This is very untrue. I got a success email with ZERO connections. I am not on any group chat, so I’m sure that there are many other people who passed the interview stage based solely on performance, that you are unaware of. Higherupgrade:
I believe it is probably my friend and one other person from Abuja who got in, those are the only two I have heard of so far. He has strong connections, so it seems Oando might have prioritized referrals, which is quite disappointing. In the entire group, no one else mentioned receiving a success mail, which speaks volumes about how the system operates.
I actually have a friend who knows a top executive at Oando. After the final interview, I asked him to reach out on my behalf, but he insisted it was not necessary, that based on how I performed, I would definitely move to the next stage. Unfortunately, it appears that in many oil and gas firms like Oando, intelligence plus connection equals progress, while merit alone often is not enough. I even looked up the last five Graduate Trainees they took in 2019, and most turned out to be related to senior staff.
That said, I am still grateful. Out of seven interviews I have had this year, the only ones I did not scale through were NNPC and Oando. I got offers from the other five and chose to resume with one last month, rejecting the rest.
To everyone still waiting, do not be discouraged. Not receiving a success mail does not mean you were not qualified, sometimes the system just works differently. If this GT opportunity does not work out, by God’s grace, we will find ourselves in even bigger and better organizations soon. 🙏 |
Career › Re: Oando Graduate Accelerated Program (GAP) 2019 by Jolina12: 8:28pm On Nov 05, 2025
