I have been sharing my workplace experiences on my Linkedin page. It has been fun (mostly) remembering all of my experiences which I have encountered in the quest for an ideal career. I have decided to share those posts on my personal platform, which you can read below:
(Workplace Lessons-Part 1)
I believe that almost everyone who has worked in an Office has at least one workplace horror story.
A lot of my work experience has provided me with wisdom on what not to do at work, both as a Leader and as a staff member.
-At one of my earlier jobs, I had to put my foot down against being asked by my Boss to come to work by 7am so he could lead a 1 hour prayer session with staff before work commenced (work started at 8am).
-At another job, I dreaded Monday morning meetings, because the Chief Executive would take his time to insult each Department Head after they made their presentations/gave progress reports. He would call them incompetent, saying that if he stepped out of the office and picked a random person off the street, they would do a better job than any of them.
-I have had Bosses whose offices were revolving doors for gossip. One of them would listen to gossip from some people, and use the information against others, escalating the toxicity in an already volatile work environment.
(Workplace Lessons part 2).
The best Bosses I've worked with have been
1. Pleasant. They responded politely to your greetings, enquired about your well-being and your life outside work.
2. Competent. They knew their stuff and were not arrogant about sharing knowledge with their subordinates.
3. Fair. They did their best to be neutral when settling conflicts, and tried to avoid sentimentality based on tribe, sex and other factors.
4. Approachable: If you had questions or needed clarification on issues, you were not scared to go to them, because you knew they would treat you with dignity and give you guidance or corrections in a thoughtful manner.
5. Leaders. They got to work (relatively) early, dressed professionally, stayed in the office until the end of the work day.
(Workplace Lessons part 3).
I worked in different organizations in the UK (during and after my postgraduate studies) in various administrative roles.
The common theme amongst these organizations was intentionality in maintaining systems and solving problems. Even where there were no specialized in-house databases, MS Office and Excel were utilised judiciously, filing systems were kept up to date, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) were adhered to diligently.
Aside from cracking a joke or two about current events, work time was for work-there was no idling about.
I was struck by how majority of staff accross these organizations-from the Chief Executive to the most junior Officer- had intentionality as a major work philosophy.
(Workplace Lessons part 4): Interviews.
When I think about my experience applying for jobs in Nigeria, I envision my CV/Resume floating around in cyberspace, for weeks, months or even years, in complete silence.
I remember that when I lived in the UK, within days or weeks of sending out job applications, I would get some kind of response to EVERY SINGLE APPLICATION, even of that response was 'Dear Ivie, unfortunately...'
After interviews, I would get emails or letters even when rejected, explaining why I didn't get the job. In one instance, I got a phonecall from a Hiring staff, who explained that the candidate they chose gave very detailed answers to their questions during the interview, whilst my own answers were too brief. I appreciated the feedback immensely.
A few years ago, I attended an interview for a job with an organisation here in Abuja. I did a pre-test, then a second test with questions that were so random (maths questions, questions about my favourite genre of music, questions about public policy, and more), before I was interviewed by the hiring panel. The entire process took about 4 hours.
After that...complete silence. I remember sending an email weeks later asking for feedback. I never got a response.
Maybe it's a good thing. What if they had invited me for another interview, and asked me if I could do cartwheels? Or if I can juggle plates whilst closing my left eye and standing on my right leg?
What would I have done then?
Ivie M. Eke 2023.
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