This post is inspired by an earlier discussion on nairaland about ''no jobs'' in Nigeria and poor paying jobs in Nigeria.I realize a lot of youths (graduates)erroneously believe this leading to nefarious activities such as:

joining cults in school with the hope of future employment
Learning low income earning skills at the expense of career path
Illegal Migration genuinely thinking the grass is greener
Prostitution
fraud
Others

Inspired by the Nairaland discussions, I spoke with other colleagues and friends and realized almost everyone started from a low paying job with one as low as 7k a month On this thread I will share lessons I have learnt from myself and interacting with other professionals from diverse sectors in Nigeria.I will share stories of individuals I know and I have heard who transitioned from volunteering to real jobs.

I invite anyone with positive experience transitioning from volunteering or low earning jobs to real time employment in any sector to share as well,the point is to inspire generation next,to teach them how,and to give them hope.

[i]Lesson 1:Your undergraduate experience counts

Ajangbadi (not real name) as an undergraduate worked on training colleagues and office workers on MS word.He even registered a bussiness name to do the trainings.He also picked up the skillls of fixing bad phones and computers.

On graduation he worked for himself for a while getting low paying jobs but he was learning this went on for 2 years.His first jobs was in a consulting firm earning less 100,000.At this time entry level persons in the bank were getting about 200,000.Remember he had been free styling for 2 -3 years before getting the consulting work.So his friends at the bank were no longer entry level but banking officers earning about 350,000 monthly.

His skills at the low level jobs were valuable at the consulting firm,he also gained sector specific experience for the consulting firm writing their professional exams specific to that sector over another 2 years,still earning less than 200k a month this is now 4-5 years post graduation.

Subsequently he was employed by the banks at a level higher than that of his friends (they were still at banking officers and assistant banking officer level),he started at the bank at 650-700 monthly and moved between banks again in 2 years with a higher salary.He stopped telling us how much he earned at a million monthly,and the guy has changed positions 3 more times after that with a lot of international experience to his portfolio.This is his 10-12 years post graduation.He is settled in his career and is not afraid of Job security.

Undergraduate experience matters.
Whatever you can do in your undergraduate years relevant to your course of study ,please do.It may be as menial as data entry for senior associates,working in the lab,internship,or working on your own for yourself.Whatever it is you can do undergraduate period counts .it serves as something to put on your CV when searching for work post NYSC,it also serves as entry point into the system later.I have picked this as my first example that if you can't volunteer for a company or firm,volunteer for your own organization,and gain job experience that counts starting before graduation

I will end this note by saying a lot of Nigerians think the rich kids get employed simply because of who their Dads know,while this is true in some cases,you should also know that by the time a rich kid is through with university,his or her parents have arranged internships in different countries as experience for him or her and when you both drop your CV post NYSC all you have on it is 1 year NYSC experience in Ajangbadi High school.The rich kid has different experiences for different countries

Start early,let your undergraduate days count.