The awards I won were evidence of how much I improved- Alumna, Mary Etim

Mary Etim woke up one morning, packed her bags, and moved to Lagos from Abuja without the knowledge of her parents. 

Since graduating from secondary school in 2015, Mary had been unable to get a job and it was frustrating waking up in the morning, doing house chores, and spending the rest of the day idle. 

What was more painful was always asking her parents for money to buy basic necessities that she felt she should be able to afford hence her decision to leave Abuja to Lagos in search of a job. 

Her WAVE journey started when she told a friend about her difficulty in finding a job and when her friend asked if she would like to learn more and work in the hospitality space, it sounded like a good idea to Mary and that prompted her to join the 2017 batch 33 training at the Yaba branch. 

During the training period, Mary stayed with her friend in Surulere and a major challenge was her inability to afford transportation fare to the center as she was spending between 300 - 400 naira every day so sometimes she has to trek when she didn’t have enough money. 

Also, the part of the training that required them to sell a paper bag to customers was tough for her, although she succeeded it was a challenge for her.

Amidst the challenges, Mary learned several new skills like effective communication, teamwork, time management, and how to handle customers amongst others. According to Mary, “the WAVE training made so much impact on me and it was so evident that I won ‘the most improved trainee’ and ‘the most punctual’ awards after the training.” 

Mary job shadowed at Confentionately Yours Restaurant as a Sales Representative and for her, the training made it easier to talk to people, not only to customers but also to her supervisors and colleagues. This was a different experience for Mary because she was a timid and very shy person.

Thanks to her diligence on the job, she resumed as a full staff before finishing her job shadow. She loves her job because her colleagues are friendly and always willing to help her, she has started making progress on her self-discovery journey.

Mary’s parents are now aware of her stay in Lagos and are encouraging her to push further because her dream is to own a restaurant and she is aware of the work she needs to put in to achieve that. Mary plans to complete her university education and is already putting the skills she learned on financial management, proposal writing, CV writing, and negotiation to use.

Her advice to job seekers is to be diligent and responsible in any job they find because they can grow and develop through it.