Tough times never last but tough
people do. A young university
graduate, Afred Ajani, demonstrated
amazing resilience to get a job when
he stood in the busy Waterloo Station
in London, with a placard advertising
himself as an applicant in want of
job.
Ajani, whose surname suggests possible
Nigerian parentage, stood at the entrance
of the railway station on Monday, August
19, during the rush hour, holding up a
sign stating: ‘ Marketing graduate (BA
Hons 2:1 Coventry Uni). Ask for CV.’
This is happening at a time when most
Nigerian young graduates struggle for visa
to the United Kingdom in search of greener
pastures. Others, too numerous to
mention, brave death en-route Europe as
they journey through the desert in search
of employment opportunities. Not minding
the fact that almost half of fresh graduates
in western countries are now in ‘non-
graduate’ or ‘stepping stone’ roles, such as
bar-tending, and other menial jobs, young
Nigerians still dash for UK visa like a ticket
to heaven.
Ajani, who lives in South London
graduated in Second Class Upper division
from Coventry University, yet, his nice
grade couldn’t secure him a job. After
applying for 300 positions without success,
he took an unusual step by holding up a
sign in his hands during the rush hour,
advertising himself as a jobless graduate
of Marketing to thousands of commuters
buzzing around the train station.
His new approach became the charm that
caught the attention of many company
directors, who walked up to him to discuss
potential positions and gladly picked up his
CV. His radical step unlocked gates of
opportunities, with prospective employers
inundating him with calls and e-mails
within hours. At the last count, he has
been interviewed for a ‘dream’ sports
marketing job in Spain, as well as other
choice offers.
His unusual way of looking for a job has
worked! Aside being inundated with emails
and calls, Ajani had an interview with
sports hospitality firm THG Sports. He
said: “The response has been incredible.
I’ve even had to have my family and
friends help me go through all the emails
and phone messages I’ve received. I’ve
spoken to THG about a sales position in
Barcelona, which would be a brilliant as it
is in the area I want to go into and
studied.Living abroad would be a great
experience too, so it’s something I’m really
excited about.”
Ajani said his mum, Lola, was proud of
him for thinking out of the box to get the
desired attention. ‘My mum, Lola, is really
proud of me. She gave me a big hug when
she saw the response I had got. And she
had me up at 5.30am this morning
following up some of the offers I have
received.’
Speaking about his job prospects, he said:
“One woman worked in advertising and
took a CV and another guy ran back from
his train and said he’d walked past but had
started thinking and might have something
for me. I’ve already had some phone calls
and have got an interview booked for later
today. The support was great, one man
even bought me a cup of tea and told me
‘good luck’.
He added: “My mum is proud of me. She
came down to the station and was hugging
me and saying she hoped I could help
support our family.”
Rather than feel ashamed of his rare act,
Ajani said he had received scores of
messages of support from fellow
graduates and classmates. He said his
expectations remain high to secure a full-
time position in no distant time.
On the pressures on graduates to find a
job in the current market, he said: “If
everyone is saying we don’t have
experience, then I do not understand how
we are supposed to get that experience.”
Speaking about what motivated him to
take this unusual approach to job hunting,
Ajani says he was frustrated that he hadn’t
found a job since May, and that the
opportunities he had found weren’t areas
he was interested in. He is interested in
strictly marketing/advertising jobs.
“I realised that there are thousands of
students out there using the same old
methods of applying for jobs online and
through recruitment agencies and so I
thought I’d try something different.
I got up early and went to the station. At
first people just looked at me but after
about 10 minutes people were stopping
and talking to me. They said they’d never
seen anything like it before and were really
impressed,” he says.
A photo of Ajani giving his CV to people at
the train station made its way to Twitter,
prompting many people on the social
media platform to commend his efforts,
and offering to assist him.
His courageous act also won the heart of
the Editor of Marketing Week, Ruth
Mortimer, who wrote him a letter, hailing
marketers for their sense of creativity, pro-
activity and thinking. She said Ajani has
since received a better response rate than
most people using latest email campaign.

No picture n u expect me to believe abi ?

nice method.

Good for him.in naija,you can submit your CV a thousand times,you'll only be helping them supply papers to the woman selling akara and fried yam nearby.smh

Nonybb: Ofcourse whities are refine in their mentality and will probably take you up in some prospects and from there opportunities will expand. But the Nigerian case is different and quite pathetic. People would laugh you to a scorn and think you have gone mad or need a deliverance. Yes I love what he did but I am not inspired to do the same here in Lagos

..Its awful pathetic how Nigerians think, their perspective towards life its so 'shallow' you could be right right in what you just said..but someone has to bell the cat..someone has to try this...we could all be shocked at the outcome...It shouldn't be a crime to think different...to think out of the box..

francleanflexy: No picture n u expect me to believe abi ?

You don't have to believe me....Google is ur friend...

Chai! At last.

CheeNayNay: Good for him.in naija,you can submit your CV a thousand times,you'll only be helping them supply papers to the woman selling akara and fried yam nearby.smh

lol! I can't agree more...but before we jump to conclusions..someone could try this approach or something related to what he did. Since the conventional way of getting jobs are not working for the common man something crazy might work.I'm studying to become an Architect and its a very professional course and to advertise myself that way would not be appropriate...*sad*

asadike: Chai! At last.

lol..I feel happy for that guy..he was pushed to the limit by his joblesness...and it paid off..

SavageGarden: lol! I can't agree more...but before we jump to conclusions..someone could try this approach or something related to what he did. Since the conventional way of getting jobs are not working for the common man something crazy might work.I'm studying to become an Architect and its a very professional course and to advertise myself that way would not be appropriate...*sad*

lol,ur right but anyone who tries something out of the ordinary in naija will be seen as a lunatic.I pray when you are done studying u won't need to 'advertise' urself that way,you'll only need to make a call and get contracts.everything will work out,stay positive

CheeNayNay: lol,ur right but anyone who tries something out of the ordinary in naija will be seen as a lunatic.I pray when you are done studying u won't need to 'advertise' urself that way,you'll only need to make a call and get contracts.everything will work out,stay positive

Thanks..A lot. I pray for that too!

brave.... Whites and good heart..... Uhnmmm.... Naija ma country... I don't care our Attitude..... Politicians with Toronto-ic certificates lavished Billions of naira on occasions.... Graduates and emeritus of knowledge can't get a 50k monthly job..... Ahhhhhh!!!!

Nonybb: Ofcourse whities are refine in their mentality and will probably take you up in some prospects and from there opportunities will expand. But the Nigerian case is different and quite pathetic. People would laugh you to a scorn and think you have gone mad or need a deliverance. Yes I love what he did but I am not inspired to do the same here in Lagos

try dat in lagos (oshodi under bridge) ur gonna get mugged

I cried while reading.

My heart goes out to all jobless graduates. I was once there.

You have to lose your shame to get there...

Nonybb: Ofcourse whities are refine in their mentality and will probably take you up in some prospects and from there opportunities will expand. But the Nigerian case is different and quite pathetic. People would laugh you to a scorn and think you have gone mad or need a deliverance. Yes I love what he did but I am not inspired to do the same here in Lagos

I have done similar things even as an undergraduate. I went hawking of books and it changed my family financially. I was only 20 by then. Anytime you decide to think and act out of the box, you get rewards.

Stop magnifying your shame. Everyone wants you when you are rich. No one wants you now you are poor.. So you have to sell yourself.

Success doesn't just happen. You need to get fed up with status quo...

francleanflexy: No picture n u expect me to believe abi ?

that's your fuckin problem if u don't!!!

They said doing same old thing and expecting a different result is bad. But this dude's action just defiled it.

Good for him.

Our nigeria is unfortunate country.

Despite that we have everything, but nothing works.

To hell with one nigeria.

Nonybb: Ofcourse whities are refine in their mentality and will probably take you up in some prospects and from there opportunities will expand. But the Nigerian case is different and quite pathetic. People would laugh you to a scorn and think you have gone mad or need a deliverance. Yes I love what he did but I am not inspired to do the same here in Lagos

It's Naija mentality that's killing us. I was coming out of a bank and decided to get some boiled groundnuts, a bank cleaner in another bank started calling me " hungry man"for eating groundnuts on the street... Other workers joined her and started mocking me.. How in this world is it their business? So only hungry and poor peeps eat groundnuts?

adconline:
It's Naija mentality that's killing us. I was coming out of a bank and decided to get some boiled groundnuts, a bank cleaner in another bank started calling me " hungry man"for eating groundnuts on the street... Other workers joined her and started mocking me.. How in this world is it their business? So only hungry and poor peeps eat groundnuts?

I really don't understand that scenerio bro..why would they mock you on what grounds? Where you throwing the groundnut peels on the ground or what?

SavageGarden: I really don't understand that scenerio bro..why would they mock you on what grounds? Where you throwing the groundnut peels on the ground or what?

Nope.. Just walking and eating ground on a hot sunny day.. They felt poor hungry guy who couldn't wait to get home to eat..

He could advertise himself that way because of his marketing background thereby seen by most people requesting for his CV as being capable of marketing their goods and services.

It might seem very inappropriate for a Chemical Engineering or related background to do same.