It’s quite exciting, interesting and scary, just to mention some of the feelings, to embark on this quest of industrial training. I guess you know what IT means. Just a quick reminder however, Industrial Training refers to a program which aims to provide supervised practical training within a specified time frame, usually in your field of study. It gives you insight into what the actual work world looks like. It just gives me several mixed feelings, good and bad.

On that note, I’m thrilled to take you through the entire journey with me in this series; The Journey. Take your seats, fasten your seat belts, grab your popcorn and enjoy the ride.

Ok, here we go. It all began with the talk about IT right in our 2nd year. We gisted a lot about it among ourselves. The thought of it was just so exciting, we couldn’t wait. Everyone was all about where they’d love to go, plans on having the best time, etc. Some were already dreaming of how they’d go and blow, chiefly the guys, Lol. The ladies, of course, were having their fantasies too; flexing, tips and all of those sorts, you already know how it goes. Some people had already started preparing their look for the IT defence when we returned. It was just interesting and funny. How can I even forget, we pestered the poor finalists who had just returned for all the details there could be. We were eagerly waiting for the time to arrive and it seemed too far.

The time finally came closer as we entered the 1st semester of 3rd year and the preparations were now doubled and for real for real. As we got back to school, we were asked to procure the entire IT package we needed from the SIWES (Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme) office in school. The package included the University’s official application letter for placement, logbook, payment forms and other related paperwork. That came rather too early, or so I thought and some people will agree with me on that. We hadn’t even had an orientation yet, as we were supposed to. Not everyone got the whole point and information about it. The excuse suggested by some of my mates was that we needed to begin on time because we’re not the only people going for IT so there’d be a rush and probably a dearth of the package as well as placement. Right or wrong, made no difference in the fact that the journey had begun.

I wasn’t going to be left out o, coupled with the fact that I’m not a fan of last-minute rush. I prefer doing things before the deadline to avoid stories that touch. I don’t like what I hate. For this reason, I went for my package ASAP. OK o, getting it is one thing, knowing the right thing to do afterwards and how, is another thing. For the record, I wasn’t cleared on the other thing and that gave me concern. I asked my classmates for all the information they knew, though keeping my fingers crossed about the total accuracy. I patiently waited for the orientation, hoping it’d come sooner.

Something that came before the orientation was an IT defence of the present finalists who just got back from their IT. This defence was very enlightening on my part. We got to hear their experiences and the responses and corrections from our lecturers. Trust me, the information from that was invaluable. At that point, it seemed we could do without the orientation anymore. The orientation was still held eventually anyway. The pieces of information from both the defence sessions and the orientation opened our eyes to all this IT entailed and I was glad for them both. Having known all about it the search or hunt, as I prefer to call it, for a placement began totally. I’ll tell you about that in the next episode. That said, I’d call it the end of this episode. Hope you’re keen to hear more as I advance.

Hunting

Hey hey hey. Back again on this series; The Journey: A Glimpse On IT In Nigeria. This episode is to gist you about the search for a placement. You see my dear, this is a lot more difficult than it sounds, a whole lot.

First and foremost, before you begin searching for an establishment to check out, you need to be clear on the type of establishment you are supposed to attach to. For us in Home Science and Management, it’s a hospitality world. You can already get the idea of obtainable areas. Whatever the case, you must attach to a hotel 1st and any other facility 2nd depending on where you wish to focus, as we get to work at two different placements for six months; three each. So right now on the 1st; hotel.

When I say hotel, I mean hotel, hotel o, better one no be chalet. As you don hear say na Hotel now you go think say e easy, hehe, you dunno abbourit. My darling, getting a placement is proving to be more difficult than securing a job. “Common IT placement you never get, sure say you go see work after school?” e don turn caricature . This is how we all get dressed up to drop our letters at as many hotels as possible hoping to hear from them. If you have long legs by knowing people in high places then you have no problems securing good placements. If you’re like us who don’t have so long legs, lol, you’re going to hunt.

For starters, I thought I could escape the waka by giving someone my letter to help me out. I wished to do my IT in PH, better city. I scanned my letter and sent it to my sister over there very early before we even thought of the 1st-semester exams. I hoped she could secure somewhere for me in my absence. Unfortunately or fortunately, it didn’t work. She spoke to people she knew but they were not giving her strong feedback as needed. She didn’t also have time to walk around to search for herself, of course, she had better things to do. I think that’s where my problem started from .

I was asked to do my search myself in Enugu this time. We were still in school, writing exams now, so I couldn’t come sooner. Some people were doing the marathon though; going from school to drop their letters in different cities and coming back. That just wasn’t working for me. The next help I got at the moment was from my mum. She spoke to a neighbour who once managed a hotel. The woman through her influence secured me a placement at the hotel she used to manage and convinced them to pay me no matter how little. Beautiful, right? That’s what I thought too until I came to see the place and get my letter stamped. Omo, this place was epic. I like to call it ancient and modern, lol. Don’t ask me the name of the hotel o. The reception was like someone’s sitting room. The front office staff were now dressed like they just came out to buy something on the street. The look of the entire place was just like those places used in old Nollywood movies as maybe the King’s palace or a rich man’s home. It was now a ghost town too, just a handful of people came around. Na style and speed I use comot from there. Was a funny experience. Now back to square one, the journey begins again.

Once again a beloved person tries to help the situation. I was directed to another hotel where the director had been spoken to in my favour. The first day I went in search of it Google direction did me strong thing. It was my fault, I was given the right address but then I took the one given me by Google when I looked the place up. The way I walked that day, OMG!!! I’m sure people who passed me by were wondering if everything was ok. At the end of the day, I found nothing because I searched with the wrong address and I went home angry. All the fault was on me I agreed. The next time I went to look I did so better informed to avoid another aimless walk. I found the place that day, thank God. The place wasn’t what I needed but exactly the kind of place we were warned not to settle in. You can already guess the rest of the story from there. Once again all work done equals nothing. No matter the troubles though, we shall not be cowed. The Journey continues. Sit tight for the next stop in the next episode. As you already know this is the 2nd episode of the series; The Journey. Anticipate more juicy tales on this quest for my IT.

We move

You try and things don’t work out, we move. You submit your letter and you don’t get called, we move. You get and it’s a sentence to slavery, we still move. Whatever style situations throw at us, we move, no other choice. With that spirit, I moved on with my search for a placement after the happenings in the 2nd episode, Hunting. This time 2 friends came to the race with me, both my course mates. The 1st guy was lucky to have his uncle pull some strings and secure a place for him in a beautiful hotel here in Enugu. Na so he leave our crew.

I and the other guy pleaded with him to try speaking in our favour too as we had gotten nothing yet. He agreed and spoke to the HR manager as he said he would. The manager said we could come and drop our applications. See the joy in my heart .

I said na like this my journey go take end, ah the Lord is good. Omo there was more gladness in my heart when I looked up the hotel and it was a bam. See beauty 1st, then standards, ah ah, it was just OMG. On that note, we both went and dropped our letters. We relaxed with full conviction that it was settled already. We submitted this I think the 2nd week of December 2021. Since we were supposed to begin the IT in December, we were keen and anxious to hear from them ASAP. We waited for a week and it seemed like a month. Panic was our comrade at the time .

The helping guy had sent us the manager’s number and asked us to contact him when we didn’t hear from him after some days. We didn’t do that because it seemed unprofessional to us. Omo as we come dey almost 2 weeks nothing from them, we contact am by force, who professionalism epp. We didn’t even get a response still.

Na when we know say water don dey pass garri. We were kinda desperate then, we carry the matter for head, 15 units load guy!!! Our fault here then was putting all our eggs in one basket. We didn’t still go on to visit as many places as possible. It was when we got hooked then that we decided to do what we should have done long ago. I managed to transfer my worry to my family especially one of my sisters. Oh, I’ve spoken of her before, the one in PH that I hoped would help me go to PH for the IT in the 1st episode, Here We Go. By then it was already Christmas week, which was the last week of the year too. 1st month don waka laidis, local geh never get placement, hope no even dey sef, ah God abeg. My sister took a step then by posting on random platforms on social media for anyone to help out. Luckily for us, someone from one of the groups she was part of on WhatsApp responded to the SOS and said we should come to a famous hotel in Enugu. (Won’t be mentioning names still, bear with me). Trust me that place has a big name, though might just be living in past glory, no offence. Once again our hopes were renewed. I say we because the journey of me and that other friend waiting together had kinda become tangled together.

As instructed, we went to the hotel on the said day and time to meet the wonderful lady who came through like an angel. The most overwhelming thing about her involvement is the fact that she doesn’t even know my sister personally, they just shared a mutual WhatsApp group, yet she took it up like a beloved relative. We came to the hotel and she took us to another lady who seemed like our placement lay in her hands. We came to learn much later that she was the HR secretary, so somehow she played a role. She did a kind of mini-interview on the spot and said we could go home and await feedback. This happened on the 29th of December. We went home and waited patiently, a bit more confident. On the evening of 4th January, we each got a call. Follow me on to the next episode to find out what message that call held. See ya…