My Mum Told Me A Beautiful Story by Nkechi Bianze
Her colleague’s son graduated and finished NYSC last year. He’s a young boy in his mid 20s.
His father is my mum’s colleague, doing well, but told his son that he must get a job, no matter how little they pay him. That he wasn’t going to be in that house sleeping, waking up and eating while waiting for a million dollar job to fall from heaven.
Son searched and got a job of N40k/month. He was irritated by the pay but his parents told him that he must start working even though it’s N5k/month. The guy probably felt like his parents were chasing him away from the house.
He reluctantly took the job. But his father described him as someone who puts in his best in everything he does. The new job, though with a low pay, taught him new skills that were relevant to his future career.
After about 6 months, he got another job of N80k/month. He told his father and his father told him that his current job of N40K has more rooms for growth, career development and skill learning than the new job offer of N80k. So the father advised the son to remain in his N40K job.
While in the N40k job, this young man learnt skills. As an intelligent and enthusiastic person, he started taking on strategic roles in the job. He then started saving millions for his company/boss.
According to his boss, the counterpart he trades with has been cheating him for years and he never knew. The first time he sent this guy to front on behalf of the company, the guy saved him millions of naira. So, he made the guy the permanent agent responsible for most trades.
After a year plus in his N40k job, this guy got a job offer of N400k/month. He told his father. The father was like “this is 10 times your current salary, maybe it’s time to move on. BUT, you must tell your current boss, give him at least one month notice of your resignation, time enough for him to find a replacement and be nice so that he would be happy to give you good career reference going forward in your career.”
The guy did as his father said. But on the day he announced his resignation, his current boss told him that he was NOT going to let him go. That he is offering him N500k to remain with him and his company. Because the guy is the one who has saved him millions and is capable of continuing saving him millions in his company. So, the boss begged him to stay for N500k.
This is NOT Nollywood. This guy’s father is my mum’s colleague. This happened in Nigeria just last week. The guy is 25 or 26 and still lives with his parents.
I find this story VERY BEAUTIFUL. And I think both employees and employers have something to take away from it.
To employees:
Don’t say because the pay is little, you won’t put in your best, you
won’t respect your boss, you steal at every opportunity and you don’t
take your job seriously. Learn to look at the BIGGER PICTURE.
In the
choice of a job/career, you don’t only look at the pay, you look at the
possibility of career growth, training available to employees, job
satisfaction, other benefits, and opportunity of skill development.
I’m currently in a job that pays me far less than I deserve with my brain and degrees, but I’m working for my future reference. In 2020, I’ll start applying for the big jobs. By then, I’d have got the education, the experience (6 months minimum), the skills and the excellent job reference. Before I started my current job, I only had the education. But they are giving me the other three factors I need to hit the big paying jobs.
To employers:
If you see a talent, don’t let them go simply because you are too stingy to increase their pay to match their productivity.
If you let a talent go because you can’t be fair in the pay offer, you will lose. How?
1. The talent could have saved your company millions.
2. You would spend money training new employees.
3. You don’t know the type of replacement you would get.
Smart employers behave like the employer/boss of the young man I spoke about in this post. When they spot talents, they do all they can to keep them. Because talents don’t come by easily. And if you let a talent go, your competitors might pick up the talent. And the talent’s loyalty would be to his employer, even though they want to use the talent to nail you.
As someone trying to climb my career ladder, this simple story is an inspiration to me. That’s why I’m sharing.
Share Also To Bless Others
Thank you very much for this ?
Thanks a lot dear