“Nothing was more depressing than staying at home and not working after graduation”, those were the words of David, a 36 years old graduate of Hospitality and Tourism management.
David Ada, stayed at home for 3 months after graduating in 2017 before being advised by his friend, a WAVE alumnus to go through the training since the training centre was close to his home at Apapa as attending would also increase his chances of getting a job.
This was what drove David to the WAVE training which for him provided a deeper insight into what he studied in school, “the training was educative and fun because it gave me a better understanding about hospitality and I also learned other skills like teamwork, taking the initiative, restaurant appearances and how to properly attend to customers”.
David also stated that because the training centre was a short distance from his house, it made the training much easier. And when asked if he faced any difficulty during training, he said there wasn’t because he was learning more about the hospitality industry which he is passionate about thereby making him turn blind eye to any challenges, if any.
After his training at the Academy, David’s job shadow experience at a restaurant was challenging because of the high cost of transportation from Apapa to Yaba but the things he learned made up for the stress.
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| David during his job shadow. |
According to him, “I worked in every department for the 2-week duration and I learned so many things, particularly how to make different types of local dishes”.
Upon graduating in May 2018, David got a job at Marvins Restaurant in Ijora Lagos as a Supervisor. He worked there for three months before getting a better offer as an assistant supervisor at NNPC in Ijora also. And he enjoys his job because of the exposure it gives him, and he is passionate about the industry he works in. And this passion plus the skills learned during the training aids him in doing his task to the pleasure of his superiors. With his earnings, David is able to support his mum who lives in Benue State financially.
David’s dream job is managing a Hospitality firm and he intends to achieve this goal by perfecting his problem-solving skills, critical thinking, emotional intelligence, communication, diction, use of Google suits, and many other skills which he has learned from WAVE already.
His advice to job seekers is to be patient when it comes to job search, not to think too much about it since the economy is trying to recuperate from the COVID-19 pandemic, and with time things will fall into place for them.
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