I LEARNED SKILLS THAT I NEVER KNEW WERE IMPORTANT IN GETTING A JOB- Alumna Bright Bassey

From being timid and terrified of job interviews nearly 2 years ago to becoming a production manager at Smoothie Express. Bright’s story details the impact of the WAVE training but more importantly spotlights her willingness to learn.

After completing her secondary school education in 2017, Bright was assisting her mother in her provisions shop. She was terrified to attend job interviews because she didn’t have any formal work experience and thought that was what she needed.

This drove her to tell family members and friends to use their positions to get her a job without an interview. One of the people she spoke to was her cousin; a WAVE alumnus who introduced her to our training program.

After a hard thought, Bright decided to attend the training with Batch 2.18 in 2018 Ajah Academy and was thankful that she did, “The training had a great impact on me, I became open to learning skills which I never thought were necessary for getting a job; skills like emotional intelligence, effective communication, teamwork, and many others.” 

During the training, socializing with other trainees and the facilitators was a struggle for Bright because she considers herself to be a shy person; “It was stressful and frustrating relating with people but the class on teamwork helped me to be more comfortable, it also improved my training experience when I started making friends”.

After the training, Bright job shadowed at Angle Villa, Lekki as a Kitchen Assistant where she learned how to make several intercontinental and local dishes. 

Transportation cost and distance from her house to the training center was challenging and it called for her to wake up earlier than usual to beat traffic.

Six months after her job shadow, Bright got a job as a Production Manager at Smoothie Express, Victoria Island.

According to Bright, ”I was so happy when I got my new job because I love making Sandwiches, Parfaits, Salads, and Smoothies, so it was the perfect place to perfect my art. The communication, emotional intelligence, teamwork, problem-solving, and many other skills that WAVE imbibed in me helps my interactions with everyone I come in contact with”. 

Bright also got promoted to a Supervisor role with a salary raise owing to her diligence and hard work.

 Bright has aspirations of becoming a restaurant owner; she intends to save towards it, look for financial assistance from friends and family and she would achieve this in putting the problem solving, presentation, communication, financial management skills into practice. She also intends to get a university degree.

She advises job seekers to be expressive, speak to people within their circle and those they come across. That way they can know about job opportunities or get advice on what to do to get a job.