The Skill of A Man

Harris got home feeling excited. He could not hold his joy as he handed the slip in his hands to his poor mother. His mother did not hesitate to read what was printed on the slip. Out of excitement, she embraced her only son, Harris, and said some words of prayers.

Harris had just been offered a provisional admission into the College to study a lucrative course.

However, the challenge was finance.

Harris' mother was a widow who could hardly afford two meals daily. Her concern was how her son, Harris, would go to the College and graduate with a good grade with the hope of getting a good job.

Harris eventually passed through the College, but the experience was not a bed of roses. He struggled financially while in the College and this affected him academically.

Harris graduated from the College with a low grade, below his expectation. He had tried all he could while in the College to graduate with, at least, a credit if not distinction, but he could not achieve it. 

Upon graduation, Harris' mother was expecting her son to get instant employment. Her expectation was high that she felt the time had come for her to begin to reap the fruit of her labour on Harris. She became disappointed and frustrated when her expectation was cut short.

During this trying time, many companies were recruiting new staff who were not just College graduates but graduates with good results or grades. No company was interested in people with a low grade like Harris.

Most times, Harris' credentials would not fit to the Company's requirements for him to be gainfully employed as a staff. 

For instance, a Company's requirements to hire a new staff could be that the applicant must possess an upper credit with, at least, five years work experience; he/she must be a good team leader, and has a good sense of communication with clients.

Harris would not bother to apply for any role with these requirements knowing fully that he was not qualified by all standard. Even the few ones he felt he was qualified to apply for, which he did, gave negative feedbacks.

It was indeed a challenging moment for Harris and people like his mother who depended on him.

Instead of feeling dejected, Harris worked on himself and enrolled to several online classes to acquire skills that would make him self-employed and a better person. While some of these non-formal classes were free, some were offered at affordable and discounted rates.

Some of the soft skills Harris learnt are creative thinking, writing, public speaking, and leadership. He was able to put these skills into practice, and he later became a resource to people around him.

The 28-year old Harris published his first book and it was widely publicized. It was a book that addressed the problem facing his Community, and the way forward.

Millennium City was a Community that had been battling with unclean water for many years. The water was not safe for drinking because of oil spillage. 

The Community is situated in an area that is rich in abundance of crude oil. This natural resource is a pride to the people in the Community, but the only challenge they were having with it was the spillage of oil into various water bodies in the Community, such as rivers, streams, ocean, etc.

Harris was able to identify this problem and profer solution to it. He made his voice to be heard through his published work which caught the attention of the members and leaders of the Community.

Leaders of the Community were astonished at the wisdom he was able to scribble on paper. Harris became an agent of solution through his well articulated thoughts by proferring solution to the challenge of bad water facing the Community.

Harris was invited by the media on different occasions as he granted their interviews. He was able to utilise his public speaking skill in granting interviews on radio, television, and magazines.

Interestingly, no one, not even the media, talks about his College grade. What the people were attracted to in him was his ability to solve their problems through writing and speaking engagements.

Young Harris consequently established a Leadership and Mentorship School - a Non governmental organisation (NGO) and a platform to train and mentor Youths. 

Having shown a proven track record for about two years, some prominent personalities within and outside the Community volunteered to sponsor and form partnership with the NGO.

Three years after, at age 33, Harris was offered a lecturing job in one of the best Colleges in the State! This was a job Harris never would have thought to apply for, considering the requirements.

The College extended this offer to him without applying for it in order to use his wealth of experience to teach the Mass Communication students in the College. However, he was encouraged to go for further studies on scholarship while he continues to work in the College as a Lecturer.

Harris' skills paved way for him. He was self-motivated and in turn became a motivation and a source of inspiration to those who look up to him as their mentor.

The story of Harris, though a fiction, is one that should inspire young people, especially graduates of this dispensation.

Schools and Colleges continue to produce millions of graduates who end up becoming job hunters on the streets. Many are seeking for ready made jobs, while some others are feeling worthless because they could not meet up to the standards of many organisations out there.

There's a need for youths to develop themselves personally. There's a need for inner drive. There's a need to be self motivated.

College certificate allows you to be seeking for job, but your skills allow jobs to be seeking for you.

Before acquiring any skill, first identify your passion or area of interest. Develop your interest through skill acquisition. Get a mentor or mentors and be willing to learn.

Discover any major challenge in your immediate environment, Community or Society and use the skill(s) you have acquired to solve it.