a pdf copy from the Internet and get it from the nearest bookshop.

Let him learn how to build his own business. He should not work fulfilling another man's dream when he can build his own dream and hire people to work for him and build his dream for him.

A word is enough for the wise.

If he forgets his skills and work for another man and struggle for promotion, he will regret it when he is 60 years and he has nothing to show for it.

I feel he should take the job because this will afford him the opportunity to build a strong network amongst other things, we do know that most people that usually venture into business start with a 9-5 job. In doing this he will be able to test the waters and probably concentrate on his art works on weekends, before launching full scale into his passion.

ifyalways: A bre.asT in mouth is worth 2 in the bra.

Quite right, ask any (married) man.

Unless he has a lot of money to fall back on, I'll suggest he takes the job. His talent will always be with him which he can utilze at anytime. An 85k job, while not exactly fantastic, offers guaranteed stream of income until he can get something better.

He should take the job. His Art work can be handled at weekends, then he can hire someone at 18,000 per month to market his art business and also deliver to prospective clients. Am out.