How To Get Retained After Your National Service

National Service has begun and most graduates have started serving the nation in various organisations and in varying capacities.

For most of these graduates, the fact that they are entering the somehow work world fills them with much excitement that they forget what really national service mean.

This is understandable to an extent because the hassle and anxiety surrounding the placement of national service personnel, leaves them with nothing to think about than just getting placed in an institution.

Others consider National Service (NS), as being placed in a bank or one of the biggest telecommunications companies and showing it off to friends but not really making an impact there. For such graduates, the biggest achievement in life is working in those two industries. Aaa! small boys and girls are young indeed!

Remember, National Service is just a year and it will come real fast. Don't go gallivanting around, come back home to “sit” on your parents.

We are already swamped in a lot of social media groups, so don't add up to the unemployed graduate groups on social media.

You may consider it unfortunate to be posted to some village far away somewhere or a small organisation. Consider it all joy! Why? Because, these places provide the most opportunities you could ever imagine. I have come across people who have established (Non-governmental Oganisations), NGO's to support needy children in villages where they had their service and after service, the NGO has grown to become successful and still transforming lives.

I am friends with a young man who got a great business idea during his national service and has worked at it to become an entrepreneur. He was placed at the Parliament house and he realised that these parliamentarians loved coconut water but did not like how it's served in the open. He found an opportunity there. That was in 2013. Fast forward 2017, his hygienically packaged coconut product is on the market.

To cut long story short, here are some strategies to employ to make you useful and get you hired after National Service.

1. Always get to work on time – If you want to get hired after service, get to work on time always. This shows how serious you are as a person. Also, if there's something to be done and the person responsible is not present, it's likely you will be tasked to do it. This goes a long way to build your capacity and skills. Should the person leave the work or travel, you've gotten yourself a job even before you complete your service
2. Find tasks to do even when there aren't any – It is not uncommon for NS personnel to say, “When I go to work, they don't give me any work to do.” True, but who loses at the end of the day? Identify a supervisor or an employers who may need some form of assistance but has not approached you. Ask to assist them with simple tasks such as typing, printing researching, looking for files among others. When they observe these hardworking traits in you, they may find you useful and give you bigger tasks to complete. If you are able to them, you may be retained.
3. Be an initiator – Now that you are new in the organisation, look out for gaps in there and try filling them. It's surprising but true that, there are some organisations with no online presence in this era. You could jump on this opportunity and get information from those in authority to create Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn pages and run it consistently. Who know? They might hire you to be their social media manager after your service.
4. Serve - Serve! Serve! Serve! Yes it may not be your responsibility, to get the coffee, buy lunch or clean the office. However, if you find yourself in a small organization, they may not have money to hire, cleaners or errands people. This is where you come in handy. Go to the office early and clean, clear off the mess on your boss's table and arrange the place even before other workers arrive. This will send a strong message to them. Who doesn't want to work with a hardworking person?
5. Share unique ideas – Research on the competitors of your organisation and strategies they employ leading to their success. Gather your findings and share with your boss. Be consistent with this and who knows, you may be hired after service to provide market research service or you may be hired as a research assistant.